City comparison
Cost of living in London vs Barcelona
One person needs about €3,468 a month in London and €2,105 in Barcelona, rent included — Barcelona is 39% 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 London on €3,000, you need
€1,821/ month net
39% less than today (-€1,179)
- London today
- Basket €3,468 · left over -€468 (-16%)
- Barcelona at the matched salary
- Basket €2,105 · left over -€284 (-16%)
Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 133% over in Barcelona (adequate) vs 161% in London. Purchasing power index · How we calculate this
🇬🇧 London
Salaries are high, everything else is higher — transport alone costs a Tbilisi flat.
Monthly budget: €3,468
Sources: ONS + VOA, CPIH & private rental market summary (2025) · 468 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 London or Barcelona?
On salary, London pays more for tech roles (€5,600 versus €2,800 a month), so the money left over after costs is €2,132 in London at the top end.
Rent drives most of the gap: €2,400 in London against €1,450 in Barcelona. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.
For remote workers, the nomad index scores London at 64 and Barcelona at 81 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.