Portugal’s Under-€10 Rental Towns: An Expat’s Cost-Saving Map

For many newcomers scanning Portugal’s property portals, the headline figures coming out of Lisbon—now averaging €22.2 per square metre—can be daunting. Yet a very different picture emerges once you step inland or north of Porto: in several mid-sized municipalities, asking rents barely reach a third of the capital’s rate. Still, low prices do not automatically translate into easy affordability for locals, a nuance worth understanding before signing a lease.

What keeps certain districts inexpensive

The towns topping the “budget” charts—Castelo Branco, Santa Maria da Feira and Viseu—share a similar economic profile: modest salaries, ageing populations and slower job creation. Interior Castelo Branco, for instance, posts one of the lowest median wages in the country, just over €1.100 a month, while the local university and a handful of light-industry plants anchor employment. With demand tempered by both demography and income, landlords struggle to push rents higher, leaving the square-metre price at a national low of €6.8. The municipality is now experimenting with habitação a custos acessíveis, a public programme adding 15 subsidised apartments in the Carapalha neighbourhood, hoping to stem youth outflow.

Tracking the sub-€10 band

Move north toward the Aveiro and Braga districts and the pattern repeats. In Santa Maria da Feira (7.1 €/m²) and Viseu (8 €/m²) tidy two-bedroom flats routinely list for under €600 a month. Covilhã, the old wool-trade hub tucked against the Serra da Estrela, follows at 8.1 €/m², while Barcelos, famous for its pottery cockerels, closes the top five on 8.3 €/m². A further clutch of eleven municipalities—among them Leiria, Figueira da Foz and Guimarães—hover between 8.4 and 9.8 €/m². For foreigners used to Northern European or North American rents, these numbers look almost unreal.

Affordability isn’t just about price tags

Local households devote, on average, above 40% of their take-home pay to rent even in the so-called cheap zones. A typical 80 m² flat in Castelo Branco costs roughly €544 monthly. Against the district’s median net salary, that represents a burden near 48%. The ratio climbs to a striking 88% in Covilhã, where student demand meets some of the country’s lowest wages. By contrast, a remote worker earning a Lisbon or overseas paycheck will find these markets startlingly affordable—but should factor in smaller expat networks and limited public transport.

How the budget spots stack up against the hotspots

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Lisbon (22.2 €/m²), Cascais (20 €/m²) and Porto (17.7 €/m²) continue to pull in international capital and digital nomads, pushing prices into territory few local salaries can follow. Loulé, gateway to the central Algarve, now sits at 17.5 €/m², buoyed by golf-course developments and year-round tourism, while Oeiras rounds out the top five on 16.8 €/m². In practical terms, a 50 m² studio in Cascais may cost as much as a three-bedroom house in Viseu.

What newcomers should weigh up

Choosing a lower-priced town can stretch a foreign income dramatically, but lifestyle trade-offs matter. English is less widely spoken, bureaucratic services tend to be slower, and direct rail links to the big cities may be scarce. On the upside, crime rates are low, produce markets are cheap, and many municipalities offer tax breaks to lure new residents. Parents should note that international-curriculum schools are rare outside coastal metros; however, Portugal’s public system receives high marks for early-years education.

Looking ahead: will the gap narrow?

Housing analysts see two opposing forces. Government caps on rent hikes fade out this year, which could nudge prices upward everywhere. Yet several inland councils are expanding their supply of publicly backed rentals and renovating derelict stock, potentially keeping pressure off the market. If remote work continues to gain traction, demand may slowly drift toward these cheaper municipalities, gradually eroding today’s wide discount—but, for now, they remain Portugal’s best-kept secret for tenants willing to trade a little convenience for a lot of savings.