Record growth since 2006
According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the average monthly salary in Spain increased by 5% in 2024, reaching 2,385.6 euros before taxes. This is the highest figure since records began in 2006.
Average wages rose for the eighth year in a row after falling in 2016 for the first time in 10 years. The 2024 growth of 5% is the second highest in the last eight years, behind 2023’s 7.3%.
How are salaries distributed?
According to statistics:
- 40% of employees (7.3 million people) earned between 1582.2 and 2659.8 euros gross per month in 2024;
- 30% (5.5 million) received wages of 2659.8 euros per month;
- the remaining 30% (another 5.5 million) – less than 1582.2 euros per month.
Of the latter, 1.84 million people earned less than 1,068.9 euros per month.
How INE calculates the indicator
INE uses for its data monthly earnings from the main job (including deductions for income tax and contributions) and adds conditional criteria for special cases. Thus, additional payments and other annual allowances are taken into account, the amount of which is divided by 12. Payments for regular overtime, tips and commissions are also included.
Differences by gender and type of employment
According to INE data, the lowest wages are paid to women, young people, people with low levels of education, part-time workers and temporary workers. So, in 2024, workers with temporary contract had an average salary of 1872.7 euros per month compared to 2484.5 euros for workers with an open-ended contract.
Almost four in ten women received wages of less than €1,582.2 per month, compared with one in five men. In addition, 33.7% of men earned €2,659.8 or more in 2024, compared to 26.1% of women.
Overall, the average salary for women in 2024 was 2,163.2 euros per month (100 euros more than in 2023), compared to 2,593 euros for men (125.1 euros more than the year before). Reasons given for this gender difference include that women are more likely to be employed part-time, on temporary contracts and in lower-paid industries.
Salaries by age and region
Among young people under 25, the average gross wage reached 1,372.8 euros per month last year – 14.6 euros less than in 2023. In contrast, workers aged 55 years and over had the highest average salary for them in 2024 – 2680.7 euros per month.
The autonomies with the highest average wages were the Basque Country (2809.9 euros), the Autonomous Community of Madrid (2761.7) and Navarre (2589.1). At the same time, the lowest average wages were recorded in the Canary Islands (2051.7), Murcia (2120.9) and Extremadura (2127.2).
In the Basque Country, 46.5% of wage earners earned €2,659.8 per month or more, in Madrid 39.3% and in Navarre 37.7%. At the opposite end of the ranking, with the highest proportion of workers earning less than €1,582.2, are Extremadura (40.2%), the Canary Islands (38.2%) and Murcia (37.1%).
