One salary is not enough, an individual's expenses amount to 112% of salary, the second highest in Europe

An Albanian individual, living in the capital and receiving a salary equal to the official average net monthly salary of 760 euros, if living alone must spend around 853 euros in a month, which means that this income is not enough for him to live a normal life and he will have to give up some non-essential expenses to make ends meet.

The data was revealed in a recent report by Tradingpedia, which calculates that the ratio of expenses as a percentage of salary for a single person living in Tirana is 112.2%. This is the second highest level in Europe, surpassing only Lisbon, Portugal, where the indicator is 121.4%.

Tirana and Lisbon are the only cities in Europe where the average monthly salary is not enough for an individual to get through the month, accounting for expenses for food, housing, transportation, personal care, or even entertainment.

To find out which capitals offer the best standard of living with the least financial burden in relation to monthly income, Tradingpedia compared data from 37 European capitals, taking into account daily expenses and average monthly net wages (“real” wages after all taxes and duties are deducted from the gross wage). Information for Albania was compiled by Monitor.

In Albania, the average monthly net salary is 760 euros, while for a single individual to live normally, the report estimates that 852 euros are needed. The highest expense is for rent, taking up 93% of income, which means that the individual cannot afford the rest of the salary, which is 50 euros, so he has to take out a loan, or choose to continue living with his parents, or share the rent with someone else.

Earlier, Monitor published that the average rent for apartments in Tirana for 2026 has reached 721 euros per month, according to data from real estate agencies. According to the international coefficient used to assess housing affordability, rent is considered affordable when it does not exceed 30% of the gross monthly income of the family or individual. When rent exceeds 30% of monthly income, it is considered unaffordable and signals financial stress on a family for housing. If it reaches above 50%, this situation is called extreme “housing cost burden”, which increases the risk of housing insecurity.

From the calculations, according to the international coefficient formula, an individual must spend 77% of their gross income or 720 euros to pay for rental expenses.

If we consider the average net salary of around 72 thousand lek (740 euros), rental expenses reach around 97% of net monthly income, making housing practically unaffordable for the average individual.

In both cases, the indicators remain significantly above the 30% threshold that is considered the limit of affordability of housing costs.

Cost of living per individual, the most expensive in the region

According to the Tradingpedia report, in Serbia the monthly expenses for a single individual are 994 euros, but with the highest net salary of 1084 euros, the indicator is 91.7%.

In North Macedonia, with a net monthly salary similar to ours, at 769 euros, an individual needs 702 euros, or 91.3% of income, to live a normal life.

In Podgorica, 759 euros are sufficient, while the average net monthly salary is 1013 euros.

The cheapest cost of living in the region is in Bosnia and Herzegovina, at 584 euros, for a salary of 883 euros, or 66.2%.

In Tirana, the cost of living for an individual is relatively more expensive than in London, where 86% of income is needed, or in Rome (93.5%).

The cheapest city is Brussels, where half the income is enough to live normally for an individual.

Tradingpedia has also calculated the cost of living for an average family of 4, with two adults working at average wages. According to this indicator, the family income is 1520 euros per month, assuming that two adults work at average wages. An expense for a family of four is calculated at 1353 euros per month, for which almost 90% of the income must be spent. The cost of living is decreasing./ Monitor