Managing Your Finances as an Expat in Poland
Poland has been in the EU since 2004 and uses its own currency, the złoty (PLN), while it prepares to adopt the euro.1 Anyone legally resident in an EU country is entitled to open a basic payment account, and a bank can't refuse one just because you live elsewhere.2 A złoty account for daily life alongside your home-currency account keeps each side of your budget in its own currency.
Banking in Poland
Borderless Budget connects to major Polish banks including PKO Bank Polski, Bank Pekao, mBank, ING, and Bank Millennium through secure bank connections, and your accounts in the US, Canada, the EU, the UK, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein connect too.
Major banks for expats
- PKO Bank Polski
- Bank Pekao
- mBank
- ING
- Bank Millennium
Cash vs. card culture
BLIK, Poland's mobile payment system, had 20.7 million active users at the end of 2025, who made 2.9 billion transactions worth 441.5 billion zł that year. Nearly half were online purchases, and one in four was money sent straight to a phone number. In shops, contactless BLIK made up 48% of its in-store payments.3
Cost of Living in Poland
| Category | Typical Cost |
|---|---|
| Rent | Average asking rent in April 2026 for a flat up to 40 m²: 2,960 zł/month in Warsaw, 2,420 zł in Kraków, 2,085 zł in Poznań and 1,813 zł in Łódź. A 40 to 59 m² flat in Warsaw averaged 3,902 zł.4 |
| Groceries | Food and soft drinks were the largest share of Polish household spending in 2025, at 25.1% of an average 2,015 zł per person a month.5 |
| Transport | 110 zł for a personal 30-day ticket in Warsaw's zone 1, or 280 zł for 90 days.6 |
| Healthcare | Employees pay a 9% health insurance contribution, which comes out of net pay rather than reducing income tax.7 |
Average disposable income in Poland was 3,500 zł per person a month in 2025, and spending averaged 2,015 zł.5 If you earn in dollars or euros, the złoty rate decides how far that salary goes each month.
Currency Considerations
The European Central Bank publishes a euro reference rate for the złoty around 16:00 CET every working day, for information only, so the rate your bank or card gives you will differ.8 For anyone paid in USD or EUR, your cost of living in Poland shifts month to month even when your spending doesn't.
Transferring money to Poland
- A euro payment from a Polish bank account to another EU country can't cost more than a domestic payment in złoty.9 If you hold euros, sending them in euros avoids a conversion at your bank's rate.
- If your card is from another EU country and you pay in złoty, your card provider may charge a conversion fee, but it must tell you the amount before you agree to the purchase.9
- Keep enough PLN on hand at the start of the month so rent never depends on that day's rate.
- If you're paid in złoty but still have bills at home, a fixed monthly transfer is easier to budget than ad hoc conversions.
Borderless Budget tracks all of your accounts, your home-country bank, your Polish bank, and services like Wise or Revolut, in a single dashboard. Exchange rates update daily, so your budget always reflects where things actually stand.
Tax Considerations for Expats in Poland
- You can become a Polish tax resident by having your centre of vital interests in Poland or by spending more than 183 days of a tax year there. Residents are taxed in Poland on all their income, wherever it is earned.10
- The tax scale has two rates: 12% on a tax base up to 120,000 zł and 32% above it, with the 12% tax reduced by 3,600 zł.10
- Annual returns, including the PIT-37, are submitted between 15 February and 30 April of the following year.10
- Employees also pay 13.71% of gross salary in social security contributions, plus the 9% health contribution.7
- The US taxes its citizens on worldwide income from all sources, wherever they live, and offers the foreign earned income exclusion and the foreign tax credit.11 The US and Poland have an income tax treaty dating from 1974.12
Budgeting Tips for Expats in Poland
- Budget your Polish life in złoty. Rent, groceries and transport are all in PLN, and converting each one in your head adds noise, not clarity.
- Watch the złoty against your earning currency. When it moves, the same rent costs you more or less from one quarter to the next.
- Ask whether a flat's rent includes building fees (czynsz administracyjny) and utilities, and budget them as their own line if not.
- Budget from net pay. Social security and the health contribution come off before your salary reaches your account.7
- BLIK makes small payments quick, which also makes them easy to lose track of. Check your eating-out and coffee lines weekly.
- Keep your home-country bills, like subscriptions, loans and phone plans, in their own currency so you can see what Poland actually costs you.
How Borderless Budget Works in Poland
Connect your Polish and home-country banks
Link your PKO Bank Polski, Bank Pekao, mBank, or other Polish bank alongside your home-country bank. Transactions from all accounts sync automatically into one dashboard.
Budget in PLN and your home currency
Your budget is set in your home currency, and Borderless Budget automatically converts every transaction, whether it's in Polish złoty or your home currency. You can toggle any transaction to see the original currency amount. Exchange rates update daily, so your budget always reflects reality.
Automatic categorization
Transactions from Polish merchants are automatically categorized. Categorization improves as you use the app, learning your patterns across both currencies, so you spend less time sorting transactions and more time living your life in Poland.
See the impact of exchange rates
When exchange rates shift, your combined budget view updates automatically. You'll see exactly how currency movements affect your overall spending, no surprises, no guesswork.