Mundevo

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Cheapest cities in Europe (2026)

European cities only, ranked by cost-of-living index ascending. Filter for relocators staying inside EU/UK/EEA.

Why this list matters

If you're shortlisting within the EU/UK/EEA — for visa freedom, healthcare access, or proximity to home — the cheap-in-Europe filter matters more than the global cheap list. Cost ceilings differ by an order of magnitude versus Southeast Asia.

The ranking is ascending: lower index = cheaper. Western European cities below 60 are rare; below 50 essentially limits you to Portugal and Estonia at the moment.

How we ranked

Filtered to European countries (Spain, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands, Estonia, France, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, UK). Ranked ascending by composite cost-of-living index.

#CityCost indexCountry
1Portugal flagPortoPortugal58Portugal
2Spain flagValenciaSpain58Spain
3Spain flagMadridSpain65Spain
4Portugal flagLisbonPortugal67Portugal
5Spain flagBarcelonaSpain70Spain
6Estonia flagTallinnEstonia71Estonia
7Germany flagBerlinGermany75Germany
8Germany flagHamburgGermany75Germany
9France flagLyonFrance77France
10Netherlands flagRotterdamNetherlands82Netherlands
11France flagParisFrance83France
12Austria flagViennaAustria84Austria
13United Kingdom flagManchesterUnited Kingdom84United Kingdom
14Germany flagFrankfurtGermany85Germany
15Sweden flagGothenburgSweden85Sweden
16Germany flagMunichGermany88Germany
17United Kingdom flagEdinburghUnited Kingdom90United Kingdom
18Austria flagSalzburgAustria93Austria
19Netherlands flagAmsterdamNetherlands97Netherlands
20Sweden flagStockholmSweden97Sweden
21Denmark flagCopenhagenDenmark106Denmark
22United Kingdom flagLondonUnited Kingdom113United Kingdom

The top three, in context

#1Portugal flagPortoPortugal

Porto is the cheapest non-Eastern-European city in the catalog. Pairs Portugal's D7/D8 visas with markedly lower prices than Lisbon — though the gap has narrowed since 2020 as remote workers discovered it.

#3Spain flagMadridSpain

Madrid is the cheapest large Western European capital still on this list. Beckham Law for inbound qualified workers makes the net even better. Cost index 65 with a strong job market is rare in the EU.

What this list doesn't tell you

The list filters to 10 EU/UK countries we track. Eastern European cheaper destinations (Warsaw, Prague, Bucharest, Sofia) are not in the catalog yet but typically run even lower on cost index. Add them to the wish list when relevant.

Related rankings

Cheapest cities in the Mundevo index (2026)
Every city in the catalog ranked by cost-of-living index. Lower = cheaper. Benchmarked against New York = 100.
Cities with the cheapest rent (2026)
Ranked by median asking rent for a central one-bedroom, normalized to New York = 100. Filters for relocators where housing is the largest line item.
Cities with the lowest payroll deduction
Ranked by combined effective income tax + employee-side social security. Lower means a higher take-home from any given gross salary.

Want a different angle? Browse the full /best directory. Or run the numbers for your own city + lifestyle in the salary calculator.