Side by side · Reviewed September 4, 2026
United States vs Spain
The same 12 measures, one baseline, both directions. Across the 10 measures that compare like with like, Spain comes out ahead on 6 and the United States on 3, with 1 too close to call. The remaining 2 are healthcare lines that do not reduce to a winner.
Every measure, both sides
| Measure | United States | Spain | Which side wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall price levelconsumer prices including rent, US = 100 | 100 | 70 | Spain 30% cheaper |
| Rent, 1-bed in the centremonthly average | $1,700 | $1,390 | Spain 18% cheaper |
| Rent, 1-bed outside the centremonthly average | $1,350 | $965 | Spain 29% cheaper |
| Groceriesindex, US = 100 | 100 | 88 | Spain 12% cheaper |
| Transportindex, US = 100 | 100 | 100 | Level within 2% of each other |
| Utilitiesindex, US = 100 | 100 | 74 | Spain 26% cheaper |
| Restaurantsindex, US = 100 | 100 | 70 | Spain 30% cheaper |
| Average net salarymonthly, what local jobs pay | $4,230 | $2,620 | United States 61% more, $1,610/mo |
| Top income tax rateheadline top bracket, not the effective rate | 37% | 47% | United States 10 points lower |
| VAT / sales taxUS figure is an average state and local sales tax | 7.5% | 21% | United States 13.5 points lower |
| Healthcare modelhow the cost is collected | Mainly private, employer-linked | Universal public system | Not comparable Different funding, not a score |
| Typical cover for one adultUS figure is the full employer-sponsored premium, most of it paid by the employer | $777/mo | $90/mo | Not comparable One is a payroll benefit, one is a policy you buy |
The two healthcare rows are left out of the count because the US number is a premium mostly paid by an employer and the Spain number is not. Read the margins rather than the total: six of the cost rows are components of the same price index, so a cheap country wins them together and the headline score overstates the spread.
The same comparison in dollars a month
A US net income of $4,230 a month buys the average American lifestyle. Reproducing that same basket in Spain, at a price level of 70, costs about $2,961, leaving roughly $1,269 a month unspent.
| If you | Monthly income | What it is worth in Spain |
|---|---|---|
| Keep a US-paying job and work remotely | $4,230 | Buys the US average basket for $2,961, $1,269 left over each month |
| Take a local job at the Spain average | $2,620 | Buys what $3,743 buys in the US, 12% below the US average net salary |
The same three gaps over a full year:
- Same basket, over a year
- $15,228 kept rather than spent
- Centre rent, over a year
- $3,720 less than the US average
- Local pay against US pay
- $19,320 less a year on the local average
Every line uses the overall price index, rent included, and assumes you spend like an average household, which nobody does exactly. The rent figure is a national average for a one-bedroom in a city centre, not a quote for a specific city. Put your own numbers in below.
Run your own income through Spain
The table above uses the US average. Enter what you actually take home and see how the comparison changes.
A ratio, not a budget: it scales your income by the country's overall consumer price level against the US average. Your actual costs depend on the city and how you live. Rent figures are national market averages for a one-bedroom apartment.
Where Spain sits among the 15 countries compared
The same measures again, this time against the rest of the set rather than against the US. A comparison can look strong on its own and still be mid-table.
| Measure | Spain | Rank in the set | Leader | United States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall price level | 70 | 5th of 15 | Thailand 32 | 100 |
| Rent, 1-bed in the centre | $1,390 | 9th of 15 | Thailand $475 | $1,700 |
| Average net salary | $2,620 | 11th of 15 | Australia $4,996 | $4,230 |
| What local pay buys locally | $3,743 | 10th of 15 | Australia $4,996 | $4,230 |
| Top income tax rate | 47% | 7th of 15 | Mexico 35% | 37% |
| VAT / sales tax | 21% | 9th of 15 | Canada 5% | 7.5% |
What the numbers do not say
The salary column is a local salary
$2,620 a month is what employment in Spain pays on average, not what you would earn there. If you carry a US income with you, the salary row stops applying and only the cost rows matter, which changes the result of this whole page.
