Madrid vs Lisbon – Best City to Live, Work, Retire
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00:00 Intro
01:16 Lisbon and Madrid: Overview
02:11 Cost of Living
When comparing two places, may it be cities or countries, one of the first things that comes to mind is the cost of living. While Madrid used to be significantly more expensive than Lisbon, this is changing.
Madrid still is in fact a bit more expensive than Lisbon in many aspects. If we talk about eating out or having a coffee, it is definitely cheaper to do that in Lisbon.
02:37 Salaries
Average salaries in Madrid are still much higher than in Lisbon. So if you are thinking about moving to one of these cities to look for a job, the same position is likely to have a higher salary in Madrid compared to Lisbon.
Average salaries in Madrid are currently at approximately 1600 euros per month, while in Lisbon they are at 1000 euros per month. Both net figures.
So, if we take into the account the cost of living in Madrid and Lisbon, if you have a job in one of these two cities, your purchase power is likely to be higher in Madrid. Costs are similar, but salaries are lower in Lisbon.
03:31 Real Estate
Currently rents in Lisbon are virtually the same as they are in Madrid. Madrid is just slightly more expensive. Even if salaries are much lower in Lisbon, that’s not the case for the real estate market.
There are many reasons pushing real estate prices up in the Portuguese capital. A higher number of apartments being used as short-term properties in platforms like Airbnb, the influx of digital nomads and retirees to Portugal and the golden visa in Portugal.
From 2022 Lisbon will be out of the Golden Visa, this is one of the measures done by the government to try to control property prices in the Portuguese capital. A good amount of properties in Lisbon now are too expensive for the locals and their economic reality.
Madrid has been historically more expensive than Lisbon, and since it is not that much sought by digital nomads and retirees for example, prices have not risen that much in recent years.
In Madrid you can still get a property and a golden visa along with that, although a good number of investors prefer the seaside for that purpose.
04:47 Transportation
Transportation in Lisbon and Madrid is pretty comparable, even if Madrid is actually a much larger city.
Both cities have a comprehensive urban transport network with metro, tram and bus lines. There are also suburban trains serving the metro area and some smaller cities nearby both Lisbon and Madrid.
When we talk about InterCity trains Madrid has an advantage over Lisbon. While Portugal has a pretty decent railway network, the fastest trains in Portugal are slower than the fastest trains in Spain. But Spain has a network of high speed trains.
06:05 Visa and Residence Permits
In terms of visas and resident permits, Portugal wins in almost all aspects. If you are an EU citizen you can move to Spain or to Portugal without much hassle, but the process is slightly more bureaucratic in Spain.
If you are a non-EU citizen however, Lisbon has important advantages over Madrid.
If you are looking for a job it is possible to find one in Lisbon and change your status to a residence permit if you come from a visa exempt country. In Spain, you normally will have to get a job and apply for a visa/residence permit from outside the country, even if you come from a visa exempt country. There are very few exceptions to this in Spain. For investors visas or the D7 in Portugal and the non-lucrative visa in Spain, all aimed at non-EU citizens, you have to apply from abroad.
Entertainment
When we talk about entertainment, both Lisbon, Portugal and Madrid, Spain are definitely among the best cities in Europe. There are so many advantages favoring both cities when compared to most European capitals.
As I mentioned earlier, Madrid is a much larger city, allowing the city to offer more entertainment options than Lisbon on any day of the week.
But, on the other hand, Lisbon is still an excellent city with plenty of options in terms of restaurants, bars, and nearby city getaways.
Language
In Madrid, the official language is Spanish, and in Lisbon, Portugal it is Portuguese. They are both extremely similar but it is easier to learn Spanish in my opinion than learning Portuguese.
Here is the reason:
In spoken Spanish, the pronunciation of the words almost always follows what is written, which is not the case at all in Portuguese. In Portuguese it is quite common to shorten words or vowels and consonants to have different sounds depending on the part of the word they are.
Verdict
Both Madrid and Lisbon are highly liveable systems. They both offer a great infrastructure and a number of entertainment options.
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