# Is 40K (gross) is a good salary in Spain ?



## sumo89 (Aug 8, 2021)

I am moving from India to Spain with my wife & kid and company is offering 40K gross salary. Is it a good salary to live in Santander, Spain?


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## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

Seriously?


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## blondebob (Aug 16, 2019)

Well above average but as with all things it would depend on your lifestyle and outgoings.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

Santander is one of the most expensive cities in Spain and if 40,000 is the entire family income for your whole family, you certainly won't be "rich".
That said, many people get by on a lot less in cheaper areas of Spain. It depends on your expectations of course.

Some have commented on the "average" wage, but average of what? Every worker in Spain? Then yes 40k is above average, but for a white collar position with experience in Santander I would say 40k would be close to, if not below average.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

sumo89 said:


> I am moving from India to Spain with my wife & kid and company is offering 40K gross salary. Is it a good salary to live in Santander, Spain?


Yes


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## blondebob (Aug 16, 2019)

Overandout said:


> Santander is one of the most expensive cities in Spain and if 40,000 is the entire family income for your whole family, you certainly won't be "rich".
> That said, many people get by on a lot less in cheaper areas of Spain. It depends on your expectations of course.
> 
> Some have commented on the "average" wage, but average of what? Every worker in Spain? Then yes 40k is above average, but for a white collar position with experience in Santander I would say 40k would be close to, if not below average.


Yes always find it odd that people quote a countries average wage but they do and I'm no exception. But yes you're right 40k would be a struggle in Madrid but liveable in Malaga. Again depends on outgoings. I get by in Andalusia on around that but have few large outgoings.


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## sumo89 (Aug 8, 2021)

Overandout said:


> Santander is one of the most expensive cities in Spain and if 40,000 is the entire family income for your whole family, you certainly won't be "rich".
> That said, many people get by on a lot less in cheaper areas of Spain. It depends on your expectations of course.
> 
> Some have commented on the "average" wage, but average of what? Every worker in Spain? Then yes 40k is above average, but for a white collar position with experience in Santander I would say 40k would be close to, if not below average.


I just feel like it's very low when I compared it with my taxation as an expat. So I would get around 2.2k euro in hand per month which is just an average salary if I check the lifestyle and expenses in Santander, Spain for a family.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

Yes, I think that if you are an experienced qualified white collar professional, they may be trying to take advantage. But it is difficult to judge without more details.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

I think the salary is ok. Obviously it depends on the job you'd be doing. Many Spaniards I know would consider anything above 30k a good salary, however most Spanish households have two people working. So two people earning at least 30k is considered enough for the household to live reasonable comfortably. But a household with only one person earning 40k might be cutting it a bit fine.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

The question is almost impossible to answer because it depends on the job itself, the conditions and where you will be living, which in this case is Santander and there are few if any forum members living there. However imho if you are asking the general question of is this a good salary for Spain then I would say yes.
Note the OP did not ask "Is this enough to live on?" That is a different question with a different answer, again dependant on many factors, for example members of family, working or not, school or other studies, lifestyle, trips abroad, cars to be maintained etc


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## sumo89 (Aug 8, 2021)

Pesky Wesky said:


> The question is almost impossible to answer because it depends on the job itself, the conditions and where you will be living, which in this case is Santander and there are few if any forum members living there. However imho if you are asking the general question of is this a good salary for Spain then I would say yes.
> Note the OP did not ask "Is this enough to live on?" That is a different question with a different answer, again dependant on many factors, for example members of family, working or not, school or other studies, lifestyle, trips abroad, cars to be maintained etc


True, I didn't clearly explain in my initial post. Yeah, my question is actually about living with this current salary. Only one person will be working and wife and son(1yr) is depnding on me.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

sumo89 said:


> True, I didn't clearly explain in my initial post. Yeah, my question is actually about living with this current salary. Only one person will be working and wife and son(1yr) is depnding on me.


My husband and I have a combined salary of about that (we're teachers, there's no money in it) and have brought up a daughter and run a car on that salary. I must admit we bought the house from a redundancy package when OH was working in a mulitnational, but we do live near Madrid...


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## AnderF (6 mo ago)

blondebob said:


> Yes always find it odd that people quote a countries average wage but they do and I'm no exception. But yes you're right 40k would be a struggle in Madrid but liveable in Malaga. Again depends on outgoings. I get by in Andalusia on around that but have few large outgoings.


I agree, 40k in an andalusian medium town is a great salary indeed!


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