The cost of living

There have always been a number of intrepid souls that relocated to another country, but recently, at least in the United States, that number is increasing. Faced with a higher cost of living, especially in regards to healthcare, retirees (and younger folks as well) have been looking beyond their borders for a place to live.

 
​When moving out of the country finances are always of concern. Fortunately, there are online tools to help you decide if your intended destination will fit into your budget. In our case, we ran a city vs. city comparison on Numbeo: Atlanta, Georgia vs. Porto, Portugal. The results were encouraging.

According to Numbeo: "You would need around 2,695.24$ (2,296.45€) in Porto to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with 4,500.00$ in Atlanta, GA (assuming you rent in both cities). This calculation uses our Cost of Living Plus Rent Index to compare cost of living. This assumes net earnings (after income tax)."

The various indices reveal a marked difference between Atlanta and Porto, including that the wages paid in the latter are lower. (In a future post we'll discuss the costs of healthcare in Portugal.)

​But what about the cost of bread or fruit? Numbeo breaks that all out as well. Here's the ATLANTA vs. PORTO numbers in U.S. dollars. Rice, in particular, is inexpensive as it is grown in Portugal.

Rent is a big chunk of one's budget, but Porto does well in this category as well, though prices have raised over the last year. 

So before you make a move, visit Numbeo to gain a sense of exactly how much it's going to cost you to live in your dream destination. From our perspective, Porto fits our budget just fine. One could get easily accustomed to inexpensive fruit, wine and cheese.