3.49/5
2,003 reviews
Photo by Jorge Fernández Salas via Unsplash

Cost of Living in Madrid

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good

great

walkable

nightlife

friendly

bit

bars

english

amazing

barcelona

beautiful

scene

life

plenty

art

work

parks

cities

Madrid is a lively, walkable city with a world-renowned nightlife and restaurant scene. Transit options are excellent and affordable, though many visitors find they don’t need it much because the central areas are very pedestrian-friendly. The city features striking architecture and a wide range of museums, parks, and cultural offerings. Individual neighborhoods have distinct personalities, providing a range of vibes from upscale to artsy. It's a generally safe place and easy to navigate with some help from translation apps if you don’t speak Spanish.

Many reviewers mention how their impressions of the city improved after a longer stay, noting that the locals, while initially formal, are warm and friendly. The food scene is extensive, although dinner times are later than many are used to. Costs in Madrid are not low, but it's considered a good value for what the city offers.

On the downside, some reviewers noted issues with summer heat and lack of air conditioning, especially in older buildings. Reports of racism and a lack of cultural diversity were also mentioned by several visitors, particularly people of color. Additionally, some areas are less clean and safe compared to more affluent parts of the city.

Overall, Madrid receives strong praise with some caveats.

AI-generated summary of reviews
1 year ago

good:
- very walkable friendly city
- many good cafes, restoraunts, coffee shops with specialties coffee
- great architecture
- many parks

bad:
- amlost no AC anywhere
- 38c at night (august), not humid tho. it’s not thailand 38c
- aqi 82

2 years ago

It is more expensve than expected. Depending whete you live, streets can be dirty. It seems the government only uses the tax money to invest in the high en areas. Thwre are is a lot of inequality. People are very racist. I am Mexican, and the first thing people ask me here, is whete do I come from. I have never felt as discriminated as here and to be honest I dont think I have it as bad as other people.

3 years ago

Liked Madrid,but its a bit dangerous in the evening and way to expensive! people can be really nice when they meet you but after a while you realize all it's not what it seems. And Barcelona is exactly the same.

3 years ago

Madrid is ok. It’s a beautiful city full of wonderful shops and fancy/cool restaurants. I wasn’t blown away by the food. I’m a Person of color, and I felt like it lacked diversity in terms of events, shades of people and even an international scene. Many Latino Americans feel discriminated against—Dominicans, Venezuelans, especially if you’re Afro Latino. Spain has a long way to go. I was actually surprised by the lack of diversity especially when you look at France, Germany, Portugal, UK, etc…. I found Madrid to be a bit dry. It has an interesting history though.

3 years ago

Just returned after 1mo in Madrid. From a Male 35 year old perspective, I loved it. Endless night life, techno clubs, dive bars, live music, open jam sessions if that's your thing. If you're feeling lonely hit up Meetup and you'll find plenty of international meetups/pub crawls. Retiro park is green and huge when you need a break from the city. It's dense with tons of people from all walks of life. Multi-cultural population, students, professionals, travelers, English is spoken well my most locals. Not the cheapest EU city but for it's size and broad range of offerings including incredible art museums, amazing markets with great tapas, it's a bang for you buck. The people are warm and friendly. Use common sense when navigating the city and you'll find it's safe, too.

4 years ago

Awesome city.
Limitless good restaurants and bars. Easy to use transit, but you barely need it because the city is so walkable. Beautiful streets. Overflowing with genuine Spanish culture. Not cheap but affordable for how large of a city it is.
Wish it was a bit greener, but overall Madrid is a great spot to spend significant time in.

4 years ago

Just blindingly good. Best european city by miles. Cheap tube €26 for 5 days unlimited use! City centre is all walkable though. 4 or 5 distinct barrios with mega nightlife- does anyone actually work?!! Architecture fabulous on every street. Museum reno sofia; the best collection of 20c art, free entry after 7pm! The locals are friendly too. Could easily move here.

4 years ago

Favorite city in the entire world and honestly people who prefer Barcelona to it just simply did not do Madrid right. This city has everything you could possibly want in a city (besides a beach of course). So safe, amazing transportation all over the city and country, amazing location to travel easily and cheaply to the rest of Europe. Restaurant and nightlife scenes are unparalleled as someone else said in another comment. Did you know Madrid has more bars per capita than anywhere in the world? Each neighborhood has it's own beautiful personality from posh/high fashion to youthful and grungy to charming Spanish barrio vibes, there's everything.

