The Cost of Freedom: My Life in Portugal
Video Overview & Insights
In 2026, is the cost of living in Portugal still lower than the USA?
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In this video, I break down the hard math of my move from San Francisco to Porto. I share real receipts from groceries and utilities plus a rent, and healthcare calculator to show you exactly how far the dollar goes.
We look at the "Survival Number" needed to live in the US versus the freedom found in Europe (in Portugal and beyond)...
Cheap? Better quality food? These are both relative to where you've come from. Both might be true for Americans or Canadians and even Brits, but they are not necessarily true for people from other countries.
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The math is the easy part. Taking the leap - that's the real challenge.
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Young Americans with degrees can’t afford houses, either.
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Thank you so much for your positive attitude and helpful, transparent information! 😊
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Me and my wife are paying $40k yearly for health insurance premiums and have a max out of $20k. Portugal sounds good to me. We live in the Houston area.
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Wow, excellent content in your videos thank you so much for sharing. At age 64 I wish to relocate abroad and I thought about Portugal as well because I do speak Portuguese. Have you been born in Brazil and moved to the states when I was five years old? What made you choose Portugal? Do you speak Portuguese? Were you fascinated with the culture?
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Thank you for this informative video! This was very helpful and insightful.
I have begun the dual citizenship process and sent over my paperwork to my international lawyers in Lisbon, I was already aware they definitely move slower there with the legal process. I did want to ask, do you find that the job market is difficult there as well? Is that mainly for non-Portuguese/Spanish people? For some context, my mother and father both immigrated here in the 60s from Portugal & Spain respectively. I am *hoping to leave the US soon to have a better quality of life and return home to my ancestral homeland.
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The minimum salary is 1000€... And most people earns less than 1200€! So, you just couldn't live if you are earning here....
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America is a great country to try and make money but it's horrible for everything else. COL, Healthcare, Education, Utility cost, Food cost, Food quality, politics, divineness, job protections, stress levels. America is the worst at everything compared to all other first world countries and some 2nd world countries
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She's comparing apples to oranges...buying prepared food in a very expensive area like SF does not equate to buying produce at a market in a European city. Same with comparing housing in Marin and Lisbon. Is California expensive? Yes, in large cities, but 80 miles East or North of SF you can live very well. It's about priorities and career/lifestyle choices.
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I do find it interesting that the cost of living in the USA has gone up so much. How do the new immigrants there pay for everything if a seasoned, established person like you had to leave in order find a better solution?
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If you’re interested in a longer “origin story” of Why I Chose Portugal? You can find that here! https://youtu.be/RrRTfgodAJM?si=9IB2wh0QRXQ8Br7O
Im glad you are enjoying your life in portugal but keep any american liberal politics or fascination with israel to yourself because we dont welcome it
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It does rain a lot there.. food is great . Houses are different there.. people are so nice..
***Disclaimer: My YouTube videos are based on personal experience and are for informational purposes only. I am not a lawyer. Please seek professional advice before making decisions about moving abroad. I am not responsible for any outcomes resulting from the use of this information.
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1.000$/month still gets you a nice small appartment in Lisbon in good areas (unfurnished)
More User Perspectives
bem vinda linda senhora .💪💪👌👌
@luismonteiro1388We moved here March 2022. Best decision ever.
@kinsondigitalAmerican Healthcare is a SCAM at Best
@form76So here is a question, I will not need a job but are there volunteer opportunity’s or anyway to stay busy. I would not take a job from a local but what would someone do all day. I am 60 and financially safe (not RICH) but I am also hyper……LOL! Cannot just hang around. Thoughts? Anyone?
@MikeOquendo-d7dAt a young age, pardon me, how old are you? Just bracket. Also relevant for Health insurance. Love your video 👍
@relbik66almoçar por sete a dez euros é baratissimo, mas quem acha que não dá pra viver, tem uma boa solução, há avião todos os dias pra todo o lado, já parece uma moda criticar o país, ele assim, e não vai mudar por causa de alguns estrangeiros, que estão cá porque sim...
se não sabia, fica a saber, 87% dos portuglgueses, vivem em casa própria...
You can stay in your free country, we don't need you here. Rents and house prices are constantly rising because of people like you. You harm our society.
@luluca8115Have to say thing...go out to a tradicional restaurante and ask for cozido á portuguesa! Its has alot of vegetables and alot of meat. Vegetables are wonderful but we need meat
@fvlucasvenancio5939San Francisco is the US hell
@peterfighter24I just found you on YouTube and I loved the video. I agree that we should not take the Portugueses jobs, but invest in Portugal instead. Could you tell me which businesses would be good options to invest there? I’m a Portuguese living in the US for over 25 years and I want to leave. I’d love to hear your opinion. Thank you. ❤
@Luanavit22I came to Portugal 14 years ago and rented a two bedroom flat in Santos Lisbon for 600€ a month. Exactly the same flat costs 2000€ a month now. And it is not the Portuguese people who has driven the prices to unaffordable levels, it is tourists and foreigners.
