When it comes to pay versus rent, Spaniards don’t have much left at the end of the month compared to most developed countries, according to Deutsche Bank’s latest global city rankings.
Deutsche Bank’s Mapping the World’s Prices 2025 report ranks global cities by average net monthly salary, housing costs, and disposable income after rent — offering a revealing picture of financial comfort across the world’s urban economies.
So how do Spanish cities fare? In short: not brilliantly.
Low pay, middling housing costs
In Figure 21, Monthly Net Salary (after tax), Madrid and Barcelona both sit in the lower half of the European table. Average net pay in Madrid hovers around €2,150 per month, while Barcelona trails slightly at €2,050. That’s roughly half the take-home pay of cities like Zurich, Geneva, or Luxembourg, and about 25–30% below London or Paris.
At first glance, Spain’s relatively lower housing costs (see Figure 22) might seem to balance things out — property prices per square metre are about a third of those in Zurich and half of London’s. But that only tells part of the story.
After rent, little left to spend
Deutsche Bank’s Disposable Income After Rent Index (Figure 24) reveals what people actually have left once housing costs are deducted. Here, Spanish cities fall behind.
In this ranking, Madrid places in the mid-30s worldwide, and Barcelona a few spots lower, well below other European cities with similar living costs. By contrast, Zurich, Luxembourg, and Frankfurt top the list — cities where high salaries comfortably outpace high rents.
In Spain, the opposite dynamic applies: modest salaries and rising rents eat away at disposable income, leaving residents with significantly less money left over for savings, leisure, or consumption.
A squeezed middle
This imbalance shows up clearly when comparing Spanish figures internationally. A worker in Madrid or Barcelona typically spends 40–45% of their net salary on rent, compared with 25–30% in cities like Berlin or Vienna, or even less in Nordic capitals where wages are stronger.
In other words, Spain’s housing costs are not outrageously high by global standards — but salaries are too low to make them feel affordable. The result is a growing “cost-of-living squeeze” that disproportionately affects young professionals and renters.
Spain’s big cities are still cheaper to live in than London, Paris, or Zurich, but when pay packets are factored in, residents are left with less spare cash than most of their European peers.
