Cost of Living in Spain 2026: What Life Really Costs

In short: What you need in Spain is decided almost entirely by rent, and that depends on the location: in Granada a 70 m² apartment works out at 756 €, in Málaga at 1,155 €. Mobile, internet, buses and eating out are cheap, while electricity fluctuates a lot in 2026. According to the statistics office INE, one person in Andalusia spends an average of 1,016 € a month, in the Canary Islands 1,054 €.

Use the calculator to put together your own monthly budget for your location:

How much do households in Spain actually spend?

The most reliable figure comes from the statistics office INE. Every year it surveys households about their spending (Encuesta de Presupuestos Familiares). The figures for 2025 were published in June 2026.

Andalusia has the lowest spending per person of all Spanish regions. The average household spends 35,101 € a year. Of that, 33.2 % goes on housing, water, electricity and gas (11,665 €), 16.0 % on food (5,626 €) and 11.5 % on transport (4,020 €). Restaurants and accommodation account for 3,282 €, health for 1,413 € and communication for 1,079 €.

Rent: the item that decides everything

The prices come from the Idealista reports for September 2026. They are asking prices from listings. The 70 m² figures are our own projection, and small apartments are usually more expensive per m².

Marbella costs more than twice as much as Jaén. Rents keep rising: by 5.2 % in Andalusia and 4.3 % in the Canary Islands compared with September 2025. A room in a shared flat cost an average of 430 € in Spain in the first quarter of 2026, 437 € in Málaga and 245 € in Jaén. How to search and what landlords ask for is explained under Finding an apartment in Spain. For choosing a location, the comparison Andalusia or the Canary Islands helps.

Electricity, water and gas

Electricity is the least predictable item in 2026. On the regulated tariff (PVPC), the price follows the wholesale market. For a model household with 4.6 kW of contracted power and 3,500 kWh a year, the comparison service Papernest gives these monthly bills:

• June 2026: 68.32 € (0.1311 €/kWh)
• September 2026: 87.50 € (0.1840 €/kWh)

According to this source, the wholesale price in September reached its highest level since February 2023. Since 1 June 2026, electricity is again subject to 21 % VAT (IVA) and 5.11 % electricity tax; in spring both had been temporarily reduced. For an apartment of this size, it is better to plan with a range of 60 to 100 € than with a fixed amount. If you heat with electricity or run the air conditioning in summer, you will pay more.

Water is billed by the municipal supplier, and prices vary from city to city. A natural gas network exists only in parts of Andalusia, and not for households in the Canary Islands. Butane gas bottles for the cooker and hot water are common, and their maximum price is regulated by the state. As a rough guide: based on user data, the comparison portal Numbeo gives 133 € a month for electricity, heating, water and rubbish collection in an 85 m² apartment for Spain as a whole (October 2026). How to set up the contracts is explained under Setting up mobile, internet and electricity.

Internet and mobile

This is where you save a lot compared with Germany and Austria. The prices come from the tariff comparisons by Xataka Móvil and change often.

• Fibre only (September 2026): Digi 500 Mb for 10 € on its own network, Finetwork 600 Mb for 19.99 €, O2 300 Mb for 23 € with no minimum term.
• Fibre with mobile (August 2026): Digi 500 Mb with 25 GB for 13 €, Finetwork 600 Mb with 30 GB for 23.90 €, Lowi 600 Mb with 50 GB for 30 €, O2 600 Mb with 60 GB for 35 €. At Movistar and Orange, bundles start at 53 € and 50 €.
• Mobile only (February 2026): Digi 25 GB for 5 €, Simyo 50 GB for 6 €, O2 50 GB for 7 €.

The low Digi prices only apply where Digi has its own network. According to the Ministry for Digital Transformation, fibre to the home reaches 95.92 % of households.

Bus, train and car

Local public transport is heavily discounted in 2026, because the state and the cities have extended the discounts for the whole year.

With a prepaid card, a ride costs 0.53 to 0.54 € in Granada and 0.41 € in Seville. Málaga is keeping its 40 to 50 % price cut on all cards until 31 December 2026, and children up to 14 travel free. In the Canary Islands, buses (guaguas) and trams are free in 2026 for frequent travellers who are residents; the exact conditions are set by the island governments. For regional trains and state long-distance buses there is the nationwide Abono Único for 60 € a month, or 30 € for under-26s.

According to the competition authority CNMC, petrol on the mainland cost a monthly average of 1.488 € per litre (Super 95) and 1.570 € (diesel) in June 2026, and 1.441 € and 1.511 € in the Canary Islands. Prices have risen since the summer. The state Geoportal de Hidrocarburos shows the current price at every petrol station. What re-registering your car costs is explained under Re-registering your car and driving licence.

Food and eating out

Officially documented: a household spends an average of 5,626 € a year on food and non-alcoholic drinks, which is 469 € a month (INE, 2025). User data from Numbeo (October 2026, Spain as a whole) gives these guide values:

• Meal in an inexpensive restaurant: 15.00 €
• Cappuccino: 2.13 €, draught beer: 3.00 €
• 1 litre of milk: 1.06 €, bread: 1.22 €, 12 eggs: 3.01 €

Numbeo estimates living costs without rent at 717 € a month for one person and 2,595 € for a family of four. These are averages from voluntary submissions, not official statistics.

Three sample calculations

The following budgets are sample calculations, not statistics. They are made up only of the documented components above: rent for 70 m² (Idealista), electricity in September 2026 (87.50 €), fibre with mobile for 35 € and the average household food spend (469 €).

Not included are water, gas, health insurance, car or bus, clothing, leisure and savings. These items depend heavily on you; add them for your situation using the calculator above. Above all, the table shows one thing: with the same lifestyle, Granada and Málaga are around 400 € a month apart, purely because of rent.

Many people forget two items: health insurance, whose cost depends on your status and age, and taxes in Spain. The self-employed also pay the monthly social security contribution as an Autónomo.

Frequently asked questions

Cover image: Anual · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0