Rent is most of it
Accommodation dominates any Lisbon budget. A private room in a shared flat in a central neighbourhood realistically runs €400–800 a month; a studio with its own bathroom and kitchenette starts well over €1,000. Where you land inside those ranges depends mostly on the neighbourhood and whether the room faces the street.
Watch for whether bills are included. An advertised €450 room with utilities on top is closer to €520–560 in winter once electricity and gas are counted. Every AMS price includes water, electricity, gas and wifi, which is worth roughly €70–110 a month depending on the season and the house.
Everything else
A monthly Navegante transport pass covering all of Lisbon's metro, buses, trams and urban trains costs €40. A coffee is €0.80–1.60 standing at the counter. A simple lunch menu is €8–12; dinner out is €15–25 a head. A gym is €25–40.
Groceries for one person run roughly €150–250 a month depending on how much you cook and whether you shop at Pingo Doce and Continente or at Lidl and the municipal markets.
A realistic monthly total
A student sharing a room and cooking most meals can live on roughly €800–1,000 a month all-in. A young professional in a private room who eats out a few times a week is looking at €1,100–1,500. Someone in a studio should budget from €1,600.
The single biggest lever is the neighbourhood. Our own inventory bears this out: a double room runs from €440 in Alameda and €440 in Saldanha up to €540 and above around Campo Pequeno, and the riverside areas, Santos and Cais do Sodré, carry the highest medians of the eleven at €825 and €790.
