Average salaries in Portugal in 2026: the official figures and what they mean

• 1 835 € gross per month — the average total remuneration per job in the second quarter of 2026, up 5,1 % in a year (INE, from Social Security and CGA records); the base salary alone averaged 1 342 €
• 920 € — the guaranteed minimum monthly wage in 2026 (Decreto-Lei n.º 139/2025), paid 14 times a year
• 2025 average: 1 694 € gross total per month, +5,6 % on 2024 — +3,2 % after inflation
• Unemployment 5,3 % in the second quarter of 2026, the lowest since the series began in 2011; 21,3 % of workers telework
• From gross to net: 11 % Social Security plus income tax withheld at source under the 2026 IRS brackets (12,5 % to 48 %)

Salary figures for Portugal circulate in two versions: the ones from job boards and surveys, and the ones the statistics office computes from every payslip declared to Social Security. This article uses the second kind — INE’s quarterly remuneração bruta mensal média por trabalhador, which covers 4,9 million jobs — together with the minimum wage decree and the tax and contribution rules that turn a gross figure into what lands in the account.

The official averages, 2025–2026

Three readings. First, the average is pulled up by the top: the base salary — what most contracts state — averages 1 342 €, a third less than the total figure with bonuses and the fourteenth month spread across the year. Second, wages have been rising faster than prices since 2023: +3,2 % in real terms over 2025, +1,8 % in the year to June 2026 with inflation at 3,3 % in August. Third, INE’s dimensions show where the increases were sharpest in the year to June 2026: agriculture and fishing (+8,8 %), micro-companies of one to nine workers (+6,4 %), the private sector (+5,5 %) and high-technology industry (+6,0 %).

The minimum wage

The retribuição mínima mensal garantida is 920 € in 2026, fixed by Decreto-Lei n.º 139/2025 (up from 870 € in 2025). It is a monthly amount paid fourteen times — twelve months plus holiday and Christmas subsidies — so a minimum-wage job is worth 12 880 € a year gross. It also sets the bar for immigration files: the means of subsistence required for a residence visa are 100 % of the minimum wage for the applicant, 50 % per additional adult and 30 % per child, and for a work contract to support a visa it must at least reach it — see the visa guides.

From gross to net

Two deductions come off every payslip:

• Social Security: 11 % of the gross salary for the employee (the employer adds 23,75 % on top, invisible to the worker); the contribution buys the pension, sickness, unemployment and parental benefits.
• IRS withholding (retenção na fonte): a monthly advance of income tax, from tables the Government publishes each year, according to salary, marital status and dependants. The final tax is settled in the annual return the following spring, against the 2026 brackets — 12,5 % on the first 8 342 € of taxable income, rising in nine steps to 48 % above 86 634 € — after the standard deduction on employment income (8,54 × IAS, 4 587 € in 2026).

Order of magnitude on the average total of 1 835 €: 202 € of Social Security leave 1 633 € before tax; the tax then depends on the household. Two special regimes lower it for newcomers: IRS Jovem for workers up to 35, and the IFICI for qualified professions moving to Portugal, which taxes eligible Portuguese employment income at a flat 20 % for ten years — see tax and accounting in Portugal.

What the figures mean for a move

• A job offer is compared with the base average of 1 342 €, not with the total: the total includes bonuses and the two subsidies that most offers quote separately.
• Lisbon and Porto pay more than the national averages and cost more: the median rent for a new lease was 17,42 €/m² in Lisbon and 9,46 €/m² nationally in early 2026 (INE) — read the cost of living comparison alongside the salary.
• Two subsidies (holiday and Christmas), meal allowance, and the 25 working days of annual leave that come with most contracts are part of Portuguese remuneration; a foreign offer expressed in twelve monthly payments is not comparable without them.
• The labour market is tight: 5,3 % unemployment and 5,4 million people employed in mid-2026, the highest since 2011. Qualified profiles negotiate; the visa for qualified job-seekers created in October 2025 exists for that reason.