Remuneration depends on the municipality where they are elected, but generally speaking, the more voters a municipality has, the more mayors earn.

Mayors' salaries are also based on the salary of the President of the Republic. This year, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has a gross base salary of €8,370.14, according to the salary table for local elected officials available on the website of the Directorate-General for Local Authorities (DGAL).

Since salaries depend on the number of voters, the salaries of the mayors of Lisbon and Porto are higher, according to a table sent to the municipalities earlier this year with the rules, and reported by Notícias ao Minuto.

In 2025, the gross salary of the mayor of Lisbon and Porto (including vacation and Christmas bonuses) therefore reaches €4,604 (before taxes).

A full-time councillor in Lisbon and Porto earns €3,683.20 gross, which corresponds to 80% of the mayor's salary.

The rule is that salaries are proportional to the number of voters: the greater the number of people who vote in a municipality, the higher the salary of the mayor and council members.

In practice, there are four salary brackets: in Lisbon and Porto, mayors earn 55% of the President's salary; in municipalities with 40,000 or more voters, they earn 50%; in municipalities with more than 10,000 and less than 40,000 voters, they earn 45%; and in the remaining municipalities, mayors earn 40% of what Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa earns.

The following table shows how salaries are calculated this year and how these four levels work in practice:

On October 12, 2025, voters will cast ballots to elect the executives and municipal councils of 308 municipalities. 3,259 parish assemblies will also be elected, 167 more than in the last municipal elections, due to the replacement of 302 parishes merged in 2012 through the disintegration of 135 parish unions.