Barcelona Spain was the final stop of our year-long journey. With it being our single longest stay in any one Airbnb, I have lots of data to pull from for this expat budget. While I already know the cost of living is relatively high, there are some affordable aspects of Barcelona as well. For example, the amount of fun we could have for near zero dollars was unrivaled by any other location this year. That alone makes me think about what I could sacrifice in the budget to live in Barcelona.

This post isn’t to talk about how much I love Barcelona though. It will focus strictly on the cost of living, with the numbers derived from our actual spending. As usual, this will cover both a family of four and projected values for a single person as well.

Assumptions

I will be making the following assumptions:

• You are selling everything and moving to Barcelona Spain
• If renting, you will live in a long term rental, not an Airbnb because it’s not affordable
• You will not own a car and will rely on public transportation and taxis
• For health insurance you will use Cigna Global Silver or comparable international health insurance
• Tax implications are not factored into these numbers. US citizens are subject to citizenship-based taxation and must file US returns regardless of residency.

Residency Complications

The non-lucrative visa is the cleanest residency route for a FIRE household on paper, but it converts a US-optimized portfolio into a Spanish-taxed one, and specifically in Catalonia it stacks three things that erode FIRE efficiency. Savings income is taxed from the first euro (no 0% bracket), non-recognition of Roth status, and an annual wealth tax from a low €500K threshold. The move can still make sense for lifestyle and even total cost, but the drawdown math has to be considered under Spanish rules.

This is just something to be aware of if you are serious about long term residency in Spain. I won’t be factoring this math into the scenarios presented.

Apartment Lease Or Purchase

With housing being the biggest budget item, I want to walk through specific units currently on the market which I have chosen to use for these scenarios. In all cases I was searching in a tight radius to the El Bourne neighborhood we stayed in and liked so much. You may be able to find better deals in other areas of Barcelona.

Single Buy

For the scenario of single person buying a residence, we will use this one bedroom ground floor apartment. The grand total in USD is $293,206. The location is relatively close to our Airbnb in El Bourne, but actually better located in the direction of the beach.

Family Buy

As a family we will use this 3 bed 2 bath property which is also close to El Bourne but once again situated closer to the beach.

Single Rent

As a single person you will find great housing options in Barcelona. There is a thriving market for single room rentals. For those of us in the US this is a little unusual. When four people want to rent an apartment or house, we typically have the hassle of someone being the primary tenant and then subletting to the other roommates. Additionally if you’re alone and you want roommates, you need to track them down on your own.

I’m finding in Barcelona you can just rent a room and have no connection to the other roommates. You are not responsible for their rent if they don’t pay, and you don’t even know who they are ahead of time. I find that model very appealing for its simplicity. I can live with and tolerate just about anyone though. If you are picky about your housemates, maybe this isn’t as desirable.

This is the unit we will use for the single rent scenario. You get a bedroom in this very cool and quirky house, and you’re just minutes from the beach for only 530 euros ($624).

Family Rent

Here again I am picking a place in the same general vicinity of El Bourne, near the beach. This 3 bed 2 bath condo rents for 1,400 euros ($1,647).

Scenarios

The following table shows the monthly budget breakdown for renting and buying as a single person and as a family of four. A few notes up front on categories that require some explanation:

• Health insurance (Cigna) – Family value shows our actual premium, and the single value is a middle-aged or worse projection. You may find your coverage costs less if you are young or healthy.
• Discretionary – the value for a single person is generous, and assumes you may need more outside entertainment than a family
• House escrow / Carrying costs – these are property taxes, insurance, and community fees
• Uncategorized – Owning a house creates unexpected maintenance and repair expenses of about .5% of the house value each year.
• Transportation – This value provides everyone with a T-usual single zone card, and allows for one or two cab rides.

Totals

Analysis

When you ignore the friction created by the Spanish tax system, these numbers are very reasonable. Particularly the single person numbers, where not even a half million dollars will get a renter to FIRE.

For the family of four, renting vs buying a place is a wash financially. The money you keep invested by not purchasing a place almost exactly pays for the increased monthly cost of renting. A single person however should choose to rent if optimizing for cost. It saves you about $3K per year to do so.