5 years ago

Initially I didn't like Madrid. People don't speak english well and people seem very dry. After spending a month there, my opinion changed. People in Madrid are more formal and it reminds me of the wrong impression people get of Parisians. The dining scene is very developed with a ton of options. The only complaint I have had over the years with Madrid is how late people eat. It's truly absurd and I hope COVID might help to change that for good. Centro is a great area to stay and everything is walkable. Taxis are abundant and Google Translate will be necessary.

5 years ago

The bar & restaurant scene in Madrid is unparalleled, next level. I can't imagine what this place must have been like without COVID.

5 years ago

I really enjoyed staying in Madrid. Reasonable coast of life, plenty of things to see/do and deliiiiicious food.

7 years ago

What an amazing city! I've been working remotely here for a month, it's probably the most fun I've ever had in a month!

Beautiful parks, great nightlife, friendly people, walkable city, plenty of activities / events going on, interesting nearby cities to visit, speaking Spanish not really required etc.

I've been working from a WeWork and living out of hostels. The WeWorks here are pretty standard, good work environment at a reasonable price (250 euros / month for hot desking).

The hostels have been great, stayed in 5 so far, the best were Sungate and Hostel One, definitely check those out if visiting. Very easy to meet people at these hostels.

The nightlife is second to none. Even compared to London where I'm usually based, the nightlife here is wild. The only issue I found is that everything happens much later than the U.K. People have dinner around 9pm, go out 11:30pm and back in the not so early hours of the morning. This can make waking up at 8am for work a little difficult!

I've visited a couple of nearby cities, my favourite was Toledo, a 30 minute bus ride away. Definitely worth checking out.

Plenty of stuff to do in Madrid - outdoor swimming pools, parks, free outdoor gyms, rooftop bars, museums, art galleries, etc. I've been here a month and still have loads of stuff I want to do.

The temperature has been a bit rough. Regularly late 30's means I'm constantly looking for shade when walking about. I've barely got a tan because I'm in the shade so often. The temperature in the evenings is pleasant, around 9pm. I've been here since the beginning of July, so nearly peak heat season.

I'm learning some Spanish but definitely a beginner. Most people from Madrid speak decent English, I've come into difficulty when trying to talk to people from South America, usually their English isn't so strong.

Overall I highly recommend visiting Madrid. I much prefer it to Barcelona as a place to live. I'm surprised it's not rated higher on NomadList! It beats Amsterdam, Stockholm and San Francisco, all places I've worked from over the last couple years.

7 years ago

Been in January 2018 in Madrid and it was somehow ok. Enjoyed the parks + some pedestrian sides of it, but ..the rest was not so astonishing like other cities known for their inner beauty.

7 years ago

✅ Very safe

✅ Excellent public transportation

✅ Great nightlife and dining

✅ Walkable city

✅ Beautiful architecture

✅ Abundant cultural attractions

✅ Fast internet

✅ Warm now

✅ Perfect humidity now

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Nomads.com members liked going here

✅ Many Nomads.com members here all year round

✅ Easy to make friends

✅ Very easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Great hospitals

✅ Roads are very safe

✅ Great freedom of speech

✅ Democratic

✅ Very safe for women

✅ Family friendly

✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+

✅ (Medical) marijuana MAY be legal, unenforced or decriminalized (always double check this)

❌ Can be expensive

❌ Lack of diversity and reports of discrimination

❌ Hot summers with little AC

❌ Extremely expensive

❌ Not much to do

❌ Gets cold in the winter

❌ Feels crowded

❌ People don't speak English well

❌ Many people smoke tobacco

❌ High alcohol consumption

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

541°
cold

1355°
cool

1254°
cool

1559°
cool

2475°
warm

2781°
warm

3086°
warm

2373°
mild

2170°
mild

1254°
cool

Real (median)

