Quality of Life in Barcelona, Spain

Purchasing Power Index	91.06	High
Safety Index	47.90	Moderate
Health Care Index	76.70	High
Climate Index	95.73	Very High
Cost of Living Index	59.95	Low
Property Price to Income Ratio	12.70	High
Traffic Commute Time Index	29.95	Low
Pollution Index	63.02	High

ƒ Quality of Life Index:	147.27	High

Minimum contributors for an underlying section: 160

Maximum contributors for an underlying section: 932

Last update: 12 December 2025

Nearby Cities:

Quality of Life in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat	5.50 miles
Quality of Life in Badalona	6.72 miles
Quality of Life in Cornella de Llobregat	7.27 miles
Quality of Life in Sabadell	16.28 miles
Quality of Life in Terrassa	17.03 miles
Quality of Life in Igualada, Catalunya	42.33 miles
Quality of Life in Tarragona	63.44 miles
Quality of Life in Castello de la Plana	173.67 miles
Quality of Life in Sagunto	205.23 miles
Quality of Life in Valencia	218.59 miles

This Page in Other Languages:

DeutschLebensqualität in Barcelona

PortuguêsQualidade de Vida em Barcelona

ItalianoQualità della Vita a Barcellona

FrançaisQualité de Vie à Barcelona

EspañolCalidad de Vida en Barcelona

Leave a comment:

8 Comments so far

Alex on Sep 09, 2025:

When I first came to Barcelona, it was love at first sight, and I told myself that I would like to live here. Now I’ve been living here for about two years, and I realize that Barcelona is far from the best city to live in. Once you get enough of the sun and the sea, you’ll count your money and see that after rent, utilities, taxes, school, and food, you’re left with nothing (in the best case), and in the worst case—you’ll be eating through your savings, hoping that things will get better soon.

They say Munich is the most expensive city))) Well, Barcelona is more expensive than Munich. Just compare it on Numbeo and pay attention: the rent for a three-bedroom apartment in Barcelona is 90% of the average salary, while in Munich it’s only 65%. I won’t even start talking about squatters, Moroccans, and street theft.

Mark on Aug 26, 2025:

Been living here for over 20 years. Have seen the city change and not for the better. The extreme left socialist government has made it hard for anyone to live in the city. Rent caps have caused an extreme shortage in housing, the tax burden is insane and they keep increasing. Barcelona has turned into San Francisco. The homeless population has been growing exponentially, they are begging everywhere and tent camps are popping up in public parks. Consequently crime has exploded over the years. Not only pickpockets, but also armed robbery and squatters. Last but not least there is a growing resentment of the local people towards tourist fueled by populist left propaganda and more and more towards expats. Personally I would only recommend moving here if you have a disposable income of at least 4k net otherwise you will struggle and have concessions you might not want to make.

Jon on Jul 16, 2025:

I’ve been living in this city for a decade. It’s a great city but recently it has more cons than pros: high cost of rents, even in non central areas, raising criminality, robberies everywhere, you have to look at your back all the time, anti immigration nationalists who think the problem are the immigrants are popping up like mushrooms, summers are not just hot, they are miserable, and I could continue my list. The funny part is to read here “ Purchasing Power Index: High” that must be a joke.

Anonymous on Jul 07, 2024:

Like any part of Spain, low salaries compared to the high cost of life. Recently high criminality that everyone jokes about Barcelona compared to other cities. From a Spanish girl who understands what is like to live in Spain being young employed ( if lucky) and not being able to afford living alone. (Not from a British guy from London who loves the beach and has only been in Spain for holidays with GBP change rate and believes is paradise).

Chris P. on May 17, 2024:

Beautiful cosy city with a very high standard of living.

Please ignore the haters in the comments, they are just very envious.

Lookup Barcelona + 4k in Youtube, you will love it.

Jesús on Mar 11, 2024:

Impersonal city with angry passive aggressive people. Very high rents and property prices.

Lydia on Sep 04, 2022:

I see some jealous people here comment negatively about Barcelona. I have lived 10 years in Sweden and 35 in Barcelona and my experience is that Barcelona is a friendly city, with a lot of entertainment, beauty (both in the city and the people), very modern and acceptable life quality. The salaries may be a bit low but people can still afford to go out and enjoy life more than people do in Sweden since most of people struggle with loans. Many swedish people is very overweight and very unfashionable. People is no friendly, no humble and prepotent. Restaurants and cafes are ridiculous expensive and have no clue about what service is and no clue to make a decent capuccino, Irish coffee or Margarita.

Alex on Apr 01, 2021:

Low incomes with very high rent and unbelievably bad housing, terrible food, bad service everywhere, loud and total lack of elegance in both people and atmosphere. Worse bureaucracy only in Italy and North Africa. Maybe good for a weekend or if you are an adventurer in your early twenties, willing to experiment with drugs (widely available).

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