Cost of Living Guide

City comparison

Cost of living in Toronto vs Barcelona

One person needs about €2,737 a month in Toronto and €2,105 in Barcelona, rent included — Barcelona is 23% cheaper overall.

🇨🇦
Toronto
Canada · 2.8M pop
vs
🇪🇸
Barcelona
Spain · 1.6M pop
Monthly rent (1BR)
€1,900€1,450
24% cheaper
Groceries / mo
€400€320
20% cheaper
Eating out (meal)
€19€14
26% cheaper
Internet (100mbps)
€50€38
24% cheaper
Avg salary (tech)
€5,400€2,800
48% lower
Coworking / mo
€300€200
33% cheaper
TorontoBarcelona
Rent€1,900€1,450
Groceries€400€320
Transport€105€75
Utilities€130€110

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 Toronto on €3,000, you need

€2,307/ month net

23% less than today (-€693)

Toronto today
Basket €2,737 · left over €263 (9%)
Barcelona at the matched salary
Basket €2,105 · left over €202 (9%)

Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 133% over in Barcelona (adequate) vs 197% in Toronto. Purchasing power index · How we calculate this

🇨🇦 Toronto

Strong salaries, brutal rent, and winters that raise the utility line.

Monthly budget: €2,737

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 Toronto or Barcelona?

On salary, Toronto pays more for tech roles (€5,400 versus €2,800 a month), so the money left over after costs is €2,663 in Toronto at the top end.

Rent drives most of the gap: €1,900 in Toronto against €1,450 in Barcelona. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.

For remote workers, the nomad index scores Toronto at 66 and Barcelona at 81 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.

More Toronto comparisons

More Barcelona comparisons