Life in Spain means a mild winter in the south and on the coast, public healthcare and schools for residents and prices below the EU average, but also rents that go up every year, a tough job market and unhurried bureaucracy. Below are the pros and cons of living in Spain, what you need to live here legally and how much it costs per month.
What you need to live in Spain
You can live in Spain for more than 90 days only with a residence permit on specific grounds. The right to live here can no longer be bought: the “golden visa” programme for buying property was abolished on 3 April 2025.
- Remote work for foreign companies — the digital nomad visa, with income from €2,849 a month.
- Passive income or savings — the non-lucrative residence permit, from €2,400 a month.
- Your own project, studies, employment, family — separate grounds with their own requirements; they are all collected in our overview of all the ways to get a Spanish residence permit.
Once you have a residence permit, you need to register at the town hall (empadronamiento), get a TIE foreigner card and have health insurance or be registered with social security. After five years of legal residence you become entitled to permanent residence.
How much it costs to live in Spain per month
A single person in a small town usually gets by on €1,000–1,500 a month, and in a big city on €1,500–2,000; a couple on €1,500–2,200 and €2,200–3,000 respectively. The budget depends above all on rent: the national average, according to idealista, August 2026, is €15.1 per square metre per month, and noticeably higher in Madrid and Barcelona. A detailed item-by-item calculation is in our analysis of how much money you need to live in Spain.
Spain in numbers
Impressions of a country date quickly, so here are the official statistics. The figures update automatically as soon as INE and Eurostat publish new data.
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Average household spending per year | €35,101 (INE, 2025) |
| Share of housing and utilities in spending | 33%, including imputed rent on owner-occupied homes |
| Food / transport / restaurants and hotels | 16% / 11% / 9% of spending |
| Average and median gross salary | €29,540 and €24,497 a year (2024) |
| Unemployment | 10.2%; under 25, 23.3% (Q3 2026) |
| House prices over the year | +12.2% (Q2 2026) |
| Life expectancy | 84.0 years against 81.5 on average in the EU (2024) |
| Homicide deaths per 100,000 people | 0.63 against 0.65 in the EU (2023) |
| Road deaths per million people | 37 against 44 in the EU (2024) |
| Hours of sunshine per year | Malaga 2,905, Valencia 2,696, Madrid about 2,750, Barcelona about 2,500 (AEMET normals 1981–2010) |
| Top rate of income tax | 45% in Madrid, 50% in Catalonia, 54% in the Valencian Community, on income above €300,000 (AEAT) |
What this means for a family with capital. On safety Spain is at the EU average, and its roads are safer: road deaths are 16% lower than the EU average. Unemployment is high, but for someone living on foreign income or capital that is not a drawback, only a question about work for grown-up children. Housing is getting more expensive, +12.2% over the year, so a purchase is worth planning early. And the high top tax rates make tax planning before the move, such as the Beckham regime, more important than the choice of city.
Pros of living in Spain
In the UN Human Development Report 2025, Spain ranks 28th out of 193 countries on the Human Development Index, which takes into account life expectancy, education and income. How this feels in everyday life is shown in our overview of the standard of living in Spain.
Climate
On the Mediterranean coast and in the south the winter is mild: usually +12…+18 °C during the day, and the Canary Islands are warm all year round. But Spain is big: Madrid and the interior get frosts in winter and heat above +35 °C in summer, while the north is cooler and rainier. The difference between north and south is greater than the map suggests — how it affects where to live is covered in our overview of where to live in Spain.
Spain’s climate zones and city rankings for winter, summer, sunshine and rain are in our article on the climate of Spain by region and city.
Prices below the EU average
According to Eurostat data for 2025, the price level for household consumption in Spain is 91.1% of the EU average: cheaper than in Germany and France. Groceries are especially affordable: a kilo of bread costs €2.70 on average, a litre of milk €0.97 and a litre of olive oil €4.79 (MAPA consumption panel, 2025), while restaurants and hotels are at 85.4% of the EU average.
