City comparison
Cost of living in Copenhagen vs Barcelona
One person needs about €2,563 a month in Copenhagen and €2,105 in Barcelona, rent included — Barcelona is 18% cheaper overall.
Salary you'd need to keep the same lifestyle
Enter your current net monthly pay. We scale it by the full cost basket — rent, groceries, transport, utilities, eating out and internet.
To live in Barcelona the way you live in Copenhagen on €3,000, you need
€2,464/ month net
18% less than today (-€536)
- Copenhagen today
- Basket €2,563 · left over €437 (15%)
- Barcelona at the matched salary
- Basket €2,105 · left over €359 (15%)
Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 133% over in Barcelona (adequate) vs 207% in Copenhagen. Purchasing power index · How we calculate this
🇩🇰 Copenhagen
Cycling city with high taxes that buy genuinely good public services.
Monthly budget: €2,563
Sources: Eurostat, Harmonised price indices (2025) · 0 community reports
🇪🇸 Barcelona
Beach-and-metro city with the deepest startup scene in southern Europe — and rents that now reflect it.
Monthly budget: €2,105
Sources: INE Spain + Eurostat, HICP & Encuesta de arrendamientos (2025) · 412 community reports
Should you move to Copenhagen or Barcelona?
On salary, Copenhagen pays more for tech roles (€5,300 versus €2,800 a month), so the money left over after costs is €2,737 in Copenhagen at the top end.
Rent drives most of the gap: €1,700 in Copenhagen against €1,450 in Barcelona. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.
For remote workers, the nomad index scores Copenhagen at 70 and Barcelona at 81 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.