Key figures — as of 2026-08-11: National minimum wage rose to €920/month gross (€818.80 net) on 1 January 2026, up from €870 — a 5.7% increase set by Decree-Law 139/2025 — with a government roadmap targeting €1,020 by 2028 — while the D8 Digital Nomad Visa income threshold, fixed at 4× the minimum wage, climbed to €3,680/month, meaning the euro gap between the two figures widened from €2,610 to €2,760 a month year-on-year.
A €50 rise that local workers will barely feel
Portugal's minimum wage went up to €920 a month on 1 January 2026, a €50 jump from the €870 rate in 2025. The national minimum wage in Portugal is €920 per month as of January 1, 2026, established by Decree-Law No. 139/2025, representing a €50 increase from the 2025 rate of €870, a rise of approximately 5.7%. Because Portuguese salaries are paid in 14 instalments rather than 12, that headline figure translates to an annual minimum income of €12,880 once the Christmas and holiday bonuses are counted. Portuguese labour law entitles all employees to receive not 12 but 14 monthly salary payments per year: the regular 12 months of wages, plus a 13th month payment and a 14th month payment.
Net pay after the standard social security deduction lands at €818.80 a month. The Guaranteed Minimum Monthly Wage stands at €920 gross on mainland Portugal in 2026, translating to €818.80 net after the 11% Social Security deduction. Compared with last year's take-home pay, that's roughly €44.50 more in the bank each month. Portugal raises the statutory minimum wage to €920 on 1 Jan 2026, meaning workers pocket an extra €44.50 each month. For anyone renting in Lisbon or Porto, where a one-bedroom flat can easily swallow half a minimum-wage packet, that increase disappears fast.
Why the digital nomad threshold moves in lockstep — and pulls further ahead
Here's the part that matters for foreigners weighing up whether to move to Portugal on local pay versus remote income: the D8 Digital Nomad Visa's financial bar is legally pegged to the minimum wage, at four times its value. Portugal's minimum wage increased to €920.00, which increased the Portugal Remote Work Visa minimum income requirement to €3,680 per month. That's the threshold AIMA and consulates now apply to non-EU applicants proving they earn enough from abroad to qualify. With the minimum wage rising to €920 per month in 2026, the income threshold for the D8 visa is €3,680 per month, or approximately €44,160 per year. Applicants bringing a spouse or children face a further uplift — roughly 50% more for a partner and 30% per child. As of 2026, this corresponds to €3,680 per month for the main applicant, with a 50% increase for a spouse and a 30% increase for each dependent child.
Because the multiplier is fixed at 4×, the ratio between the two figures never changes — but the euro gap does, and it's growing every time the minimum wage rises. In 2025, a minimum-wage worker earned €870 while the D8 threshold sat at roughly €3,480, a gap of €2,610. This year, the gap between what a Portuguese minimum-wage employee brings home and what a foreign remote worker must prove to live here legally has widened to €2,760 a month — a €150 increase in the space of one wage adjustment. Multiplied across a year, that's an extra €1,800 separating the two income realities before either group has paid a cent of rent.
Two very different Portugals, side by side
The most recent INE data shows average gross monthly earnings of €1,741, with Lisbon commanding the highest averages at approximately €2,215 gross per month. Set against that, the €3,680 D8 threshold is more than double the national average salary and still comfortably below what many remote professionals earn from US, UK or northern European clients — which is precisely why Portugal keeps attracting them. A software contractor billing in dollars or pounds can clear the D8 bar with room to spare and still find Lisbon rents, restaurants and healthcare far cheaper than London or Amsterdam. A cleaner, waiter or shop assistant on the new €920 floor is absorbing the same rent increases and grocery bills with €44.50 more a month than last year.
"A €50 rise in the minimum wage barely moves the needle for local workers, while the income bar for foreign remote earners keeps climbing in step — and the euro gap between the two keeps widening," notes GrowIN Portugal Editorial.
What to watch next
The government's roadmap points to further €50 annual increases through 2028, when the minimum wage should reach €1,020. This increase is part of a longer-term government roadmap to gradually raise the minimum wage to €1,020 by 2028. Each rise will automatically push the D8 threshold higher too, so anyone planning a nomad visa application in 2027 or 2028 should budget for a bigger income requirement, not the same one. Foreigners already on payroll in Portugal, meanwhile, should check whether collective bargaining agreements in their sector set a floor above the statutory minimum, and revisit the visas hub before assuming last year's income figures still apply. AIMA applies whichever threshold is in force on the date of your appointment, not the date you first gathered your documents — a detail worth confirming directly with your consulate or AIMA before submitting.
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