How much does the average worker earn in Spain in 2026? The question has become entangled in an increasingly heated political argument between Rome and Madrid. While Italy still has no statutory minimum wage at all, Spain has raised its own year after year: from €735 a month in 2018 to €1,221 in 2026, a 66% jump in eight years.
And the numbers, for now, are on Madrid’s side. Spanish GDP grew 2.8% in 2025, nearly double the eurozone average of 1.5%, while unemployment fell below 10% for the first time since 2008. On net pay, Spain has just overtaken Italy — a reversal that would have looked implausible only a few years ago.
A caveat before simplifying, though: on average gross pay, Italy is still ahead. Here is what the official data actually says about Spanish earnings, how much the minimum wage matters, and how the country stacks up against Italy and the rest of Europe.
How much people earn in Spain in 2026
The reference source for Spanish pay is the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), Spain’s national statistics office and the counterpart of Italy’s ISTAT. According to its most recent salary-decile survey — 2024 data, released at the end of 2025 — the average salary in Spain is €2,385.6 gross per month, up 5% on the previous year.
As always, the average tells only part of the story, because it is pulled upward by the highest earners. The median is far more representative: the value that splits the workforce exactly in half. In Spain it sits at €2,001.4 gross per month. In practice, half of all salaried workers make less than €2,000.
The distribution confirms it: 30% of workers take home less than €1,582 gross a month, while only the top 30% reach €2,660 or more. Age and gender weigh heavily too, with a range running from an average of €1,373 for the under-25s to €2,681 for the over-55s, and with the average female salary (€2,163) still below the male one (€2,593). On an annual basis, using OECD figures, the Spanish gross average comes to roughly €32,678 (about $35,300).
Spain’s minimum wage, which Italy still doesn’t have
This is where Spain has made the difference. The salario mínimo interprofesional (SMI), the statutory minimum wage, has been set for 2026 at €1,221 gross per month over 14 payments — Spanish contracts customarily pay 14 salaries a year, including two extra bonus installments — equal to €17,094 a year (about $18,500). That is a 3.1% increase on 2025 and, more strikingly, 66% above the 2018 level of €735. The government estimates the measure covers around 2.5 million workers, and for those earning it the amount is even exempt from IRPF, Spain’s personal income tax.
The contrast with Italy is stark. There is no legal minimum wage in Italy: the proposal has stalled in Parliament, and pay floors are left entirely to sector-level collective bargaining agreements. It is a gap that keeps fueling the political debate — and one that, on the numbers, has tracked the steady climb of Spanish wages over recent years. On the Italian side of the comparison, there has been little good news on pay since the country still used the lira.
Average salary in Spain by profession
National averages say little about any individual trade. Below is a more granular view of gross monthly pay for some of the most sought-after jobs in Spain, broken down by sector. These are indicative estimates drawn from job-search portals rather than official INE data, and should be read as orders of magnitude, not precise values.
In healthcare, among the most in-demand sectors nationwide, the range is wide: from just over a thousand euros for a speech therapist to more than five thousand for a dentist.
| Profession | Average monthly salary (euros) |
|---|---|
| Dentist | 5,196 |
| Physician | 2,903 |
| Pharmacist | 2,814 |
| Nurse | 1,887 |
| Nutritionist | 1,818 |
| Psychologist | 1,683 |
| Speech therapist | 1,105 |
IT is among the most dynamic and best-paid sectors, with technical roles sitting consistently above the national average.
| Profession | Average monthly salary (euros) |
|---|---|
| IT manager | 2,722 |
| Data scientist | 2,209 |
| Software developer | 2,125 |
| Graphic designer | 1,740 |
Tourism and hospitality are a different matter: pillars of the Spanish economy, but also among its least remunerative sectors, with pay that rarely clears €1,400.
| Profession | Average monthly salary (euros) |
|---|---|
| Bartender | 1,400 |
| Cook | 1,397 |
| Waiter | 1,249 |
| Receptionist | 1,197 |
| Tour guide | 1,072 |
A set of other cross-sector roles rounds out the picture of the Spanish labor market.
| Profession | Average monthly salary (euros) |
|---|---|
| Journalist | 1,564 |
| Personal trainer | 1,458 |
| Administrative assistant | 1,440 |
| Hairdresser | 1,297 |
| Photographer | 1,262 |
| Teacher | 1,223 |
| Beautician | 1,067 |
How Spain compares with Italy and the rest of Europe
So who actually earns more, Italians or Spaniards? It depends on what you measure. On average annual gross pay, Italy is still ahead: €36,594 (about $39,500) against €32,678 (about $35,300) for Spain, according to OECD data. But the picture flips on net pay: here, Eurostat figures show a single Spanish worker taking home €25,263 a year (about $27,300), against €24,471 (about $26,400) for an Italian counterpart. Spain, in other words, has just moved ahead.
What makes the difference is the trajectory. Spanish wages have grown above inflation in recent years, while in Italy purchasing power has gone backward, with real wages falling roughly 4% between 2015 and 2024.
All of this plays out inside a multi-speed Europe. While Spain and Italy contest the middle of the table, the continental ranking is still dominated by Switzerland, with an average annual gross of more than €107,000 (about $115,600) — the only country above the €100,000 mark.
Editor’s note
This article was originally published in Italian on money.it by Emanuele Di Baldo on August 17, 2026 as «Stipendio medio in Spagna nel 2026. Quanto si guadagna (e confronto con l’Italia)». It has been translated and adapted for an international audience by the Money.it International desk.
