The income map (salaries and pensions) in Spain continues to show a rich north and a poorer south. A country where the highest incomes are accumulated in the Basque Country, Madrid and Catalonia and the most modest are located in Andalusia and Extremadura. The National Institute of Statistics has just updated its Household Income Distribution Atlas, with data from 2021. It offers a detailed detail of how much Spanish families earn per year practically building by building.
The richest neighborhoods in Spain are located in three cities: San Sebastián, Madrid and Barcelona. In these three large cities, specifically, the largest number of census sections with very high income are located. Very high income is one that is above the last income decile. Specifically, in the Gipuzkoa city there are 54.9% of census sections with income greater than 18,152 euros, followed by Madrid, with 39.1%. Barcelona and Girona reach 35%. On the contrary, Pontevedra (1.6%), Zamora (2.0%) and Huelva (2.8%) presented the lowest percentages of very wealthy census tracts.
As for the municipalities with more than 2,000 inhabitants, the richest continue to be, for yet another year, Pozuelo de Alarcón, in Madrid, with 27,167 euros of average annual net income; Matadepera, in Barcelona, with 24,091 euros; Boadilla del Monte, also in Madrid, with 23,169 euros; and two other Barcelona towns: Sant Just Desvern, with 22,322 euros, and Sant Cugat del Vallès, with 21,888 euros. On the opposite side, with the lowest average annual net income, are El Palmar de Troya (Seville), with 7,299 euros per inhabitant, Albuñol (Granada), with 7,371 euros, and Iznalloz (Granada), with 7,540 euros.
Differences in income per person and in the family unit remain high between the north and the south. Another piece of information offered by the INE in this regard highlights that in the Basque Country, 84.9% of its municipalities are among the 25% with the highest income in Spain, above 14,443 euros per inhabitant, followed by the Foral Community of Navarra. , with 66.5%. At the opposite extreme is the Region of Murcia, where 86.7% of its municipalities are among the 25% of municipalities with the lowest income (below 10,987 euros), and Andalusia, with 83.7%.
The provinces with the best income are Gipuzkoa, with an average annual net income of 16,887 euros per inhabitant, always with data relating to 2021; Bizkaia, with 16,192 euros, and Madrid, with 16,146 euros. On the opposite side of the table are the provinces with the lowest annual income per inhabitant, which are Almería (with 10,103 euros of net income), Badajoz (10,549 euros) and Huelva (10,609 euros).