US healthcare hides inside the employer
Employer-sponsored single coverage averaged about $777 a month in total premium, most of it paid by the employer, before deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. That cost never appears in a consumer price index, so a raw price comparison flatters the US. Spain collects it differently (Universal public system), and what you can actually use depends on your status: Anyone who works in Spain and pays into Seguridad Social, plus their dependants, gets full SNS cover from day one. Non-working residents on a digital nomad or non-lucrative permit generally must hold private insurance until they qualify for the convenio especial, a public buy-in that costs 60 euros a month under 65 and 157 euros a month at 65 and over, requires one year of prior residence plus municipal padron registration, and excludes the pharmacy benefit.
Tax follows your citizenship, not your address
The United States taxes citizens on worldwide income wherever they live, so the tax row is not a swap of one system for another. Spain has an income tax treaty with the US and a totalization agreement, so social contributions are not paid twice. Local tax residency rule: You are a Spanish tax resident if you spend more than 183 days in Spain in a calendar year (sporadic absences count unless you prove tax residence elsewhere), or if the main base of your economic activities or interests is in Spain. Residence is also presumed if your non-separated spouse and minor children habitually live in Spain. Residents are taxed on worldwide income.
Top rates are not what you pay
The table shows 47% against 37%, but those are top brackets. Where the brackets start, what social contributions add, and what deductions exist decide the actual bill. The two sides are not measured the same way: the US figure is the top FEDERAL rate only, before state and city income tax, while many countries' headline rates already include regional or municipal tax. Read the gap as indicative, not as a like-for-like difference. The 1990 US-Spain income tax treaty, amended by the 2013 Protocol, is in force. The US-Spain social security agreement, signed 30 September 1986, has applied since 1 April 1988, so you pay into one country's system, not both, and a certificate of coverage keeps a posted worker or self-employed American out of double contributions. Americans keep filing Form 1040 from Spain. The 2026 foreign earned income exclusion is $132,900, but Spanish rates usually exceed US rates, so the foreign tax credit is often the better tool. Spain's flat 24% impatriate regime under article 93 LIRPF (the 'Beckham law') applies to employment income up to 600,000 euros for the year of arrival plus five more, and digital nomad permit holders can elect it. Spain also has a regional net wealth tax and a national solidarity tax on fortunes above 3 million euros, plus Modelo 720 reporting of foreign assets over 50,000 euros per category.
Consumption tax lands differently
21% VAT is already inside the shelf price in Spain. The US average sales tax of 7.5% is added at the till and varies by state and city. Comparing the two rates directly overstates the gap you feel at the counter.
National averages hide the city you would live in
Every figure here is a national average. Madrid does not price like the rest of Spain, and the US average is stretched between Manhattan and rural Ohio. Compare the city you would actually move to against the city you are actually leaving.
The exchange rate is a live variable
Local prices and salaries are converted to US dollars so the two columns can be compared. Everything on the Spain side is quoted in Euro at home, so a swing in the EUR to USD rate moves every number in that column without anything local actually changing.
Nothing here prices the move itself
Shipping, flights, a deposit on a first lease, visa fees and the months before local income starts are one-off costs that sit outside a cost of living index. They usually decide the first year, not the price of groceries.
This page is reference information, not immigration, tax or medical advice. The tax and healthcare rows are deliberately simplified. Verify anything you plan to act on against the official sources: Spain tax authority → · health authority →
The call
Spain is the strongest fit for American remote workers and passive-income retirees who can meet the income tests, want serious public healthcare for close to nothing, and are willing to accept Spanish worldwide taxation in exchange. It is a poor fit for anyone who needs to earn a Spanish salary, because average net pay is around $2,620 a month while Madrid and Barcelona rents now track mid-tier US cities.
