Retiring in Sliema / St Julian's
The expat heart — seafront promenades, every restaurant and service you'd want, English is an official language so zero language barrier anywhere.
The expat heart of Malta: seafront promenades, every service you'd want and English as an official language, so zero barrier anywhere. The soundtrack is construction and traffic, and Paceville's party noise bleeds in — pick your street, not just your town.
Retirees who want English-first convenience and a walkable seafront.
Construction cranes and jackhammers are the national soundtrack, traffic is genuinely bad, and Paceville's party noise bleeds into St Julian's — pick your street, not just your town.
Anyone sensitive to construction noise, traffic and nightlife spillover.
What Sliema / St Julian's costs, measured against everywhere else
Of the 62 retiree bases we track across 17 countries, Sliema / St Julian's is the 58th cheapest — 57 are cheaper, 4 are dearer. It is the dearest of the 3 we cover in Malta.
Rent runs about 46% of the budget — $1,425 of $3,100, leaving $1,675 a month for everything else.
Our Malta page quotes $2,600 a month. Sliema / St Julian's runs 19% above that, at $3,100 — which is why the country number is a starting point and not an answer. We measured that gap across all 62 cities: the median is 16.5%.
The same money in another country
Within 15% of Sliema / St Julian's's budget, one city per country. The cost barely moves; the tax, the visa and the standard of care do.
Malta taxes you at 15% (remitted pension · €7.5k min) and asks for Malta Retirement Prog.. That line, not the rent, decides the swap — and flight time from your own city decides the rest, which depends on the passport you hold.
Other retiree bases in Malta
Ready to actually move to Malta?
The city tells you where to live. The country guide tells you how to get there — the visa routes step by step, which hospitals to register with, insurance, and the first 90 days on the ground.
See the full Malta relocation guide →Malta overall sits maybe 15–25% below UK/US costs — but Sliema rents have climbed to near-UK levels, so the real savings live in Gozo, the south, and the fact that you'll never need a translator.