Living in Guarda

For Guarda, the nearest airport was VSE, 56.4 km away in June 2026. The city covered 712.1 km² in 2021. In 2021, population density was 59.7 people per km². Guarda is in Portugal; its population was 42,541 in 2021.

Cheaper rent than 69% of Portuguese cities that publish it, lower unemployment than 65% of Portuguese cities that publish it and cleaner air than 87% of Portuguese cities that publish it.

Which Portugal-wide rules apply when you move to Guarda?

National rules stay on the country page instead of being relabelled as city data.

Visa and entry rulesPassport-specific entry and national residence context.BenefitsCountry-wide eligibility and official application routes.Taxes in PortugalNational rates and thresholds that apply in Guarda.Healthcare eligibilityCountry-wide insurance and residence conditions.

Housing and cost

How much does it cost to rent in Guarda?

Average net cold rent is 5.09 EUR/m² per month (2026-Q1), excluding heating and operating charges.

Published average over existing tenancies; a specific flat can sit either side of it. Asking-rent series, where present, are separate rows in the table.

Average net rent (nettokalt): 5.09 EUR/m²/month · www.ine.pt¹⁰

City-level rent is published below; no city-level cost-of-living basket is published for Guarda yet.

Net rent across major citiesGuarda highlighted among comparable cities

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Average net rent (nettokalt)	5.09 EUR/m²/monthcountry median €6.19	26 Aug 2026	www.ine.pt¹⁰Official

Worked out from these numbers

What does a 60 m² flat cost?

About 305 EUR a month in cold rent at the published average of 5.09 EUR/m² per month, before heating and operating charges.

Heating, water and operating charges come on top, and a specific flat can sit either side of an average.

Source period: 2026-Q1

Work and income

The unemployment rate was 2.04% in June 2026.

What is the unemployment rate in Guarda?

The unemployment rate is about 2 % (June 2026).

Unemployment rate: 2.04 % · IEFP — registered unemployment by municipality, June 2026¹²

Unemployment across cities in PortugalUnemployment in Guarda is 2.0%. Of 251 cities with data, 118 have unemployment of 2 to under 3%.

Unemployment rate (%)

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Unemployment rate	2.04 %country median 2.3%	30 Jun 2026	IEFP — registered unemployment by municipality, June 2026¹²Independent

Public employment service

No exact public employment office is currently linked to Guarda. The verified national service may still offer online registration, job search or an official office finder.

Country-level information

Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional — Public employment service

Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional (IEFP)

Job SearchRegistrationTraining

Open the Portugal service overview

Country-level service information is not treated as proof of a physical office in Guarda. Sources checked through 10 Aug 2026.

Healthcare

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Physicians per 100,000 residents	810 per 100,000	2024	Official INE Statistics of Health Personnel indicator 0012837: physicians per 1,000 inhabitants by municipality of residence. Exact municipality row selected by INE DICO geocod; value converted to the requested per-100k unit.⁷Official

Yes — migrants can receive medical care in Guarda when the national insurance or residence conditions are met.

Healthcare access follows the country-wide insurance rules; local capacity facts remain city data and are not used as proof of eligibility.

Open the official coverage guide

Country rule verified 2026-08-03.

Safety

How safe is Guarda?

Police recorded 2,550 incidents per 100,000 (2022). This counts all offences, so it is not comparable with a violent-crime-only rate from another source.

Recorded incidents per 100,000 residents: 2,550 incidents per 100k · INE — Taxa de criminalidade (‰) por Localização geográfica (NUTS 2013) e Categoria de crime; Anual, indicador 0008074, categoria Total, ano 2022³

Recorded crime across major citiesGuarda highlighted among comparable cities

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Recorded incidents per 100,000 residents	2,550 incidents per 100kcountry median 2,715	31 Dec 2022	INE — Taxa de criminalidade (‰) por Localização geográfica (NUTS 2013) e Categoria de crime; Anual, indicador 0008074, categoria Total, ano 2022³Official

Mobility and administration

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Nearest airport	VSE	13 Jun 2026	OurAirports — airports.csv⁸Official
Distance to nearest airport	56.4 km	13 Jun 2026	OurAirports — airports.csv⁸Official

Language courses and integration

No exact city-level course record is currently published for Guarda. These verified national programmes may still apply; use the official programme page to check local availability.

Country-level information

PLA search route through Portal da Oferta Formativa — State Language Course

AIMA / Portal da Oferta Formativa

For migrants seeking Portuguese as a non-native language.

Portuguesevaries

Open official information

Português Língua de Acolhimento (PLA) — State Language Course

AIMA / DGEstE public-school network / IEFP / Centros Qualifica

For migrants aged 16 or older whose mother tongue is not Portuguese, residence-permit holders, people with pending residence/protection/NISS evidence.