Spain suits you if
- Remote workers billing US clients who qualify for the digital nomad permit and can elect the flat 24% impatriate tax regime
- Retirees and early retirees with at least 2,400 euros a month of passive income and no need to work
- Americans who want a genuine path to EU long-term residence after five years, with no language requirement for that stage
- Families who want walkable cities, cheap public transport and free public schooling and healthcare
- People who want the second-largest high-speed rail network in the world and 30-minute flights to the rest of Europe
Think twice about
- Madrid and Barcelona rents, which hit 23.3 and 20.2 euros per square metre in August 2026 and have risen faster than incomes for five straight years
- Spanish pay: the average single worker nets about 2,253 euros a month, so taking a local job usually means a large pay cut
- Worldwide taxation from day 184, plus a regional net wealth tax and a national solidarity tax on net wealth above 3 million euros
- The non-lucrative visa forbids all work, including remote work for a US employer, and consulates do check
- Electricity at about 31 US cents per kWh, roughly 70% above the US average, and old housing stock with poor insulation
- Naturalisation takes ten years for Americans and Spain formally requires a renunciation declaration, which the US does not recognise but which unsettles many applicants
Go deeper on Spain
This page only compares. The country guide explains how each of these systems works and what you have to do about it.
Other comparisons to read next
Ranked by how closely their price levels across rent, groceries, dining, transport and utilities track Spain, not by how close the headline index is.
Sources and review
Every figure for Spain on this page comes from the sources below. The US baseline is held in one place site-wide and reviewed alongside them, so the same comparison run on another country page means the same thing.
What these numbers are. The headline figures were re-derived from primary sources during review. Some category indices could not be matched to a published statistic and are reasoned estimates, marked as such in the list below. Where a source entry says a value is derived, estimated or crowd-sourced, that is exactly what it is: no international body publishes a like-for-like index for every category, and private insurance premiums are not published at all in most countries. Rent figures are national market averages, so a capital city will run above them. How the dataset is built.
- Eurostat, Purchasing power parities and price level indices based on COICOP 2018 (prc_ppp_ind_1), reference year 2025, dataset updated 9 July 2026: price level index for household final consumption expenditure (E011) with EU27=100 is 91.6 for Spain and 133.3 for the United States, putting Spain at 68.7% of the US level at 2025 average exchange rates. The 2025 PLIs embed the ECB 2025 annual average of $1.12998 per euro; restated at the 4 September 2026 reference rate of $1.1622 the ratio is about 70.7, which is the basis for the headline col_index_vs_us of 70. On the same dataset for 2024 the values were Spain 91.3 and United States 143.3, a ratio of 63.7, so the narrowing of the gap is an exchange-rate effect — accessed September 4, 2026
- Eurostat, price level indices by analytical category (prc_ppp_ind_1), 2025, Spain against EU27=100: food and non-alcoholic beverages 95.3, food 94.9, restaurants and accommodation services 85.4, transport 88.1, passenger transport services 82.5, fuels and lubricants for personal transport 92.3, electricity, gas and other fuels 93.0, health 94.2, clothing and footwear 89.4. These are Spain-versus-Europe figures. Eurostat carries the United States only at the aggregate level (2025: household final consumption 133.3, actual individual consumption 143.4); every per-category cell for the US is empty, so no published statistic gives a Spain-versus-US index for a single category. groceries_index_vs_us 88, dining_index_vs_us 70 and transport_index_vs_us 100 are therefore editorial estimates, not derived numbers, and they are deliberately not a mechanical rescaling of the Eurostat category positions by the overall Spain/US ratio. That arithmetic would give roughly 74 for groceries, 66 for dining and 68 for transport, and it fails in a predictable direction because it assumes the US sits