Healthcare and schools
Public healthcare is available to those registered with the social security system — people in work and their families; for grounds without such registration you need a private policy. Residents’ children attend state schools free of charge, but the language of instruction depends on the region: in Catalonia, Valencia, the Basque Country and Galicia the regional language is taught alongside Spanish.
Schengen and travel
With a Spanish residence permit you can travel within the Schengen Area without visas for up to 90 days in every 180. Within the country there are high-speed trains, cheap domestic flights and ferries to the islands.
People and culture
In everyday life Spaniards are open and sociable, a lot is settled through conversation and personal contact, and life largely revolves around family, the street and fiestas. What lies behind this — from the habit of putting things off to attitudes to personal boundaries — is covered in our article on the Spanish mentality. Almost every month there is a major fiesta somewhere in the country — what is celebrated and when is collected in our overview of public holidays in Spain. The Prado and Reina Sofía museums in Madrid, the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres and the Picasso museums in Málaga and Barcelona make cultural life rich outside the capital too.
Cons of living in Spain
Rents are rising
The biggest expense is growing faster than the others: the national average rent changed by +5.8% over the year (idealista, August 2026), and housing including utilities, according to Eurostat, costs almost as much as the EU average — 98.1%. In Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga and on the islands rent takes a considerable share of a family’s income.
Jobs and salaries
A foreigner can work as an employee only with the right to work: it comes with some types of residence permit or is arranged through an employer. Unemployment in Spain is higher than in most EU countries, and salaries are lower than in northern Europe: the minimum wage in 2026 is €1,221 a month, paid 14 times a year. How to look for work and which permits you need is covered in the article working in Spain.
Bureaucracy and language
In big cities, appointments with the immigration services and with the police for fingerprinting sometimes take weeks, and English rarely helps in public offices and health centres. Without Spanish at A2–B1 level, everyday matters take many times longer to sort out.
Cold homes in winter
Many regions have no central heating, and old buildings are poorly insulated, so in winter flats are heated with air conditioners, electric heaters or gas boilers — and the electricity bill goes up. Heating is more common in the north of the country.
Driving licences
Licences from countries without an exchange agreement with Spain are not exchanged: you can drive on one for six months after obtaining residence, and after that you must pass the theory and practical tests and get a Spanish licence. How to book, what it costs and how the Spanish test questions differ from what you are used to are described in our guide on how to get a driving licence in Spain.
How it went for our clients
We break down real cases of Relotus clients: how long the process took, what extra documents were requested and what did not go to plan. A few stories about moving to Spain:
- Family refused a Schengen visa: the main applicant got the permit first: a digital nomad visa;
- How a family got a Blue Card in Spain in 33 days when the spouse’s residence permit in Lithuania was being revoked;
- How documents from three countries were gathered for four founders: a start-up visa;
- A business plan rewritten for ENISA.
All the case studies are in the client stories section.
Frequently asked questions
What do you need to live in Spain?
A residence permit on specific grounds — for example, the digital nomad visa for remote work or the non-lucrative residence permit for those living on savings. After that — municipal registration, a TIE foreigner card and health insurance. Residence permits for buying property have not been issued since April 2025.
How much does it cost to live in Spain per month?
A single person in a small town usually gets by on €1,000–1,500 a month, in a big city on €1,500–2,000, and a couple on €1,500–2,200 and €2,200–3,000. The budget depends above all on rent: the national average is €15.1 per square metre per month (idealista, August 2026).
What are the pros of living in Spain?
A mild winter in the south and on the coast, prices below the EU average (91.1% according to Eurostat for 2025), public healthcare and free schools for residents, travel within Schengen and the right to permanent residence after five years.
What are the cons of living in Spain?
Rents rising faster than incomes, a tough job market and modest salaries, queues at public offices, cold homes in winter and the fact that licences from many countries are not exchanged.
How safe is it to live in Spain?
According to Eurostat, the homicide death rate in Spain is 0.63 per 100,000 people against 0.65 on average in the EU, and road deaths are 16% lower than the EU average. The main everyday risk is pickpocketing in tourist areas of big cities.
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