Hi Everyone, I'm in the middle of the interview process for a job in barcelona. I have found out the the salary is likely to be 23,000 euro's, will I be able to have decent standard of living given the various costs? Rent, bills, tax, food etc.

My girlfriend will also be looking for work if we go, most likely office or hospitality based.

Really don't know whether or not to take it.

Neil

Depends on your lifestyle of course, Many Spanish families survive on half that, if you could live on €23k in the UK you definatley will in Barcelona!

Rgds


Rotor

It would be a drop in salary taking the job, but there is the incentive's of better lifestyle, weather and the whole new challenge to consider.

I'm not extravagent by any stretch of the imagination , it was more the cost of renting somewhere and month to month running costs.

Neil

Well I don't live in the city and I reckon OH and I can manage on €1500 per month including going out once a week and having to pay rent but that doesn't include clothes or flights back to UK.

€1500 a month is a lot in Spain, I read around a year ago that the average income in Malaga province was €8k a year!!!

Rgds

Rotor

Mortgage/rent obviously varies as does food bills, different lifestyles etc but we usually say that on average the cost of community tax in the UK covers all of the normal bills in Spain.

Bills:
Community tax, water, sewage, rubbish collection, electricity (highest bill), gas, telephone (including computer broadband), house insurance, contents insurance, car tax, car insurance all comes to approx £1590 per year.


Hope this helps.

Rosemary

I think I read on another forum a chap was planning a move to Barca & he reckoned he couldn´t get the same standard of living in London to Barca on the same money.

Is 2ke pcm gross or net? rent for a decent flat must be 1200e pcm min, plus the communidad & broadband, car & living expenses must take you past 2k without even trying. 23ke pa is c 18k GBP & looks like survival territory in UK terms.

The wealthy Spanish are minted & Madrid & Barca are rammed full of them. Just look at the posh city suburbs - they even look like Richmond Surrey, green leafy trees, golf courses & flats at 1mn +.

Of course it all depends how you want to live but to make a move that only leaves you enough to eat dogfood isn´t much fun so best trawl the forums & get some advice from people actually living there.

Sorry to be neggy but I´d hate to paint a rosy picture.

Thanks for the replies. Right now I'm leaning towards staying in the UK don't think I could take the drop in salary. Less money weighed up with the adventure of it all.

Some serious thought required.

Neil

Its generally considered that the annual average salary is €12000 around this neck of the woods

It depends...In cities as Madrid or Barcelona can be a misery and in small villages it can be a lot. The person's lifestyle also depends. I know about wages of peons of the construction in Murcia about 1300 € or the almost 6000 € / month that gets paid the girlfriend of a relative (she is a doctor)

We live on on around 800 euros a month. We have no rent or mortgage to pay.

However, anything extra to our 'normal' living (like for example a holiday or new car) has to come from our savings.

Hi Neil my husband has had to take a job that pays around €1,200 per month ..we are a family of four (kids 5 & 3) ...we do not in a city ...have a mortgage....we can not survive on this !! We are not extravagant ....

I'd really look into it....as apparantly it's more expensive to live in a city.

It's a great lifestyle in Spain but in our experience I feel that if you are financially secure.....it's fab....if you're not it's VERY hard....

Good luck Neil xxx