at 133.3 in every category: US food and US motoring are cheap relative to the US overall price level, while US restaurant service, which adds a tip on top of the menu price, is expensive relative to it. The published estimates move each category away from the mechanical figure accordingly. Treat them as informed judgement with an error band of several points, which is a large part of why data_confidence on this page is medium rather than high. The directly sourced numbers on this page are the overall index, net pay, utilities, the tax rates and the visa thresholds, with rent taken from published listing indices rather than an official statistic — accessed September 4, 2026
- Eurostat, Comparative price levels of consumer goods and services (Statistics Explained), reference year 2025, published 17 June 2026: methodology and country ranking for the price level indices used above. Note that this article covers 36 European countries and does not include the United States; the US comparison comes from the prc_ppp_ind_1 database entries cited above — accessed September 4, 2026
- Eurostat, Annual net earnings (earn_nt_net), Spain 2025: single person without children at 100% of average earnings, gross 35,076 euros and net 27,040.72 euros a year, which is 2,253 euros a month or about $2,620 at $1.1622 per euro — accessed September 4, 2026
- European Central Bank, euro reference exchange rate US dollar: 1.1622 on 4 September 2026, the rate used for every currency conversion on this page; 2024 annual average 1.08238 — accessed September 4, 2026
- idealista rental price report, August 2026: Spain 15.1 euros per square metre per month, Madrid 23.3, Barcelona 20.2, Palma 19.3, Malaga 16.5, Valencia 16.3, Bilbao 15.7. Derivation for a 55 square metre one-bedroom: rent_1bed_center_usd uses the mean of Madrid and Barcelona, 21.75 euros per square metre, giving 1,196 euros or $1,390; rent_1bed_outside_usd uses the national average of 15.1 euros per square metre, giving 831 euros or $965. These are advertised asking prices aggregated across each municipality rather than central districts only, so the central figure is a conservative floor for a genuinely central Madrid or Barcelona flat — accessed September 4, 2026
- Zumper National Rent Report, updated 25 August 2026: US national median one-bedroom rent $1,515, used as the US baseline for the rent index. rent_index_vs_us of 77 is the mean of the two Spanish one-bedroom figures on this page, $1,390 central and $965 outside the centre, divided by that $1,515 median, which gives 77.7. Zumper aggregates its own listing inventory rather than surveying households, so this is market listing data, not an official statistic; no permitted official source publishes a comparable US median asking rent for a one-bedroom unit — accessed September 4, 2026
- INE, Estadistica Continua de Poblacion, 1 April 2026 provisional: Spain's resident population 49,687,120 — accessed September 4, 2026
- BOE, Real Decreto 126/2026 fixing the 2026 Spanish minimum wage at 40.70 euros a day, 1,221 euros a month and 17,094 euros a year, the basis for the digital nomad visa income threshold — accessed September 4, 2026
- Agencia Tributaria, Persona fisica residente en Espana: the 183-day rule, centre of economic interests test and family presumption for Spanish tax residence — accessed September 4, 2026
- Agencia Tributaria, Gravamen estatal (IRPF 2025 manual): state general scale, 24.5% above 300,000 euros, which combined with the reference regional scale gives the 47% headline top rate — accessed September 4, 2026
- Agencia Tributaria, Regimen especial de impatriados (art. 93 LIRPF): flat 24% on employment income up to 600,000 euros and 47% above, for the year of arrival plus five tax periods — accessed September 4, 2026
- BOE, Ley 37/1992 del Impuesto sobre el Valor Anadido, consolidated text in force in 2026, article 90.Uno: 'El Impuesto se exigira al tipo del 21 por ciento', with reduced rates of 10% and 4% under article 91. Link is to the consolidated version; the 15% and 6% rates quoted in the 1992 preamble are the original 1993 rates and are long superseded — accessed September 4, 2026
- IRS, tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026: foreign earned income exclusion $132,900, up from $130,000 for 2025 — accessed September 4, 2026
