Spain in figures: Richest and poorest, and lowest and highest unemployment

SPAIN'S richest, poorest, oldest, youngest, most densely-populated and most actively-employed towns and cities have been revealed – the National Statistics Institute (INE) has provided a snapshot of life in over 400 municipalities of 20,000 or more inhabitants, in figures.

Torrevieja, in the south of the province of Alicante, has the most foreign-born residents, at 43.8% of its headcount, whilst in the same province but towards the north, Benidorm has the most one-family households, at 39.1%.

Usually topping the list of Spain's wealthiest towns, Pozuelo de Alarcón, in the Greater Madrid region – home to celebrities, footballers and politicians and top-of-the-range, gated urbanisations – shows the highest annual after-tax income per head, the most frequent averaging at €28,326, or €2,360.50 a month.

It also has the lowest unemployment in the country, at 6.45% and, as proof that financial comfort and job security is conducive to long-term health, the highest life expectancy in Spain at 86 years and 10-and-a-half weeks – which suggests women's life expectancy in Pozuelo is probably nearly 90, given that the difference between sexes is typically about four years; the approximate range would be about 84 for men and 88 for women, based upon the figure for residents across the board.

At the opposite end of the scale, the town of Linares in the land-locked Andalucía province of Jaén has the highest unemployment, at 32.4%, and the coastal town of Níjar in the province of Almería, also in Andalucía, has the lowest net annual income per head at €7,307, or just €609 a month.

Despite Pozuelo de Alarcón's having the longest life expectancy and the east and south coast and islands being some of the most popular choices for northern Europeans seeking to retire in the sun, the town with the largest proportion of its residents being of pension age – over 65 – is Ferrol, on the coast of the province of A Coruña in Spain's far north-western region of Galicia.

The birth rate in Spain has long been in free-fall and the country has one of Europe's highest average ages for first-time mums – around 33, although in practice, seven in 10 women aged over 35 do not have children even if they would like to, and one in five first-time mothers is over 40 – but the city of Melilla, directly due south of the province of Almería on the northern African coast, is where the most children are born: 2.17 on average per woman.

This means it is fairly logical that Melilla is where the largest slice of the population is aged 14 or under, at 23.1% of the total.

Highest income by town or city

After Pozuelo de Alarcón, the wealthiest towns in Spain are, as is nearly always the case when annual statistics are published, its neighbouring municipality of Boadilla del Monte, where the average resident has an after-tax annual income of €21,795 (€1,816.25 a month), followed by Sant Cugat del Vallès in the province of Barcelona at €20,582 per year (€1,715.17 a month).

In fact, nine of the top 10 towns in Spain with the highest income after tax and Social Security 

contributions are found in the single-province region of Madrid or in that of Barcelona, and all of those with an average take-home of €20,000 or over are in these.

Only two towns with an average per-head take-home pay per annum of €18,000 or over (€1,500 per month or more) are not in Madrid or Barcelona – Getxo (Vizcaya province, of which the capital is Bilbao) at number eight and San Sebastián (capital of Guipúzcoa province) at number 11, both in the Basque Country.

The others, in descending order from fourth, are Torrelodones, Majadahonda, Alcobendas and Las Rozas, all in Madrid, and between Getxo and San Sebastián, Tres Cantos (Madrid) and Sant Quirze del Vallès (Barcelona province).

Madrid city is 16th wealthiest, with the average resident taking home €16,700 per year (€1,392), although in the capital, rent prices or monthly mortgage payments are among the highest in the country and would easily swallow up over half of this amount, so those in Madrid itself on the average take-home pay are not, in fact, wealthy at all.

Earning between €18,000 and €17,000 a year after taxes and contributions are Villaviciosa de Odón, Sitges, Castelldefels and Villanueva de la Cañada, again both being in the provinces of Madrid (the first and last) and Barcelona (the two in the middle).

Barcelona city is 19th-wealthiest, with a take-home pay of €16,386 per year, but the same applies concerning rent and mortgage, meaning those on the average will not have huge spending power.

It usually comes as a surprise to those unfamiliar with Spanish prices that coastal towns in the warmest parts of the country regularly have considerably cheaper homes for sale or rent than either of the nation's largest cities or its wider provinces; in fact, the province home to Spain's third-largest city, Valencia, has good-quality, spacious residential property for sale in pleasant areas, both inland and on the coast, which are even affordable on the minimum wage.

Between Madrid and Barcelona cities, in terms of annual income, are Paracuellos de Jarama (Madrid) and Zarautz (Guipúzcoa province) in the Basque Country, and completing the top 20 is Vilassar de Mar, also in the province of Barcelona.

Lowest income by town or city

Níjar has the lowest annual average take-home, and is followed closely by one of its near neighbours, Vícar, whose inhabitants earn just €7,451 per year (€621 per month).