PortugueseCEFR A1–B2varies

Open official information

Open the full Portugal section

National programme information is not treated as proof of a course location in Guarda.

Climate and air quality

Monthly mean temperatures were 4.3°C in January and 20.3°C in July. Monthly precipitation was 101.1 mm in January and 14.4 mm in July.

Is the air quality good in Guarda?

The annual PM2.5 mean is 4 µg/m³ (2023) — within the WHO 2021 guideline. Source: European Environment Agency¹

Annual mean at the measuring site(s) serving the city; current-day readings differ.

Temperature through the yearAverage daytime high and night-time low, °C

Rainfall through the yearAverage monthly precipitation, mm

Air quality vs health guidelinesAnnual means against WHO 2021 guidelines and EU legal limits

City values from the published air-quality observations. WHO 2021 guidelines and EU limit values are published constants.

PM2.5 across cities in PortugalAnnual PM2.5 in Guarda is 4.0 µg/m³. Of 70 cities with data, 26 have annual PM2.5 of 8 to under 9 µg/m³.

Annual PM2.5 (µg/m³)

Metric	Value	Period	Source
PM2.5 — annual mean	4 µg/m³country median 6.2	31 Dec 2023	European Environment Agency¹Official
Average daytime high by month	Jan 7.2 · Feb 8.6 · Mar 11.8 · Apr 13.6 · May 17.6 · Jun 22.6 · Jul 26.6 · Aug 26.3 · Sep 22 · Oct 15.9 · Nov 10.3 · Dec 8 °C	31 Dec 2020	IPMA climate normal — mean monthly maximum air temperature, Guarda, 1991-2020⁶Official
Average night-time low by month	Jan 1.5 · Feb 2 · Mar 3.9 · Apr 5.2 · May 8.2 · Jun 11.6 · Jul 14 · Aug 14.4 · Sep 12.1 · Oct 8.8 · Nov 4.6 · Dec 2.4 °C	31 Dec 2020	IPMA climate normal — mean monthly minimum air temperature, Guarda, 1991-2020⁶Official
Average temperature by month	Jan 4.3 · Feb 5.3 · Mar 7.9 · Apr 9.4 · May 12.9 · Jun 17.1 · Jul 20.3 · Aug 20.3 · Sep 17 · Oct 12.4 · Nov 7.4 · Dec 5.2 °C	31 Dec 2020	IPMA climate normal — mean monthly air temperature, Guarda, 1991-2020⁶Official
Average precipitation by month	Jan 101.1 · Feb 75.9 · Mar 90.5 · Apr 96.3 · May 80.6 · Jun 26.8 · Jul 14.4 · Aug 11.2 · Sep 56.5 · Oct 149.5 · Nov 128.4 · Dec 133.3 mm	31 Dec 2020	IPMA climate normal — mean monthly precipitation, Guarda, 1991-2020⁶Official

Annual PM2.5 over time6 published observations, 2015–2023

Annual PM2.5 fell 33.3% between 2015 and 2023, from 6.0 to 4.0.

Cities of a similar size in Portugal

Closest published populations, for a like-for-like comparison.

All Portugal cities

Santa Cruz43,005 residents Tomar43,007 residents Alenquer43,267 residents Ponte de Lima43,498 residents Chaves41,243 residents Albufeira40,828 residents

Population and city profile

How many people live in Guarda?

The published population was 42,541 people in 2021. Source: INE — Portal municipal (quadro)²

Who lives hereResidents by nationality, % of population

Calculated from the population and foreign-resident facts on this page.

Metric	Value	Period	Source
City area	712.1 km²	2021	INE — Portal municipal (quadro)²Official
Foreign residents	1,589 people	2023	Foreign population with legal resident status at 31 December; Total Nacionalidade; annual municipality value.¹¹Independent
Population density	59.74 people/km²	2021	Reproducible derived density from the same-period INE populationTotal divided by areaKm2; no external density number was substituted.⁹Official
Population	42,541 people	2021	INE — Portal municipal (quadro)²Official

International community in Guarda

Named groups from exact city-grain official distributions. Citizenship, birthplace, language and ancestry answer different questions and stay separate.