@JohnValle-hl2xyCorrection, you are not an expat, you are an illegal immigrant, increasing cost of living to poetuguese, using our roads, public illumination, police, trash collection, and not paying taxes.
You are welcome as a tourist, but if you want to stay please, get a tax paying job, and pay taxes in portugal.
This quality of live is pay by our taxes.
The downside of you coming to Portugal is that the house prices are skyrockting. Sellers are adjusting house prices and restaurant values to expat salaries. Avaredge salaries in Portugal are arround 1300 € / month, so you can see the impact on our society. We don't have nothing against you, but lots of us are strugling to keep up with prices
@FilipeMGPGreetings and welcome to Portugal.
You should come live in northern Portugal; it's much better to live in and calmer than Lisbon.
We need to realize that the dollar is now worth only 84 cents to one Euro, which makes things over in Europe 16% more expensive.
@amywalker7515Sell the US property and the problem is solved.
@amywalker7515"my life here" colors are wrong. Portugal doesn't have white in the flag, unlike many other countries with green and red. There is some white and blue, always together, not separated (reference to the original flag with monarchy colors), or preferably you can use the yellow/gold as a 3rd color like a trim, taken from the sphere.
@PortubedYou're here talking great things about Portugal but the Portuguese live in misery..... Its great if you earn a salary or a retirement from the U.S, sure. Everyone else cant even afford to move out their parents home before 35. Before making a video praising a nation, you should first understand how the real people from that nation actually live. Ordinary people dont earn half off your expenses. And people like you moving here only make it worst. A rent for a studio in Portugal is MORE than the AVERAGE salary here.
@sketchi7306As a Portuguese, ill give you my small view on the Portuguese society.
The population are overall super nice, super friendly, theyll approach you, they love to let people get to know our great country, we love to share our culture, we love to make you feel welcomed and special, Portugal has a special feeling to it, every city in Portugal has its own identity and different historical culture roots.
That said, makes it a great country to visit, sure. But to live? I wouldn't recommend it. Even though we probably have the greatest weather in the world, we have gorgeous gigantic beaches, soo many things to see and learn that it would take you a lifetime despite it being such a small territory. The political system on the other hand, is a whole system designed by pro soviet union partys designed around the whole porpose off state control off the economy, and its now after 50 years completely collapsing, taxes are extremely high, everything you buy, being it food, gas, electricity, etc, has soo many taxes attached to it that the cost off living in GERMANY is actually lower.... And the salary is 2X the Portuguese.whole towns are being deseserted inland, 70% off youngster's admit leaving Portugual after graduation, more than 30% off people under 30 already left Portugal, meaning? Enjoy Portugal while you can, because the way its heading, not only in Portugal but also with the E.U, Portugal essence, what makes it special, will be gone. What to expect by a whole system designed by a man that said to the Portuguese returning from the colonies: " Throw them all to the Sharks". We have 2 ex prime ministers under investigation for corruption, our president himself is involved in a case off traffic off influences, Portugal is rotten to the core... If you want a good future? GET OUT OFF PORTUGAL! Its a dying nation, and trust me, saying this breaks my heart.
You should have mentioned that average portuguese people make between 10k to 20k euros a year in contrast to the 150k you were making in they US.
@hugogoncalves6280A average salary in Portugal: 800-1000 Euro. Don't say Portugal is cheap, because for us it is not.
@fastroverLady, you seem very nice but if I was living in thailand with a portuguese pension I would also find it cheap.
@rogueninja185Pergunto : pode uma mulher bonita como esta, ...não se sentir bem em Portugal,...conhecendo-se o fetiche dos portuguesesmpor mulheres bonitas ? É ou não o fácies desta linda mulher, ...muito parecido com o fácies normal da mulher portuguesa ? Tem tudo para se sentir muito bem e muito acarinhada em Portugal ! Beijo 🎉😊
@antoniorochaporto4150Português here ... Good and true video 🙏
@JoaoLuis-eh9ylPeople from the US: you can find all the liberty and freedom you seek here. This is a freedom loving country, and we're happy to share it with you. All US imigrants are welcome!
@anthrodrick5383You speak Portuguese? Did you think language was a barrier when you got there?
@edviges1When I visite Portugal an go to the grocery am always amaz on how affordable it is an how we're being scam back in the states.
@humanconnectionfloresWhat freedom? I don't get it.
@luiscampos1701In Portugal, if you use the national health service, which is of better quality than the private system, it will take longer to be seen, but it is much cheaper than private healthcare because it is practically free.
@MrHFRPCame and visit my vegan restaurant in Aveiro! It’s called Musgo! We have many costumers from other countrys who choose Portugal to live! We love to ear about their past and present lives! Hope to see you here 😊
@MusgoVegetarianoFor the regular portuguese Portugal is expensive right now . Its not easy for a young afford to rent a house in Lisbon
@carlabotelho7848