Single person
- Lean
- $1,700
- Comfortable
- $2,500
- Upscale
- $4,000
Cost of Living in Malta for American Retirees
Cost of Living in Malta
What it actually costs to live in Malta, broken down by household, by line item and by city, with the caveat that the spread inside the country is wider than the spread between countries.
Malta is more expensive than mainland southern Europe, particularly for housing. Groceries and restaurants are moderate, public transport is very cheap and healthcare is inexpensive. Electricity is subsidised, which matters given the air conditioning summers demand.
Couple
- Lean
- $2,200
- Comfortable
- $3,200
- Upscale
- $5,000
- Housing (2-bed rental) $1,100
- Groceries $520
- Utilities $130
- Health cover $160
- Transport $26
- Internet $35
- Everything else (dining, leisure, travel, household) $1,229
City by city
| City or area | Couple, monthly | 2-bed rent | Expat presence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sliema and St Julian's | $3,400 | $1,500 | The main international area, dense with apartments, a seafront promenade and every service in English. Busy and expensive. | |
| Valletta and the Three Cities | $3,200 | $1,400 | The UNESCO baroque capital and the historic harbour towns opposite. Beautiful, walkable and steep, with limited parking. | |
| Mellieħa and the north | $2,700 | $1,000 | Quieter, with the island best beaches and the Gozo ferry. Less dense and somewhat cheaper. | |
| Gozo | $2,400 | $800 | The sister island: rural, quiet, greener, with a slower pace and a small foreign community. A ferry from the main island for hospitals and the airport. | |
| Birkirkara and the central towns | $2,500 | $900 | Traditional Maltese towns inland, considerably cheaper than the coast and closer to Mater Dei Hospital. |
How long will the money last?
A transparent model, not a black box. It compounds your savings at a nominal return, raises your income by a cost-of-living adjustment, raises your spending by local inflation, and lets you apply a currency shock. Everything is visible and everything is editable.
On these assumptions the money outlasts the 35-year horizon.
- Monthly gap covered from savings
- $800
- Savings at year 10
- $470,784
- Savings at year 20
- $477,217
- Money lasts
- beyond the modelled horizon
This is arithmetic, not advice. It assumes a constant return rather than a sequence of good and bad years, which real markets do not provide, and it ignores tax, healthcare shocks and long-term care. Treat the answer as a direction, stress-test it by dragging the currency slider against yourself, and take proper financial advice before acting.
Cost of Living in Malta: common questions
How much does a couple need per month in Malta?
About $3,200 for a comfortable life, $2,200 living leanly, and $5,000 at the upper end. Malta is more expensive than mainland southern Europe, particularly for housing. Groceries and restaurants are moderate, public transport is very cheap and healthcare is inexpensive. Electricity is subsidised, which matters given the air conditioning summers demand.
Is that more or less than the visa requires?
Compare it against the income thresholds on the visa pages. In several countries, Mexico being the clearest example, the visa asks you to prove considerably more income than you would actually spend, because the threshold is tied to a domestic benchmark rather than to the cost of living for a foreigner.
What is not in these figures?
One-off moving costs, health insurance beyond the local norm, travel back to the United States, and U.S. tax. The city table below is the better guide than the country average, because the spread inside most countries is wider than the spread between them.
Verified Sep 7, 2026 Primary sources: residencymalta.gov.mt, cfr.gov.mt, identita.gov.mt
This resource is provided free by Federal Apostille as an educational tool. It is not legal, tax, immigration or financial advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by using it. Immigration rules, income thresholds, fees and processing times change frequently and often without notice, and consulates apply them differently. Always confirm current requirements with the official government source and the specific consulate that has jurisdiction over your U.S. state of residence before you act. Every figure on this site carries the date we last verified it and a link to the primary source.