- IRS, Spain tax treaty documents: the 1990 income tax convention, its technical explanation, and the 2013 protocol amending it — accessed September 4, 2026
- BOE, Convenio sobre Seguridad Social entre Espana y los Estados Unidos de America, signed in Madrid on 30 September 1986 and in force since 1 April 1988 (the US-Spain totalization agreement) — accessed September 4, 2026
- Ministerio de Sanidad, Convenio especial de prestacion de asistencia sanitaria: 60 euros a month under 65 and 157 euros a month at 65 or over, requiring one year of prior residence and municipal padron registration, excluding the pharmacy benefit — accessed September 4, 2026
- Ministerio de Inclusion, Seguridad Social y Migraciones (Unidad de Grandes Empresas), International teleworkers: the official digital nomad residence authorisation page — accessed September 4, 2026
- Consulate General of Spain in Washington DC, non-lucrative residence visa: 400% of IPREM financial requirement, $140 visa fee for US citizens plus a $13 residence permit fee from 1 January 2026, three-month legal decision period — accessed September 4, 2026
- Ministerio de Inclusion (UGE), Highly qualified professionals authorisation under Law 14/2013: job offer plus degree or three years of comparable experience — accessed September 4, 2026
- Ministerio de Inclusion (UGE), Entrepreneurs authorisation under Law 14/2013: ENISA assessment of an innovative project of special economic interest, with no minimum investment or job creation threshold — accessed September 4, 2026
- Ministerio de Inclusion, Autorizacion de estancia por estudios: duration matched to the course, 100% of IPREM per month in financial means, and up to 30 hours a week of permitted work — accessed September 4, 2026
- Ministerio de Inclusion, Tarjeta de residencia de familiar de ciudadano de la Union: five-year card for family members of EU, EEA and Swiss citizens, fee set at the level Spaniards pay for a national ID card — accessed September 4, 2026
- Eurostat, Electricity prices for household consumers (nrg_pc_204): Spain 0.2669 euros per kWh including all taxes and levies, band DC, second half of 2025, which is about $0.310 — accessed September 4, 2026
- US EIA, Electric Power Monthly Table 5.3: US average residential electricity price 18.16 cents per kWh year to date 2026 — accessed September 4, 2026
- US EIA FAQ: in 2022 the average US residential electric utility customer used 10,791 kWh a year, about 899 kWh a month. At 18.16 cents per kWh that is about $163 a month. Quoted as the US electricity-only comparison; the US side of utilities_index_vs_us is the four-item basket in the BLS entry below — accessed September 4, 2026
- Eurostat complete energy balances (nrg_bal_c): Spanish household final electricity consumption 75,158 GWh in 2024, divided by 19,504,800 Spanish private households (Eurostat lfst_hhnhtych, 2024), gives 3,853 kWh per household per year. At 0.2669 euros per kWh that is 1,028 euros a year, about 86 euros or $100 a month. This is used on the page only to explain why Spanish bills are lower than the Spanish unit price implies; it is not the basis for utilities_index_vs_us, which is derived from the INE household budget survey entry below — accessed September 4, 2026
- INE, Encuesta de Presupuestos Familiares 2025 (published 25 June 2026), table 'Gasto por codigos de gasto (5 digitos COICOP 2018)', gasto medio por hogar: electricidad 868.92 euros a year, gas natural por redes 235.36, hidrocarburos licuados 45.51, combustibles liquidos 86.23, carbon 1.65, madera y pellets 16.68, carbon vegetal 0.18, giving the published subgroup 04.5 (electricidad, gas y otros combustibles) total of 1,254.63 euros; suministro de agua por red 234.20, recogida de basuras 49.89 and recogida de aguas residuales 63.45, a water-sewerage-refuse total of 347.54 euros. Combined that is 1,602.17 euros a year, 133.51 euros or $155.17 a month at the ECB rate of $1.1622, and $155.17 divided by the $210 US baseline gives utilities_index_vs_us of 74. The consumption assumption is the actual national average Spanish household (about 2.5 people, all dwelling types and tenures, EPF survey-reported spending, not a modelled apartment). Deliberately excluded: subgroup 04.4.4.1 gastos comunitarios, 602.07 euros a year, the Spanish community charge, because it is the analogue of a US HOA fee rather than a utility. Where a building has calefaccion central the heating and the common water are billed inside that community charge instead, so for those households the like-for-like total is higher than 133.51 euros and this index understates their bill — accessed September 4, 2026
