Which is cheaper, Lisbon or Setúbal?

Setúbal is cheaper: about $2,000 per month versus $2,499 for one person.

Is Lisbon or Setúbal safer?

Lisbon scores higher on safety (83 vs 83), based on national homicide rates and World Bank political-stability scores.

Where is the internet faster, Lisbon or Setúbal?

Setúbal: a measured median of 51.1 Mbps versus 40.4 Mbps (M-Lab, 2024).

Lisbon vs Setúbal

for digital nomads

Under balanced weights Setúbal edges it, 75 to 74, winning 3 of the 9 factors. Lisbon is stronger on nothing outright; Setúbal on nothing outright. Change the weights in the ranker to see which one wins for you.

Lisbon

out of 100

Sunny Atlantic capital with Europe's biggest nomad scene

Full Lisbon profile →Plan a trip to Lisbon →

Setúbal

out of 100

Port city south of Lisbon with the Arrábida hills and Troia's beaches at hand

Full Setúbal profile →Hotels in Portugal →

Factor scores (0–100, balanced weights)

Metric	Lisbon	Setúbal
Cost of living	24	33 ✓
Safety	83	83
Healthcare	85	85
Internet	72	75 ✓
Visa ease	75	75
Getting there & around	80 ✓	75
Climate	67 ✓	58
Air quality	94	100 ✓
Quality of life	87	87

Cost

Metric	Lisbon	Setúbal
Monthly cost, one personcountry-level estimate for at least one city	$2,499	$2,000 ✓
Central one-bedroom rent	$1,638	no data

Safety and health (country-level)

Metric	Lisbon	Setúbal
Homicides per 100k	0.71	0.71
Political stability (0–100)	77.9	77.9
UHC service coverage (0–100)	83	83
Life expectancy	81.2 yrs	81.2 yrs

Internet (M-Lab measured medians)

Metric	Lisbon	Setúbal
Download	40.4 Mbps	51.1 Mbps ✓
Upload	18.4 Mbps	19.4 Mbps ✓

Visa

Metric	Lisbon	Setúbal
Nomad visa	Digital nomad residence visa (D8)	Digital nomad residence visa (D8)
Minimum income for the visa	$4,131/mo	$4,131/mo
Entry, US passport	90 days	90 days
Entry, EU passport	unlimited	unlimited
Entry, UK passport	90 days	90 days

Getting there and around

Metric	Lisbon	Setúbal
Non-stop airport destinations	153	153
Walkability (1–5, editorial)	4	4
Transit (1–5, editorial)	4 ✓	3

Climate and air

Metric	Lisbon	Setúbal
Comfortable months per year	8 ✓	7
Annual mean PM2.5	7.6 µg/m³	5 µg/m³ ✓

✓ marks the better value in each row; ties and missing data are left unmarked.

Frequently asked

Which is cheaper, Lisbon or Setúbal?: Setúbal is cheaper: about $2,000 per month versus $2,499 for one person.
Is Lisbon or Setúbal safer?: Lisbon scores higher on safety (83 vs 83), based on national homicide rates and World Bank political-stability scores.
Where is the internet faster, Lisbon or Setúbal?: Setúbal: a measured median of 51.1 Mbps versus 40.4 Mbps (M-Lab, 2024).

More comparisons

Sources: Cost of Living Global 2026 (city rows); 2026 Cost of Living Index (country level); Worldwide Governance Indicators — Political Stability and Absence of Violence (score 0–100); Victims of intentional homicide per 100,000 population (national data, latest year); UHC service coverage index; Life expectancy at birth (years), both sexes; M-Lab NDT statistics (city aggregates, 2024); Airport destinations (Wikipedia airline and destination tables); NASA POWER climatology (2001–2020 monthly means); WHO Ambient Air Quality Database, June 2026 update (V8); Human Development Index (HDR 2025, HDI 2023); EF English Proficiency Index 2024 (band); Walkability and transit ratings (editorial); Passport Index dataset (visa requirements, 199 passports × 199 destinations); OpenStreetMap restaurants (Overpass API); Nostos long-stay visa guides; Starlink availability map. Dataset 2026.10.7. See each city page for per-metric footnotes and the methodology.