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Cost of living in Malta

A single person living in Malta spends around $1,278/month excluding rent. Per-city numbers below, every figure with its source; rent is shown separately in the Housing sections, by apartment type.

VerifiedUpdated

At a glance

What the tags meanofficial — live figure from a government or authorityopen data — open dataset (Eurostat, EEA, M-Lab, UdSC…)survey — survey or index estimatecurated — SettleMetric-assembled estimate — open the source for the method
Cost of living

Eurostat — Household Budget Survey 2020, Malta: mean consumption expenditure of one-adult households (hbs_exp_t134) and its structure (hbs_str_t224)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Oct 10, 2026
Method
One-adult households spent PPS 13,633 a year in Malta's 2020 Household Budget Survey; at the survey's own euro-to-PPS ratio (€23,770 against PPS 26,528 for the average household) that is €12,216. Uplifted by Malta's HICP from the 2020 to the 2025 annual average (106.37 → 125.90, ×1.1836) and divided by 12: €1,205 a month, × 1.1206 USD/EUR (ECB, 2026-10-09) = $1,350. Actual rentals, 5.4% of a single adult's spending in the survey, are removed (imputed rent is not part of Malta's HBS), and the remaining COICOP divisions are summed from cost-breakdown.
Notes
Malta's latest Household Budget Survey is the 2020 wave, so the basket reflects a pandemic year, when spending on restaurants, travel and recreation was depressed; the inflation uplift corrects prices, not that pattern, so the figure is more likely low than high. A one-adult household in the survey includes pensioners as well as working people.
$1,278/mo
2025curated
Rent: 1-bedroom (city avg)

Housing Authority (Malta) — Rent Registry, H1 2026: one-bedroom apartment medians for the Northern Harbour and Southern Harbour regions, population-weighted

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jun 30, 2026
Verified
Oct 10, 2026
Method
Median monthly rent of one-bedroom apartments in contracts registered with the Housing Authority in the first half of 2026, from the Rent Registry's own workbook (data last updated 6 July 2026): Northern Harbour region €1,050 (Sliema, St Julian's, Gżira, Msida and the other localities north of Marsamxett Harbour), Southern Harbour region €850 (Valletta and the localities around the Grand Harbour). Weighted by the regions' end-2025 populations (188,162 and 91,297, NSO News Release 120/2026): €985 a month, × 1.1206 USD/EUR (ECB, 2026-10-09) = $1,103.
Notes
A country-level figure for the harbour conurbation around Valletta, which is where the island's city centre is; it is not Valletta's own rent. The registry has too few leases in the walled city itself to publish one (see the Valletta page). These are rents actually registered, not asking prices. Within the conurbation the localities differ widely: one-bedroom medians run from €812 in Ħamrun to €1,200 in St Julian's.
$1,103/mo
2026curated
Private health

Residency Malta Agency — Nomad Residence Permit FAQs: health insurance requirements

Official source

Data as of
Oct 10, 2026
Verified
Oct 10, 2026
Notes
Not priced. Malta's health insurers (Atlas, Bupa Malta, GasanMamo, MAPFRE MSV Life) publish benefit limits but no premiums; prices are given only on a quote. The one rate card found belongs to a staff group scheme of the University of Malta, which is not comparable with an individual policy. For reference, the Nomad Residence Permit requires a prepaid policy with at least €100,000 of cover in the EU and the UK.
no verified data
2026official
What a single person spends each month (excl. rent)

Eurostat — Household Budget Survey 2020, Malta, one-adult households: structure of consumption expenditure by COICOP (hbs_str_t224)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Oct 10, 2026
Method
Each COICOP division's share of one-adult households' spending (per mille: food 215, transport 109, restaurants and hotels 91, miscellaneous 91, furnishings 78, health 68, clothing 63, recreation 61, communication 48, energy 36, dwelling maintenance 33, alcohol and tobacco 33, water and other dwelling services 16, education 4) applied to the CPI-uplifted monthly total including rent, $1,350. Actual rentals (54 per mille) are left out; the items sum to $1,278, the cost-of-living-single figure.
total1,278 USD/mo
Food & non-alcoholic beverages290 USD
Transport147 USD
Restaurants & hotels123 USD
Other goods & services (incl. personal care)123 USD
Furnishings & household equipment105 USD
Health (out-of-pocket)92 USD
Clothing & footwear85 USD
Recreation & culture82 USD
Communication65 USD
Housing energy (electricity, gas, fuels)49 USD
Housing maintenance & repair45 USD
Alcoholic beverages & tobacco45 USD
Housing operating costs (water, waste, common charges)22 USD
Education5 USD

National household-budget-survey basket. Rent is shown separately below.

Details

CriterionValueScore
Cost of living (single, excl. rent)1,278USD/month, single person, excluding rent6.5

What this measures

Monthly cost of a defined single-person basket (food, transport, utilities, mobile+internet, modest leisure) excluding rent, curated from national statistics office price data and large local retailers' published prices, converted to USD at the ECB rate recorded in fx-rates. The method field of each value itemizes the basket inputs.

Lower is better· USD/month, single person, excluding rent· re-verified every 365 days

Eurostat — Household Budget Survey 2020, Malta: mean consumption expenditure of one-adult households (hbs_exp_t134) and its structure (hbs_str_t224)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Oct 10, 2026
Method
One-adult households spent PPS 13,633 a year in Malta's 2020 Household Budget Survey; at the survey's own euro-to-PPS ratio (€23,770 against PPS 26,528 for the average household) that is €12,216. Uplifted by Malta's HICP from the 2020 to the 2025 annual average (106.37 → 125.90, ×1.1836) and divided by 12: €1,205 a month, × 1.1206 USD/EUR (ECB, 2026-10-09) = $1,350. Actual rentals, 5.4% of a single adult's spending in the survey, are removed (imputed rent is not part of Malta's HBS), and the remaining COICOP divisions are summed from cost-breakdown.
Notes
Malta's latest Household Budget Survey is the 2020 wave, so the basket reflects a pandemic year, when spending on restaurants, travel and recreation was depressed; the inflation uplift corrects prices, not that pattern, so the figure is more likely low than high. A one-adult household in the survey includes pensioners as well as working people.
Private healthcare costno verified data—

What this measures

Median of at least three publicly quoted annual premiums for comprehensive private medical insurance (outpatient + inpatient, ~$100k coverage, small deductible) for a healthy 35-year-old resident foreigner, from local and international insurers. Method field lists the insurers quoted.

Lower is better· USD/year, comprehensive private insurance premium, healthy 35-year-old· re-verified every 365 days

Not priced. Malta's health insurers (Atlas, Bupa Malta, GasanMamo, MAPFRE MSV Life) publish benefit limits but no premiums; prices are given only on a quote. The one rate card found belongs to a staff group scheme of the University of Malta, which is not comparable with an individual policy. For reference, the Nomad Residence Permit requires a prepaid policy with at least €100,000 of cover in the EU and the UK.

City detail pages: Valletta