Country of birth

Resident population at the 19 April 2021 Census reference date; total sex (HM) and total age; source-native indicator universe · 2021-04-19

Published group	People	Share
Total	40,117	100.0%
Portuguesa	36,946	92.1%
Estrangeira	3,171	7.9%
Europa	1,490	3.7%
União Europeia 27 (s/ PT - a partir de 2020)	1,287	3.2%
África	1,193	3.0%
França	1,044	2.6%
Angola	555	1.4%
América	422	1.1%
Brasil	334	0.8%
Moçambique	235	0.6%

Show 39 more groups

Published group	People	Share
Outros países - Europa	203	0.5%
São Tomé e Príncipe	148	0.4%
Alemanha	98	0.2%
Suíça	92	0.2%
Guiné-Bissau	92	0.2%
Espanha	77	0.2%
Ucrânia	75	0.2%
Cabo Verde	72	0.2%
Ásia	64	0.2%
Outros países - África	59	0.1%
África do Sul	32	0.1%
Venezuela	31	0.1%
Estados Unidos da América	29	0.1%
Reino Unido	21	0.1%
China	16	0.0%
Índia	16	0.0%
Países Baixos (Reino dos)	15	0.0%
Outros países - América	13	0.0%
Bélgica	12	0.0%
Nepal	12	0.0%
Roménia	11	0.0%
Paquistão	10	0.0%
Outros países - Ásia	9	0.0%
Canadá	9	0.0%
Itália	9	0.0%
Luxemburgo	7	0.0%
Outros	7	0.0%
Argentina	6	0.0%
Moldávia	6	0.0%
Bulgária	5	0.0%
Dinamarca	4	0.0%
Oceânia	2	0.0%
Austrália	2	0.0%
Lituânia	2	0.0%
Federação da Rússia	2	0.0%
Bangladeche	1	0.0%
Finlândia	1	0.0%
Irlanda	1	0.0%
Polónia	1	0.0%

Largest published groups; zero-count groups are omitted. Dimensions are source-native and are never merged. Official source⁵

Citizenship

Resident population at the 19 April 2021 Census reference date; total sex (HM) and total age; source-native indicator universe · 2021-04-19

Published group	People	Share
Total	40,117	100.0%
Portuguesa	39,164	97.6%
Estrangeira	953	2.4%
África	414	1.0%
América	241	0.6%
Europa	230	0.6%
Brasil	213	0.5%
União Europeia 27 (s/ PT - a partir de 2020)	151	0.4%
São Tomé e Príncipe	145	0.4%
Guiné-Bissau	102	0.3%
Outros países - Europa	79	0.2%

Show 37 more groups

Published group	People	Share
Ásia	68	0.2%
Cabo Verde	65	0.2%
Angola	50	0.1%
França	50	0.1%
Espanha	47	0.1%
Ucrânia	46	0.1%
Outros países - África	41	0.1%
China	19	0.0%
Reino Unido	18	0.0%
Índia	17	0.0%
Nepal	14	0.0%
Países Baixos (Reino dos)	13	0.0%
Paquistão	12	0.0%
Roménia	11	0.0%
Outros países - América	10	0.0%
Venezuela	9	0.0%
Bulgária	6	0.0%
Itália	6	0.0%
Moçambique	6	0.0%
Suíça	5	0.0%
Estados Unidos da América	5	0.0%
África do Sul	5	0.0%
Outros	5	0.0%
Outros países - Ásia	4	0.0%
Bélgica	4	0.0%
Alemanha	4	0.0%
Canadá	3	0.0%
Lituânia	3	0.0%
Moldávia	3	0.0%
Bangladeche	2	0.0%
Dinamarca	2	0.0%
Irlanda	2	0.0%
Federação da Rússia	2	0.0%
Argentina	1	0.0%
Finlândia	1	0.0%
Luxemburgo	1	0.0%
Polónia	1	0.0%

Largest published groups; zero-count groups are omitted. Dimensions are source-native and are never merged. Official source⁴

Is Guarda a good place to live?

There is no universal answer. The profile scores below show who the available published evidence may suit; they are a decision aid, not a personal recommendation.

Try your profile

Remote worker74%strong on work, weak on safety · range 66–82%

Skilled employee76%strong on work, weak on education · range 68–84%

Student64%strong on legal route, weak on education · range 55–73%

Family66%strong on family, weak on education · range 58–74%

Retirement70%strong on air quality, weak on admin · range 61–79%

Foreign residents1,589 people2023Independent source · Foreign population with legal resident status at 31 December; Total Nacionalidade; annual municipality value.

Population42,541 people2021Official source · INE — Portal municipal (quadro)

Average net rent (nettokalt)5.09 EUR/m²/month26 Aug 2026Official source · www.ine.pt

Unemployment rate2.04 %30 Jun 2026Independent source · IEFP — registered unemployment by municipality, June 2026

PM2.5 — annual mean4 µg/m³31 Dec 2023Official source · European Environment Agency

City area712.1 km²2021Official source · INE — Portal municipal (quadro)

Every value keeps its source, geographic scope and verification date · Last checked 2026-08-26

Common questions

Answered from the published values on this page, each with its source and date.

How many people live in Guarda?

The published population was 42,541 people in 2021. Source: INE — Portal municipal (quadro).

How much does it cost to rent in Guarda?

Average net cold rent is 5.09 EUR/m² per month (2026-Q1), excluding heating and operating charges. For a 70 m² flat that is about 356 EUR a month before utilities. Source: www.ine.pt.

Is the air quality good in Guarda?

The annual PM2.5 mean is 4 µg/m³ (2023) — within the WHO 2021 guideline. Source: European Environment Agency.

How safe is Guarda?

Police recorded 2,550 incidents per 100,000 (2022). This counts all offences, so it is not comparable with a violent-crime-only rate from another source. Source: INE — Taxa de criminalidade (‰) por Localização geográfica (NUTS 2013) e Categoria de crime; Anual, indicador 0008074, categoria Total, ano 2022.

What is the unemployment rate in Guarda?

The unemployment rate is about 2 % (June 2026). Source: IEFP — registered unemployment by municipality, June 2026.

How many foreign residents live in Guarda?

1,589 people residents hold a foreign nationality. Source: Foreign population with legal resident status at 31 December; Total Nacionalidade; annual municipality value..

Is Guarda a good place to live?

Guarda may suit different people for different reasons. The page's profile scores compare published cost, work, housing, safety, healthcare and other available factors; they are a decision aid, not a universal recommendation.

How many people born in Europa live in Guarda?

The official country of birth distribution records 1,490 people (3.7%) in the source-defined population for 2021-04-19. This is a country of birth measure, not a general estimate of ethnicity or migration status.

Cite this page

Open a format to select or copy this ImmigrationDB compilation citation. The native disclosure and text fallback work without JavaScript.

APA citation

ImmigrationDB. (2026, September 12). Guarda, Portugal: rent, jobs, safety [ImmigrationDB compilation; snapshot approved-static-d7ed373c115d60d0; version approved-static-d7ed373c115d60d0]. ImmigrationDB. https://immigrationdb.com/cities/pt/guarda/ Retrieved 2026-09-12. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

BibTeX citation

@misc{immigrationdb_immigrationdb_guarda-portugal-rent-jobs-safety_4387da67ae8d,
  author = {ImmigrationDB},
  title = {Guarda, Portugal: rent, jobs, safety},
  publisher = {ImmigrationDB},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-09-12},
  version = {approved-static-d7ed373c115d60d0},
  snapshot = {approved-static-d7ed373c115d60d0},
  url = {https://immigrationdb.com/cities/pt/guarda/},
  note = {Retrieved 2026-09-12. ImmigrationDB compilation. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/},
}

Markdown citation

[Guarda, Portugal: rent, jobs, safety](https://immigrationdb.com/cities/pt/guarda/) — ImmigrationDB; ImmigrationDB; snapshot approved-static-d7ed373c115d60d0; version approved-static-d7ed373c115d60d0; retrieved 2026-09-12; built 2026-09-12.

This citation identifies the ImmigrationDB compilation/page. Underlying source publishers and datasets retain their own terms; inspect the Sources section and cite those records separately. View the underlying source records.

Sources

JSON Markdown

European Environment Agency air.discomap.eea.europa.eu · checked 2026-08-03
INE — Portal municipal (quadro) INE · ine.pt · checked 2026-07-14
INE — Taxa de criminalidade (‰) por Localização geográfica (NUTS 2013) e Categoria de crime; Anual, indicador 0008074, categoria Total, ano 2022 INE · ine.pt · checked 2026-07-31
Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), Portugal Censos 2021 indicator 0014632 nationality ine.pt · checked 2026-09-01
Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), Portugal Censos 2021 indicator 0014633 country of birth ine.pt · checked 2026-09-01
IPMA climate normal — mean monthly maximum air temperature, Guarda, 1991-2020 IPMA climate normal · ipma.pt · checked 2026-07-26
Official INE Statistics of Health Personnel indicator 0012837: physicians per 1,000 inhabitants by municipality of residence. Exact municipality row selected by INE DICO geocod; value converted to the requested per-100k unit. ine.pt · checked 2026-07-15
OurAirports — airports.csv OurAirports · davidmegginson.github.io · checked 2026-07-14
Reproducible derived density from the same-period INE populationTotal divided by areaKm2; no external density number was substituted. ine.pt · checked 2026-07-15
www.ine.pt ine.pt · checked 2026-08-26

Show 2 more sources

Foreign population with legal resident status at 31 December; Total Nacionalidade; annual municipality value. pordata.pt · checked 2026-07-15
IEFP — registered unemployment by municipality, June 2026 IEFP · iefp.pt · checked 2026-07-26

Spotted a number that looks wrong? Every value here carries its source and date — tell us what you found and we will re-check it against the source.