642°
very cold

1355°
cool

1254°
cool

1559°
cool

2474°
warm

2679°
warm

2781°
warm

3187°
hot

2373°
mild

2169°
mild

1253°
cool

Humidity

damp
71%

nice
70%

nice
53%

nice
67%

nice
51%

nice
47%

nice
35%

nice
34%

nice
54%

nice
56%

nice
62%

nice
68%

Most common

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

Rain

dry
41mm

dry
34mm

dry
5mm

rainy
57mm

dry
16mm

dry
17mm

dry
1mm

dry
4mm

dry
11mm

dry
43mm

dry
32mm

dry
25mm

Cloud

pockets
36%

pockets
41%

pockets
26%

pockets
47%

pockets
38%

pockets
30%

pockets
20%

pockets
35%

pockets
32%

pockets
23%

pockets
36%

Air quality

okay
59 US AQI

okay
55 US AQI

clean
46 US AQI

clean
39 US AQI

clean
43 US AQI

okay
54 US AQI

okay
57 US AQI

okay
61 US AQI

okay
57 US AQI

okay
50 US AQI

clean
47 US AQI

okay
63 US AQI

Sun

safe
2 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

safe
2 UVI

Remote workers

8,233 people

8,118 people

9,233 people

9,433 people

10,067 people

8,088 people

6,467 people

9,229 people

9,655 people

8,543 people

10,880 people

7,710 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Madrid's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

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✈️2h

$5,166 / mo

26 Mbps

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 36° 97° 32° 89° 🥵 AQI 2

✈️2h

$5,526 / mo

🌇 Also went here673 people

Amsterdam

Netherlands

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 23° 73° 23° 74° AQI 33

✈️2h

$7,440 / mo

🌇 Also went here809 people

Prague

Czechia

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 25° 77° 25° 77° AQI 33

✈️2h

$3,845 / mo

🌇 Also went here616 people

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety great

Tap to open

🌦 Feels 32° 90° 28° 83° 🥵 AQI 17

✈️14h

$3,389 / mo

🌇 Also went here505 people

6,600 remote workers in Madrid now, of which 11+ members checked in (some members are set to private)

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

🎒 Nomad Score™	3.49/5 (Rank #104) 2003 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍23 liked it 👎3 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Good
🎒 Community score	Okay
🤯 Overcrowding score	0% is nomad here
💵 Cost	🧐 Very expensive: $4,907 / mo
📡 Internet	🙂 Good: 34 Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Okay
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥵 Too hot: 30°C86°F (feels 30°C86°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 39%
❄️ % of buildings with AC	😊 High: 65%
💨 Air quality (now)	😐 Moderate: 57 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Good: 56 US AQI
👌 Safety	Great
👩 Safe for women	Good
🌈 Safe for LGBTQ+	Great
🤮 Food safety*	Great
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Great
🤝 Lack of racism*	Bad
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	High: $2,225 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Bad
😤 People density	🧘‍♀️ Low density: 5k ppl/km² (1 per 14x14m)
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Great
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
🏥 Hospitals	Great
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Okay
📶 Free WiFi in city	Okay
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Great
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Good
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
🎅 Startup Score	Okay

🌍 Continent	Europe
🚩 Country	Spain
🗓️ Average trip length	5 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	34 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌥 30°C 86°F + 😊 Comfy (39%) = feels 30°C 86°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👍 57 US AQI 🍃 OK
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👎😷 57 US AQI
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🧔 Best neighborhood to stay	Usera
🚀 Upcoming neighborhood	Fuencarral-El Pardo
🚕 Best taxi app*	Uber
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	EUR 100 = USD 114
💸 Tipping	No
💳 Cashless	💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere
💻 Best coworking space	Utopic_US
💻 Best alt. coworking space	GarAJE Madrid
🚰 Tap water	👌 Yes, safe to drink
♻️ Return rate	👍15% of visitors return
📸 Visitors per year	5,581,000 visitors
📸 Tourists now	106,960 tourists
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	3,300,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$26,695 / year
😤 Population density	🤨 busy: 14x14m (196m²) per person
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 43% 👱‍♀️ 57%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 53% 👱‍♀️ 47%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 80% 👱‍♀️ 20%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Amazon
🏠 Apartment listings	Idealista
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	EasyJet
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Iberia

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$4,907 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$3,404 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$5,919 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$1,691 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$3,047 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$5,892 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$1,538 / month
🏠 Median home price	$445,204
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$143 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$193 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$461 / month
🍛 Dinner	$13
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$2
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$6
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$1
👩‍🏫 International school	$9,500 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$5 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$5 / trip
💰 Estimated tax on $50,000	$11,365
💰 Estimated tax on $100,000	$33,727
💰 Estimated tax on $250,000	$110,442

Cost of Living in Madrid

6,600 remote workers in Madrid now, of which 11+ members checked in (some members are set to private)

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Members who have been here

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