Spain
Working in Spain: city by city
The permit threshold is national, the offer is not. What differs between cities is which industries hire, how pay compares and what to check in the contract.
No city figures here. Population, city-level pay and rent from official sources are separate work, and inventing them instead of citing them is not something this site does. Every number below is national and links to where it is explained.
Working in Madrid
Spain's capital and its corporate centre, and the city where the Beckham Law question comes up most often — because this is where the qualifying offers are.
Photo: Zarateman · CC0
What the city runs on
Corporate headquarters, banking and insurance, telecoms, consulting, and the Spanish operations of international firms. Madrid is also the hub for Latin American business links, which is why regional roles covering both sides of the Atlantic are unusually common here.
The tax question to settle first
Spain's special regime for incoming workers — article 93 of Ley 35/2006, the Beckham Law — taxes employment income at a flat 24% up to €600,000 and 47% above that, for the year you move plus five following years. It requires that you were not resident in Spain for the five preceding tax years. Whether you qualify changes your net pay far more than the difference between two salary offers.
What to check before you sign
Whether your employer has handled the regime before, because the election has deadlines and is made by you rather than by them. And note that ordinary Spanish income tax includes a regional component, so if you do not qualify, where in Spain you live affects your bill.
Working in Barcelona
Spain's technology and startup centre, and the city foreign professionals pick most often for reasons that have nothing to do with the job market.
Photo: M McBey · CC BY 2.0
What the city runs on
Technology and startups, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, automotive engineering, tourism at scale, and a large trade fair and congress business. The international presence is deep enough that many workplaces operate in English.
Two languages, and it matters
Catalonia has two official languages, Catalan and Spanish. In technology and international companies you will work in English or Spanish, but public administration, schooling and much of daily life run substantially in Catalan. That affects family logistics more than employment.
What to check before you sign
The Beckham Law position, exactly as in Madrid — the regime is national, and it is the single largest variable in your net pay. And if you have children, ask about schooling language early, because the answer surprises people.
Working in Valencia
Spain's third city, a working port, and the destination that has absorbed the most remote workers of the past few years. Both of those facts shape the local market.
Photo: Boris Dzhingarov · CC BY 2.0
What the city runs on
Port logistics, automotive manufacturing in the surrounding region, ceramics and furniture industry, agriculture and food export, and a growing technology sector. Tourism matters but does not dominate the way it does further south.
Why so many arrivals are not locally employed
A large share of recent foreign arrivals work remotely for employers elsewhere, which has pushed up rents in central districts without adding local jobs. If you are moving for a Valencian employer rather than with your own job, you are competing for housing against salaries set in other countries.
What to check before you sign
If you are employed abroad and moving here, whether you are relying on the special regime for incoming workers, a digital nomad arrangement, or nothing at all — they are different regimes with different conditions, and only the first is covered on this site.
Working in Seville
The capital of Andalusia, the seat of its regional government, and a city where the aerospace industry sits alongside a heavily seasonal economy.
Photo: Ingo Mehling · CC BY-SA 4.0
What the city runs on
Regional government and public administration, aerospace manufacturing — Airbus has assembly operations in the area — agriculture and food processing, and tourism concentrated in spring and autumn. Summer heat genuinely shapes the working calendar here.
The regional tax point
Ordinary Spanish income tax combines a state scale with a regional one, and Andalusia sets its own. If you do not qualify for the special regime for incoming workers, your total rate depends on the region — and Andalusia is not the same as Madrid or Catalonia. This is precisely why this site publishes the Spanish regime and not a Spanish salary page.
What to check before you sign
Which industry you are joining, because the difference between an aerospace contract and a tourism-adjacent one is larger here than the difference between Spanish cities.
Working in Malaga
The one Spanish city on this list whose job market changed character within a decade: from tourism and construction to a technology hub with international offices.
Photo: Kiban · CC BY-SA 3.0
What the city runs on
A technology cluster that has grown quickly, anchored by the Málaga TechPark and by the arrival of engineering and cybersecurity offices of several large international firms. Tourism and the property economy remain large, and the port handles cruise traffic.
Why it is on this list at all
Because the offers are now genuinely there. A decade ago a foreign professional moving to Málaga was almost certainly working remotely or in tourism; now there are local employers hiring internationally for technical roles. The pay sits below Madrid and Barcelona, and so does the cost of living.
What to check before you sign
Whether the entity employing you is Spanish, since some of these offices hire through group companies elsewhere. That determines your tax position and whether the Spanish special regime is available to you at all.
This page is information, not advice. We are not an employer, a recruitment agency, a visa centre or an immigration adviser, and we are not affiliated with any government body. Rules change — confirm against the official source before you act.