Key figures — as of 2026-08-31: Portugal ranks 8th of 31 countries overall in InterNations' Expat Insider 2026 survey — up from 17th in 2025 and 15th in 2024 — but 29th of 31 for Working Abroad, finishing last for local job market ratings and career-prospect improvement; only 19% rate the job market positively versus a 38% global average; 41% of foreign residents in Portugal are already retired, nearly three times the 14% global figure.
The paradox in one survey
Portugal has climbed to 8th place out of 31 destinations in InterNations' Expat Insider 2026 study — its best result in years — yet on the one measure that decides whether a career move actually pays off, it lands almost at the bottom of the table. The report highlights a striking paradox: while the country scores highly in quality of life, safety, cost of living, and ease of integration, it falls significantly behind in professional indicators, ranking 29th in the Working Abroad Index and placing last for career opportunities and labour market dynamism.
The scale of the gap is what makes this year's edition notable. Only 19% of expats rated the Portuguese job market positively, compared with a global average of 38%. Portugal also performed poorly for job security and overall job satisfaction. The one professional bright spot was work-life balance, where Portugal ranked 16th — proof that people who already have income sorted find Portugal a pleasant place to switch off, even if finding a new job there is another matter.
Why the overall score still climbs
The headline ranking makes sense once you look at who is actually answering the survey. Around 20% of respondents in Portugal said retirement was their main reason for relocating, compared with just 4% globally, while 21% moved in search of a better quality of life. Some 41% of the expats surveyed in Portugal were retired, almost three times the worldwide average of 14%. As the report itself notes, a country can score poorly as a place to pursue a career while remaining highly attractive to people whose income does not depend on the Portuguese employment market.
Elsewhere the numbers back up Portugal's reputation as a soft landing. Portugal ranked fourth in the Personal Finance Index, with many respondents satisfied with their financial situation and feeling they had enough disposable income to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. Settling in and integration also score well, though administration remains a sore point: for those moving for sunshine, safety and lifestyle, Portugal continues to score highly, but the country's bureaucracy remains a source of frustration — just 20% of respondents said dealing with local authorities was easy, compared with 38% globally.
Caution is warranted on the year-on-year jump, though. Portugal has improved significantly in the overall ranking, moving from 15th in 2024 and 17th in 2025 to eighth this year, but comparisons between years should be treated with caution, as the number of destinations qualifying for the survey fell from 53 in 2023 to 46 in 2025 and to 31 in 2026.
GrowIN's read: the maths behind who's really moving here
Run the numbers against Portugal's own visa thresholds and the survey result stops looking like a contradiction and starts looking like a filter. Under the D8 Digital Nomad route, applicants must show foreign income of roughly €3,680 a month — exactly four times the €920 national minimum wage for 2026 — earned entirely outside Portugal. In other words, the visa pathway that's driving a chunk of this year's arrivals is explicitly designed to bypass the local job market InterNations' respondents rate so poorly. Add the 41% who are already retired and drawing income from pensions abroad, and it becomes clear that a large share of Portugal's "successful" expats never tested the local labour market at all — they qualified around it. That's the real story behind the ranking: Portugal isn't solving its jobs problem, it's attracting people who don't need it solved, as GrowIN Portugal Editorial puts it.
What it means if you're weighing the move
For remote workers, retirees and anyone with income anchored outside Portugal, none of this changes the calculation — the cost of living, safety and settling-in scores that pushed Portugal to 8th place remain genuine draws. But anyone planning to relocate on the strength of a local salary or a Portuguese employment contract should treat the Working Abroad figures as a serious warning sign, not background noise. Wages in many sectors lag Western Europe, and this survey suggests foreign residents feel that gap acutely. Before committing, it's worth reviewing which visa route actually matches your income source — our visas guide breaks down the difference between work-dependent permits and income-based options like the D7 and D8.
What to watch next
InterNations typically publishes deeper city-level and sector breakdowns in the months following the main report, which should show whether Lisbon and Porto's tech and startup scenes buck the national trend. Anyone job-hunting locally should also watch for how the shrinking survey pool — down from 53 countries to 31 — affects comparability in next year's edition before reading too much into further ranking jumps.