Price it in your money
Tell me where you live now and what you spend a month, and every cost here becomes your number — the same life, priced country by country, in your own currency.
A guide, not a quote. I move your monthly spend by each country’s official price level (Eurostat and the World Bank, whole-economy, EU-27 = 100) — no exchange rates, so it stays in your own currency. But averages hide rent and the city you pick, and changing country is rarely a straight swap. Read these as the right ballpark, then price the real thing.
EU-27 = 100 · 2025. Living in Spain runs about 8% cheaper than the EU average.
Eurostat (prc_ppp_ind) / World Bank, 2025, CC BY 4.0. Whole-economy price level — country averages hide big regional and rent spread.
A €2,500 a month reference life runs about €2,290 a month here — roughly €27,480 a year, and a ×30 number near €824,000.
The reference life the calculators use, scaled by the index above — the same whole-economy figure, a guide not a quote.
Where in Europe
Mediterranean coasts, continental interior — dry summer heat, mild southern winters.
a new-build asking price
in Madrid — about €1,900/mo for 70 m²
a roof here, against the EU-27 average
In Spain, buy prices are up 81% since 2015 (+12.7% last year); rents up 14% since 2015.
Read these as the shape, not the price. Housing is the most divergent cost in Europe, and a national average buries the thing that actually decides it — the city, the street, new-build against old. Treat it as a ballpark, then price the real place. Not property or mortgage advice.
Buy price and rent: Deloitte Property Index 2025 (14th ed., 2024 data). Level vs the EU: Eurostat comparative price level for housing (prc_ppp_ind, EU-27 = 100, 2024). Trend: Eurostat house price index and actual-rentals index (2015 = 100, 2025).
The rules that matter for an exit.
Spain taxes wealth every year — the patrimonio — plus a separate state levy on large fortunes. A wealth tax is charged whether your portfolio went up, down or nowhere: in effect a permanent extra withdrawal happening before you've spent a cent, which raises the rate your plan must sustain, and so raises your number.
How hard it bites varies by region, and regional politics move it yearly. The state levy on large fortunes was extended indefinitely.
Spain has an exit tax for big portfolios — broadly €4 million, or a 25%+ company stake worth €1 million or more.
A state scale of 7.65–34% — but the tax is devolved, and the real bill depends on the region: several communities nearly zero it out for spouses and children, others don't.
I left at 23 and never really moved back — I like Spain, but as a Spaniard, returning always felt like the boring option.
The regional politics are the moving part — what your region charges this year is a fact to re-check, not remember.
Can you actually move here?
Hold an EU or EEA passport and the door isn't the question — freedom of movement covers the move itself. The clocks and the tax-residency rules below still run for you.
With your passport, skip the doors — the clocks and the tax-residency rules are what matter for you.
No EU passport means one of the doors on the left — each checked against the authority that issues it.
400% of IPREM — €2,400/mo for the main applicant (frozen for 2026), +€600/mo per dependent
the €500k property route and the rest went by organic law; permits already granted keep running.
permanent residency at 5 yrs · dual restricted · DELE Spanish at A2 + the CCSE civics test
in the calendar year; sporadic absences count against you, and a resident spouse and children raise a presumption
Spain's non-lucrative visa carries a quiet trap by design: renewing it requires more than 183 days a year in the country — exactly the line that makes you a Spanish tax resident, wealth tax and all. The golden visa died in April 2025. The passport clock reads ten years, with a famous fast lane: two years for Ibero-American nationals, who also skip the renunciation everyone else faces.
Keeping the permit: renewal requires real residence — more than 183 days a year, which also makes you a Spanish tax resident
IPREM — and with it every income threshold here — stays frozen at €600/mo until a new budget law passes; re-check after any 2026–27 budget.
Check it yourself: Consulate sheet — the non-lucrative visa · PwC — Spain tax residence
Getting-in rules checked July 2026. They move faster than tax law — confirm the current rule with the authority before you plan a move around it. Education, not immigration advice.
No automatic public cover for a non-working newcomer: after a year of registered residence you can buy into the public system — €60 a month under 65, €157 over (prescriptions excluded); until then the visa demands full private cover.
Private cover: the visa wants an authorised Spanish insurer with 100% coverage and no copays — about €105 a month at 40 for a no-copay plan (2026 tariffs).
Healthcare access checked July 2026. Systems are stable but details shift — confirm before you rely on them. Education, not health-insurance advice.
Common questions
- Spain is cheap to live in — is it good for early retirement, then?
- Living costs are low, but the catch is that Spain taxes having, not just earning. It levies an annual wealth tax (the patrimonio) plus a separate state levy on large fortunes — charged whether your portfolio went up, down or nowhere.
- Does the Spanish wealth tax vary by region?
- Yes — how hard it bites varies by region, and regional politics move it yearly. The state levy on large fortunes was extended indefinitely, and what your region charges this year is a fact to re-check rather than remember.
- Does Spain have an exit tax?
- Yes, for big portfolios — broadly €4 million, or a 25%+ company stake worth €1 million or more.
- Why does an annual wealth tax raise my FIRE number?
- Because it lands on the pot itself every year, regardless of how it performed — a permanent extra withdrawal before you've spent a cent. That lifts the rate your plan must sustain, and so the size of the pot you need.
- Can an American or a Brit retire early in Spain?
- Yes — the door is the non-lucrative visa: residence on your own means with all work banned — including remote work. The bar is 400% of IPREM — €2,400/mo for the main applicant (frozen for 2026), +€600/mo per dependent. An EU or EEA passport skips the visa question entirely — freedom of movement covers the move itself. Rules like these move — confirm with the immigration authority before planning around them.
- How long until a Spain passport?
- 10 years of legal residence is the general naturalisation rule, with DELE Spanish at A2 + the CCSE civics test. Dual citizenship is allowed only in limited cases. Permanent residency usually comes at 5 years.
Run your own numbers.
Start with Where You Live — watch a 1% wealth tax move the number — illustrative, deliberately.
The Exit Calculator
Years to your number, at your savings rate.
OpenWhere You Live
What an annual wealth tax does to the maths — illustrative, deliberately.
OpenThe Geoarbitrage Map
The same life, priced across 58 countries.
OpenThe whole system — wrappers, funds, withdrawal, the blank page — is in the guide: The European FIRE guide
None of this is tax or investment advice — it's education, kept deliberately at the level that survives fact-checking. Rules shift with every budget round; the specifics of your situation belong with a licensed adviser in your country. I'm happily not one.
This page was last verified against official sources on 8 July 2026. What's changed on the map
Know a figure here that’s wrong or out of date? Point me to the line and a source — every correction gets checked, and it’s how the map stays right.
Report a correctionBring me a challenge.
The Exit Audit, then ninety minutes: a straight verdict, real alternatives with their pros and cons, and your first move. If you want someone to nod along, I’m the wrong person to pay.
Ninety minutes, online, €600 — the Exit Audit included.