Andalucía is where eight of the top 10 lowest-earning towns are based, and all bar two of those with a take-home pay of less than €8,000 a year – third is Palacios y Villfranca (Sevilla province), followed by Barbate (Cádiz province), Isla Cristina (Huelva province), Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Cádiz province), Alhaurín el Grande (Málaga province), then Adra (Almería province) at number nine, and two towns in the south of the province of Alicante at eight and 10, Almoradí and Torrevieja.

The rest of the top 20 are in the south and south-east, largely in Andalucía but also in southern Alicante and in Murcia – in fact, all bar four towns of more than 20,000 inhabitants whose after-tax income is less than €700 a month per head are in Andalucía; other than one in Granada, the remainder are based in the provinces of Cádiz, Huelva, Sevilla, Almería and Málaga.

From 11 to 20 are Arcos de la Frontera (Cádiz province), whose residents take home an average of €7,976 a year (€665 a month), El Ejido (Almería province), with €8,011 per annum (€668 per month), Lebrija (Sevilla province), Lepe (Huelva province), Mazarrón (Murcia), Coria del Río (Sevilla province), Almonte (Huelva province), Crevillent (southern Alicante province), Almuñécar (Granada province), and Coín (Málaga province), where the average net annual earnings are €8,358, or €697 a month.

Richest inner-city neighbourhoods

Income per neighbourhood was also measured for provincial capital cities, and the richest five urban districts are all in Madrid, topped by El Viso, where a typical resident's take-home pay is an annual €44,825, or a monthly €3,735.42; Recoletos, at €43,567 a year or €3,631 a month; Piovera, at €40,510 a year or €3,376 a month – the only three in the country with an average net income of over €40,000 per annum – then the Castellana, Madrid city's main business district, with €38,888 per year (€3,241 per month) and Nueva España at €35,997 per annum (€3,000 a month).

Only five neighbourhoods, all in Madrid, have an average monthly income per person of €3,000 or more after all taxes and contributions; all bar three of those with an annual take-home of €30,000 or more are in the capital, and 11 of the top 15 wealthiest inner-city districts are in Madrid.

All others in the top 15 are in Barcelona, starting with Pedralbes, at number six, whose residents get an average of €33,501 a year after taxes and contributions (€2,792 per month), Sant Gervasi-Galvany Oest, at number seven, with €33,012 a year (€2,751 a month), Les Tres Torres, at number nine, with €32,179 a year (€2,682 per month), and Sant Gervasi-La Bonanova at number 15 with €27,709 a year (€2,309 a month).

The remaining Madrid neighbourhoods in the top 15 are Almagro at number eight (€32,347 a year, or €2,696 a month); Aravaca-Plantío-Valdemarín at number 10 (€32,103 a year, or €2,675 a month); Palomas at number 11 (€29,689 per annum, or €2,474 a month); Niño Jesús-Jerónimos, at number 12 (€29,504 a year, or €2,459 a month); Hispanoamérica, at number 13 (€28,595 a year, or €2,383 a month); and Ciudad Universitaria, at number 14 (€28,338 per annum, or €2,362 per month).

Poorest inner-city neighbourhoods

Interestingly, despite Madrid's domination in the top-earner stakes, the city also figures in the 15 urban districts with the lowest income per head – its San Cristóbal neighbourhood has the fifth-lowest take-home pay of any part of any provincial capital in Spain, with inhabitants having just €6,717 each to spend per year, or €560 a month.

Of Spain's 15 poorest provincial capital city neighbourhoods, 12 are in Andalucía – six in Sevilla, five in Córdoba, and one in Málaga.

The lowest earners overall are in Sevilla's inner-city number 5-A district (Polígono Sur), with inhabitants having just €5,329 each per year after all taxes and contributions, or €444 a month – one of three with an annual take-home of under €6,000 a year, or less than €500 a month.

Sevilla is also home to the second-poorest, its number 4-E (Tres Barrios) inner-city neighbourhood, where average earnings are €5,757 a year, or €480 a month, and the fourth-poorest, the number 9-A (Torreblanca) inner-city district, with average income of €6,340 a year, or €528.33 a month; third-lowest earners are in Alicante's number 4-A inner-city neighbourhood, with €5,921 a year, or €493.42 a month.

Seven urban districts in provincial capitals, in total, have an average take-home pay per annum of under €7,000 – in addition to those above are Azahara-Palmeras and Polígono del Guadalquivir in Córdoba (€6,810 and €6,943 a year, or €568 and €579 a month) – and a total of eight have an average monthly net income of under €600, the last of these being Alicante's sub-city district 5-A (€7,124 a year, or €594 a month).

