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Best places to live in Spain with every factor weighted equally
The ranking at the top of this page starts with all 13 factors at the same weight. On that footing, these 15 of the 163 places score highest; the number beside each is its match score out of 100. Treat the list as a starting point, not a verdict: raise the factors you care about and the order changes. Select a place to open its full breakdown.
- 1(Valencia)87Strongest on cultural scene (100), international schools (100) and long-distance trains (96). Weakest on international community (54). Cultural scene: the average resident has 49 museums, theatres, cinemas and galleries within 3 km.
- 284Strongest on long-distance trains (100), restaurants and bars (100) and cultural scene (100). Weakest on housing cost (0). Long-distance trains: 92 long-distance and high-speed departures a day (main station Barcelona-Sants). Madrid 3 h 02 min, Valencia 3 h 03 min, Zaragoza 1 h 25 min, Sevilla 6 h 14 min.
- 384Strongest on healthcare (100), long-distance trains (100) and airport access (100). Weakest on housing cost (0). Healthcare: 47 hospital and clinic sites within 15 km.
- 480Strongest on long-distance trains (100), restaurants and bars (100) and cultural scene (100). Weakest on international community (38). Long-distance trains: 84 long-distance and high-speed departures a day (main station Zaragoza-Delicias). Madrid 1 h 48 min, Barcelona 1 h 39 min, Valencia 4 h 04 min, Sevilla 4 h 25 min.
- 578Strongest on cultural scene (98), restaurants and bars (96) and long-distance trains (92). Weakest on international community (19). Cultural scene: the average resident has 36.9 museums, theatres, cinemas and galleries within 3 km.
- 677Strongest on healthcare (100), walkability (100) and international schools (100). Weakest on housing cost (40). Healthcare: 33 hospital and clinic sites within 15 km.
- 7(Seville)77Strongest on cultural scene (100), international schools (100) and walkability (97). Weakest on international community (19). Cultural scene: the average resident has 43.7 museums, theatres, cinemas and galleries within 3 km.
- 876Strongest on long-distance trains (100), public transit (100) and international schools (100). Weakest on housing cost (0). Long-distance trains: 92 long-distance and high-speed departures a day (main station Barcelona-Sants). Madrid 3 h 18 min, Barcelona 6 min, Valencia 3 h 12 min, Zaragoza 1 h 34 min, Sevilla 6 h 23 min.
- 975Strongest on healthcare (100), international schools (100) and public transit (99). Weakest on housing cost (38). Healthcare: 30 hospital and clinic sites within 15 km.
- 10(Palma de Mallorca)74Strongest on airport access (100), international schools (100) and cultural scene (96). Weakest on housing cost (39). Airport access: 14 min by public transport to Palma de Mallorca (the island's own airport stands in for a hub).
- 1173Strongest on cultural scene (100), international schools (100) and walkability (85). Weakest on international community (30). Cultural scene: the average resident has 39.5 museums, theatres, cinemas and galleries within 3 km.
- 1273Strongest on international schools (100), restaurants and bars (85) and safety (84). Weakest on cultural scene (41). International schools: 17 within 25 km.
- 1372Strongest on international schools (100), airport access (98) and safety (87). Weakest on housing cost (44). International schools: 23 within 25 km.
- 1472Strongest on international schools (100), healthcare (97) and safety (88). Weakest on international community (35). International schools: 66 within 25 km.
- 1572Strongest on international community (100), restaurants and bars (100) and access to nature (99). Weakest on healthcare (23). International community: 34.8% of residents are foreign nationals (Spanish average 14.1%).
Best places in Spain by priority
Each starting point is a preset in the tool above. It raises the factors named and lowers a few others. The five highest-scoring places under each:
Family raises safety and international schools to 5, and access to nature and healthcare to 4.
- Coslada, Comunidad de Madrid: 88
- Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid: 87
- València (Valencia), Comunitat Valenciana: 87
- Cerdanyola del Vallès, Cataluña: 84
- Getafe, Comunidad de Madrid: 83
Budget first raises housing cost to 5, and safety, bike friendliness, healthcare, long-distance trains, public transit and walkability to 4.
- València (Valencia), Comunitat Valenciana: 86
- Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha: 83
- Zaragoza, Aragón: 83
- Valladolid, Castilla y León: 82
- Castelló de la Plana/Castellón de la Plana (Castellón), Comunitat Valenciana: 77
Car-free raises bike friendliness, public transit and walkability to 5, and long-distance trains to 4.
- Barcelona, Cataluña: 93
- València (Valencia), Comunitat Valenciana: 93
- L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Cataluña: 89
- Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha: 88
- Zaragoza, