Living in Vila Real

Vila Real had 51,850 residents in 2021 and is a city in Portugal. In 2024, annual PM2.5 was 5.01 µg/m³. The city covered 378.8 km² in 2021. Population density was 136.9 people per km² in 2021. In 2024, there were 870 physicians per 100,000 residents.

Higher unemployment than 89% of Portuguese cities that publish it, less recorded crime than 74% of Portuguese cities that publish it and cleaner air than 61% of Portuguese cities that publish it.

Which Portugal-wide rules apply when you move to Vila Real?

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 Vila Real.Healthcare eligibilityCountry-wide insurance and residence conditions.

Housing and cost

How much does it cost to rent in Vila Real?

Average net cold rent is 6.1 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): 6.1 EUR/m²/month · www.ine.pt⁹

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

Net rent across major citiesVila Real highlighted among comparable cities

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Average net rent (nettokalt)	6.1 EUR/m²/monthcountry median €6.19 — about the same	26 Aug 2026	www.ine.pt⁹Official

Worked out from these numbers

What does a 60 m² flat cost?

About 366 EUR a month in cold rent at the published average of 6.1 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 3.41% in June 2026.

What is the unemployment rate in Vila Real?

The unemployment rate is about 3.4 % (June 2026).

Unemployment rate: 3.41 % · IEFP — registered unemployment by municipality, June 2026¹¹

Unemployment across cities in PortugalUnemployment in Vila Real is 3.4%. Of 251 cities with data, 118 have unemployment of 2 to under 3%.

Unemployment rate (%)

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Unemployment rate	3.41 %country median 2.3%	30 Jun 2026	IEFP — registered unemployment by municipality, June 2026¹¹Independent

Public employment service

No exact public employment office is currently linked to Vila Real. 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 Vila Real. Sources checked through 10 Aug 2026.

Healthcare

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Physicians per 100,000 residents	870 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.⁶Official

Yes — migrants can receive medical care in Vila Real 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 Vila Real?

Police recorded 2,330 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: 2,330 incidents per 100k · INE — Taxa de criminalidade (‰) por Localização geográfica (NUTS 2013) e Categoria de crime; Anual, indicador 0008074, categoria Total, ano 2022²

Recorded crime across major citiesVila Real highlighted among comparable cities

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Recorded incidents per 100,000 residents	2,330 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 2022²Official

Mobility and administration

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Nearest airport	VRL	13 Jun 2026	OurAirports — airports.csv⁷Official
Distance to nearest airport	3.2 km	13 Jun 2026	OurAirports — airports.csv⁷Official

Language courses and integration

No exact city-level course record is currently published for Vila Real. 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 Vila Real.

Climate and air quality

Monthly mean temperatures were 6.3°C in January and 21.8°C in July. Monthly precipitation was 129.4 mm in January and 12.7 mm in July.

Is the air quality good in Vila Real?

The annual PM2.5 mean is about 5 µg/m³ (2024) — above the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³ but within the EU limit of 25 µg/m³.

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

PM2.5 — annual mean: 5.01 µg/m³ · official validated air-quality station bulk; no exact target station-period input found¹²

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 Vila Real is 5.0 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
NO₂ — annual mean	4.56 µg/m³country median 10.5	2024	official validated air-quality station bulk; no exact target station-period input found¹²Independent
PM10 — annual mean	9.53 µg/m³country median 18.6	2024	official validated air-quality station bulk; no exact target station-period input found¹²Independent
PM2.5 — annual mean	5.01 µg/m³country median 6.2	2024	official validated air-quality station bulk; no exact target station-period input found¹²Independent
Average daytime high by month	Jan 9.9 · Feb 12.2 · Mar 15.6 · Apr 17.4 · May 21.2 · Jun 25.3 · Jul 28.8 · Aug 29 · Sep 25.2 · Oct 19.3 · Nov 13.2 · Dec 10.4 °C	31 Dec 2020	IPMA climate normal — mean monthly maximum air temperature, Vila Real, 1991-2020⁵Official
Average night-time low by month	Jan 2.8 · Feb 3.5 · Mar 5.6 · Apr 7.1 · May 9.7 · Jun 12.6 · Jul 14.7 · Aug 14.9 · Sep 13 · Oct 10.1 · Nov 6 · Dec 3.6 °C	31 Dec 2020	IPMA climate normal — mean monthly minimum air temperature, Vila Real, 1991-2020⁵Official
Average temperature by month	Jan 6.3 · Feb 7.9 · Mar 10.6 · Apr 12.2 · May 15.4 · Jun 18.9 · Jul 21.8 · Aug 21.9 · Sep 19.1 · Oct 14.7 · Nov 9.6 · Dec 7 °C	31 Dec 2020	IPMA climate normal — mean monthly air temperature, Vila Real, 1991-2020⁵Official
Average precipitation by month	Jan 129.4 · Feb 83.6 · Mar 91.1 · Apr 84.8 · May 63.4 · Jun 29.2 · Jul 12.7 · Aug 21.5 · Sep 48.9 · Oct 120.9 · Nov 122.8 · Dec 142.8 mm	31 Dec 2020	IPMA climate normal — mean monthly precipitation, Vila Real, 1991-2020⁵Official

