Barcelona vs Madrid for couples
Barcelona and Madrid are both in Spain, about 504 km apart. Every figure below comes from the data behind our city pages: an estimated monthly cost for a couple, tax tier, annual climate, safety, healthcare, internet speed, language and residency rules.
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Side by side
Source: the datasets behind our city pages. Cost is our model estimate (a country-level cost index scaled for city size); tax tiers are assigned by hand from each country's top marginal income tax rate and overall tax reputation; temperature from the Open-Meteo archive (2019 to 2023 averages); rainfall from TerraClimate (1991 to 2020 normals); safety and healthcare are our own country-level estimates; internet from the Ookla Speedtest Global Index; English from the EF English Proficiency Index; residency from our hand-reviewed residency dataset (not legal advice); short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset.
Factor by factor
Cost of living
Close on cost: we estimate about €3,177 a month for a couple living centrally in Barcelona and €3,256 in Madrid.
Taxes
Same country, same tax: Spain is in our high tax tier.
Climate
Barcelona is 1°C warmer on average over the year: 17°C against 16°C in Madrid. Madrid is drier, with about 378 mm of rain a year against 576 mm in Barcelona (34% less).
Safety
Our safety score is country-level, so both cities get the same 65 out of 100.
Healthcare
Our healthcare score is country-level, so both cities get the same 79 out of 100.
Internet
Our broadband figure is country-level: about 200 Mbps median fixed download in both.
Language
Main languages in both: Spanish. English proficiency is rated the same in both: some English.
Residency and visas
Same country, same rules: long-term residency in Spain is rated comparatively open, with a self-funded route from about $2,793 a month in income.
Which one fits a couple
As two cities in Spain, Barcelona and Madrid share every country-level figure, and no factor we score puts either clearly ahead. What sets them apart: Barcelona is 1°C warmer on average (17°C against 16°C); Barcelona is wetter, with 576 mm of rain a year against 378 mm; Madrid has more people in the city proper, though both are large (1 to 5 million people); Barcelona is coastal and Madrid inland. They are 504 km apart.
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Barcelona, Madrid and 913 other cities for both of you at once.
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Our story on this pair: Madrid vs Barcelona for couples