- INE, Encuesta de Presupuestos Familiares 2025, table 'Gasto por subgrupos de gasto (3 digitos COICOP 2018/EPF)': cross-check on the five-digit detail above. Gasto medio por hogar for subgroup 04.4 (suministro de agua y otros servicios relacionados con la vivienda) is 952.47 euros a year and for 04.5 (electricidad, gas y otros combustibles) 1,254.63 euros, against a total group 04 of 11,664.65 euros of which 7,779.22 is imputed rent. The 04.4 figure is larger than the 347.54 euros used because it also contains the excluded community charge — accessed September 4, 2026
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys 2024, Table 2500 (all consumer units, annual expenditure means): natural gas $492.57, electricity $1,832.89, fuel oil and other fuels $125.32 and water and other public services $826.03, a like-for-like four-item total of $3,276.81 a year or $273.07 a month (telephone services, $1,459.68, are excluded from the basket). The utilities index on this site uses a common US baseline of $210 a month for every country so the cross-country ranking is comparable; that baseline is conservative against this BLS measurement, so the Spanish index of 74 understates rather than overstates the saving relative to a real US household — accessed September 4, 2026
- Eurostat, private households by household composition (lfst_hhnhtych): Spain 19,504,800 private households in 2024, rising to 19,736,500 in 2025, used as the denominator for per-household electricity consumption — accessed September 4, 2026
- BOE, Ley 14/2013 consolidated text, article 63 (visado de residencia para inversores): the article is shown as left without content with effect from 3 April 2025 by disposicion final 21.1 of Ley Organica 1/2025, de 2 de enero (BOE-A-2025-76). This is the primary confirmation that the 500,000 euro property golden visa is closed to new applicants. Article 76 of the same law sets a twenty-day resolution deadline for Unidad de Grandes Empresas authorisations, with approval by administrative silence, and renewals in two-year periods. Articles 68 to 70 (emprendedores), 71 to 72 (profesionales altamente cualificados) and 74 bis to 74 quinquies (teletrabajo de caracter internacional) remain in force. Checked directly against the consolidated text on 4 September 2026: article 71, as rewritten by disposicion final 5.5 of Ley 28/2022 and amended by article 32.5 of Ley 11/2023, now sets only two modalities, the EU Blue Card and the national highly qualified professional authorisation, and turns entirely on the applicant's qualification. The employer-size thresholds of the original 2013 text are gone; the strings '250 trabajadores', '50 millones' and '43 millones' no longer appear anywhere in the law. Article 71.3 gives three years of validity, or contract length plus three months if shorter, renewable for two years. Article 74 bis confirms that an employee teleworker may work only for companies based outside Spain while a self-employed holder may take up to 20% of professional activity from a Spanish company, article 74 ter the one year of prior company activity and three months of prior relationship, article 74 quater the one-year visa and article 74 quinquies the three-year authorisation renewable in two-year periods — accessed September 4, 2026
- BOE, Real Decreto 1155/2024 approving the Reglamento of the immigration law (in force 20 May 2025): student stay holders may work no more than thirty hours a week, and exceeding that limit is grounds for termination of the authorisation — accessed September 4, 2026
- UNESPA, Social Report of Insurance 2025 (Memoria Social del Seguro 2025, English edition, PDF): 'Health insurance looks after 12.8 million people in Spain' and 'One in four Spaniards has health insurance', with a 2025 breakdown by age and autonomous community. The report publishes no average premium anywhere, so typical_private_insurance_usd_month of $90 (roughly 900 euros a year) is an editorial estimate for a healthy adult individual policy based on market premium levels, not an official statistic. It is the least well evidenced number on this page, it rises steeply with age, and it is a reason data_confidence is medium — accessed September 4, 2026