Cost of Living Guide

City comparison

Cost of living in Málaga vs Kraków

One person needs about €1,380 a month in Málaga and €1,260 in Kraków, rent included — Kraków is 9% cheaper overall.

🇪🇸
Málaga
Spain · 578K pop
vs
🇵🇱
Kraków
Poland · 800K pop
Monthly rent (1BR)
€850€780
8% cheaper
Groceries / mo
€260€250
4% cheaper
Eating out (meal)
€11€9
18% cheaper
Internet (100mbps)
€32€16
50% cheaper
Avg salary (tech)
€2,100€2,800
33% higher
Coworking / mo
€130€120
8% cheaper
MálagaKraków
Rent€850€780
Groceries€260€250
Transport€55€22
Utilities€95€120

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 Kraków the way you live in Málaga on €3,000, you need

€2,739/ month net

9% less than today (-€261)

Málaga today
Basket €1,380 · left over €1,620 (54%)
Kraków at the matched salary
Basket €1,260 · left over €1,479 (54%)

Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 222% over in Kraków (strong) vs 152% in Málaga. Purchasing power index · How we calculate this

🇪🇸 Málaga

The current favourite of remote workers: 300 sunny days, fast fibre, and Barcelona living for 40% less.

Monthly budget: €1,380

Sources: INE Spain + Eurostat, HICP & provincial rent index (2025) · 286 community reports

🇵🇱 Kraków

Warsaw salaries in a smaller, cheaper, prettier city.

Monthly budget: €1,260

Sources: Eurostat, Harmonised price indices (2025) · 0 community reports

Should you move to Málaga or Kraków?

On salary, Kraków pays more for tech roles (€2,800 versus €2,100 a month), so the money left over after costs is €1,540 in Kraków at the top end.

Rent drives most of the gap: €850 in Málaga against €780 in Kraków. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.

For remote workers, the nomad index scores Málaga at 88 and Kraków at 81 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.

More Málaga comparisons

More Kraków comparisons