Cities of a similar size in Portugal

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

All Portugal cities

Covilhã51,797 residents Amarante52,264 residents Caldas da Rainha52,270 residents Sesimbra52,465 residents Montijo51,222 residents Marco de Canaveses53,961 residents

Population and city profile

How many people live in Vila Real?

The published population was 51,850 people in 2021. Source: INE — Portal municipal (quadro)¹

Who lives hereResidents by nationality, % of population

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

Metric	Value	Period	Source
City area	378.8 km²	2021	INE — Portal municipal (quadro)¹Official
Foreign residents	2,131 people	2023	Foreign population with legal resident status at 31 December; Total Nacionalidade; annual municipality value.¹⁰Independent
Population density	136.9 people/km²	2021	Reproducible derived density from the same-period INE populationTotal divided by areaKm2; no external density number was substituted.⁸Official
Population	51,850 people	2021	INE — Portal municipal (quadro)¹Official

International community in Vila Real

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	49,571	100.0%
Portuguesa	46,092	93.0%
Estrangeira	3,479	7.0%
Europa	1,624	3.3%
União Europeia 27 (s/ PT - a partir de 2020)	1,136	2.3%
África	1,057	2.1%
Angola	755	1.5%
França	732	1.5%
América	728	1.5%
Brasil	623	1.3%
Outros países - Europa	488	1.0%

Show 38 more groups

Published group	People	Share
Suíça	378	0.8%
Moçambique	213	0.4%
Alemanha	179	0.4%
Espanha	78	0.2%
Ásia	68	0.1%
Luxemburgo	56	0.1%
Ucrânia	52	0.1%
Bélgica	40	0.1%
Reino Unido	37	0.1%
China	35	0.1%
Venezuela	35	0.1%
Estados Unidos da América	32	0.1%
Outros países - Ásia	27	0.1%
Outros países - África	22	0.0%
São Tomé e Príncipe	21	0.0%
África do Sul	21	0.0%
Canadá	20	0.0%
Cabo Verde	19	0.0%
Outros países - América	15	0.0%
Itália	12	0.0%
Roménia	12	0.0%
Federação da Rússia	10	0.0%
Países Baixos (Reino dos)	7	0.0%
Bulgária	6	0.0%
Guiné-Bissau	6	0.0%
Polónia	6	0.0%
Outros	6	0.0%
Moldávia	5	0.0%
Hungria	4	0.0%
Índia	4	0.0%
Argentina	3	0.0%
Oceânia	2	0.0%
Austrália	2	0.0%
Bangladeche	2	0.0%
Finlândia	1	0.0%
Grécia	1	0.0%
Irlanda	1	0.0%
Suécia	1	0.0%

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

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	49,571	100.0%
Portuguesa	48,828	98.5%
Estrangeira	739	1.5%
América	392	0.8%
Brasil	361	0.7%
Europa	206	0.4%
União Europeia 27 (s/ PT - a partir de 2020)	135	0.3%
África	76	0.2%
Outros países - Europa	71	0.1%
Ásia	65	0.1%
Espanha	50	0.1%