Annual income of less than €8,000 a year (€666.67 a month) is reported in Rosaleda-Palma-Palmilla (Málaga, €7,209); Sevilla districts 5-C (Oliva-Letanías), 4-A (Palmete-Padre Pío) and 2-B (Polígono Norte-Barzola-Villegas) (€7,466, €7,616, and €7,807); and Córdoba's Sector Sur (€7,682).

Completing the 15 lowest-earning provincial capital city neighbourhoods are Moreras-Huerta de la Reina (€8,073 per annum, or €672.75 per month) and El Higuerón-Majaneque-Alameda del Obispo (€8,078 a year, or €673.17 a month), both in Córdoba.

Highest and lowest unemployment

Unemployment – taken as those registered as being out of work, whether or not they are entitled to claim contributory or non-contributory dole money – was measured in Spain's 126 largest towns and cities, covering provincial capitals and non-capitals of a similar size.

Pozuelo de Alarcón, with barely 6.5% unemployment, had the highest occupation levels in the country – 'occupation' extended to cover those not available for the job market such as people on maternity or paternity leave, long-term or permanent sickness or disability allowance, retirees, and those who do not need to work or who have given up work for family reasons such as care duties – followed by San Sebastián, at 7.1%, Sant Cugat del Vallès, at 7.4%, Las Rozas and Majadahonda (Madrid) at 7.5% and 7.7%, Vitoria-Gasteiz (the capital of Álava province) and Getxo, in the Basque Country, at 7.8% and 8.5%, Rivas-Vaciamadrid (Madrid) at 9.5%, Irun (Guipúzcoa province, Basque Country) at 9.7%, and jointly with 9.8% unemployment were Alcobendas and San Sebastián de los Reyes (Madrid) and Castelldefels (Barcelona province).

Over 10% unemployment but still in the top 15 lowest are Lugo and Santiago de Compostela in Galicia (10.1% and 11%) and Cerdanyola del Vallès (Barcelona province) at 11.1%.

After Linares (Jaén) at 32.5%, none of the largest cities and towns has 30% unemployment or more – the second-highest figure, 27.8%, is in Córdoba, followed by Granada at 26.8%, Talavera de la Reina (Toledo province, Castilla-La Mancha) at 26.1%, and Alcalá de Guadaíra (Sevilla province) at 25.9%.

Most, but far from all, the biggest towns and cities with the highest unemployment are in Andalucía – Almería (25.8%); La Línea de la Concepción, the last town before Gibraltar (25.6%); Dos Hermanas (Sevilla province) at 24.6%; Santa Lucía de Tirajana (Gran Canaria) at 24.5%; jointly with 24.3%, Mérida (Extremadura) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife; Melilla (24.2%); jointly at 23.8%, Jaén, Andalucía and Telde, Gran Canaria; and Torremolinos (Málaga province) at 23.7%.

Below the national average of 15%, from highest to lowest, are Leganés (Madrid), Badalona and Mollet del Vallès (Barcelona province), Lleida in Catalunya, Barakaldo in the Basque Country, Guadalajara in northern Castilla-La Mancha, El Prat de Llobregat (Barcelona province), and Pamplona (Navarra).

Above average, from highest to lowest, are Badajoz (Extremadura), Elche (southern Alicante province), Málaga, Ciudad Real (southern Castilla-La Mancha), and Vigo (Pontevedra province, Galicia) and Tarragona (southern Catalunya), which hovered just above the 15%.

'Active' population

Taking into account those actively employed or in full-time education, and aged over 16, Rivas-Vaciamadrid had the highest level at 72.8%, Valdemoro at 70.9% and Parla at 69.5%, all in Madrid.

The lowest activity – although not necessarily linked to unemployment, given that 'activity' excludes those retired, permanently off sick, stay-at-home parents or carers and those who do not need to work – is seen in Ferrol (49%), León (49.1%) and Getxo (49.7%).

After Parla, the highest levels of active employment or full- education are, in descending order, found in Arrecife (Lanzarote), Santa Lucía de Tirajana, Palma de Mallorca, the Madrid-region towns of San Sebastián de los Reyes, Torrejón de Ardoz, Collado Villalba and Fuenlabrada, in Paterna (Valencia province), Las Rozas, Castelldefels, Rubí (Barcelona province) and Alcobendas (Madrid).

After Ferrol, León and Getxo, the lowest activity levels, in ascending order, are seen in Cádiz, Avilés (Asturias), Gijón (Asturias), Salamanca (Castilla y León), Torrelavega (Cantabria), Ourense (Galicia), Zamora (Castilla y León), Santander (Cantabria), Ponferrada (Castilla y León), Granada, Valladolid (Castilla y León), and Oviedo (Asturias).