Show 34 more groups

Published group	People	Share
China	49	0.1%
Angola	46	0.1%
França	31	0.1%
Ucrânia	29	0.1%
Suíça	23	0.0%
Itália	15	0.0%
Venezuela	14	0.0%
Outros países - Ásia	11	0.0%
Reino Unido	11	0.0%
Alemanha	10	0.0%
Outros países - África	9	0.0%
Estados Unidos da América	9	0.0%
Cabo Verde	7	0.0%
Moçambique	7	0.0%
Outros países - América	6	0.0%
Bélgica	6	0.0%
Polónia	6	0.0%
Roménia	5	0.0%
Federação da Rússia	5	0.0%
Apátrida	4	0.0%
Bulgária	4	0.0%
Países Baixos (Reino dos)	4	0.0%
São Tomé e Príncipe	4	0.0%
Luxemburgo	3	0.0%
Bangladeche	2	0.0%
Moldávia	2	0.0%
Paquistão	2	0.0%
África do Sul	2	0.0%
Argentina	1	0.0%
Canadá	1	0.0%
Guiné-Bissau	1	0.0%
Irlanda	1	0.0%
Índia	1	0.0%
Outros	1	0.0%

Largest published groups; zero-count groups are omitted. Dimensions are source-native and are never merged. Official source³

Is Vila Real 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 worker68%strong on work, weak on safety · range 60–76%

Skilled employee71%strong on work, weak on education · range 63–79%

Student63%strong on legal route, weak on education · range 54–72%

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

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

Foreign residents2,131 people2023Independent source · Foreign population with legal resident status at 31 December; Total Nacionalidade; annual municipality value.

Population51,850 people2021Official source · INE — Portal municipal (quadro)

Average net rent (nettokalt)6.1 EUR/m²/month26 Aug 2026Official source · www.ine.pt

Unemployment rate3.41 %30 Jun 2026Independent source · IEFP — registered unemployment by municipality, June 2026

NO₂ — annual mean4.56 µg/m³2024Independent source · official validated air-quality station bulk; no exact target station-period input found

PM10 — annual mean9.53 µg/m³2024Independent source · official validated air-quality station bulk; no exact target station-period input found

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 Vila Real?

The published population was 51,850 people in 2021. Source: INE — Portal municipal (quadro).

How much does it cost to rent in Vila Real?

Average net cold rent is 6.1 EUR/m² per month (2026-Q1), excluding heating and operating charges. For a 70 m² flat that is about 427 EUR a month before utilities. Source: www.ine.pt.

Is the air quality good in Vila Real?

The annual PM2.5 mean is about 5 µg/m³ (2024) — above the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³ but within the EU limit of 25 µg/m³. Source: official validated air-quality station bulk; no exact target station-period input found.

How safe is Vila Real?

Police recorded 2,330 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 Vila Real?

The unemployment rate is about 3.4 % (June 2026). Source: IEFP — registered unemployment by municipality, June 2026.

How many foreign residents live in Vila Real?

2,131 people residents hold a foreign nationality. Source: Foreign population with legal resident status at 31 December; Total Nacionalidade; annual municipality value..

Is Vila Real a good place to live?

Vila Real 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 Vila Real?

The official country of birth distribution records 1,624 people (3.3%) 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). Vila Real, Portugal: rent, jobs, safety [ImmigrationDB compilation; snapshot approved-static-d7ed373c115d60d0; version approved-static-d7ed373c115d60d0]. ImmigrationDB. https://immigrationdb.com/cities/pt/vila-real/ Retrieved 2026-09-12. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

BibTeX citation

@misc{immigrationdb_immigrationdb_vila-real-portugal-rent-jobs-safety_ecd1a038afcf,
  author = {ImmigrationDB},
  title = {Vila Real, 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/vila-real/},
  note = {Retrieved 2026-09-12. ImmigrationDB compilation. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/},
}

Markdown citation

[Vila Real, Portugal: rent, jobs, safety](https://immigrationdb.com/cities/pt/vila-real/) — 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

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, Vila Real, 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
Foreign population with legal resident status at 31 December; Total Nacionalidade; annual municipality value. pordata.pt · checked 2026-07-15

Show 2 more sources

IEFP — registered unemployment by municipality, June 2026 IEFP · iefp.pt · checked 2026-07-26
official validated air-quality station bulk; no exact target station-period input found aqportal.discomap.eea.europa.eu · checked 2026-07-15

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.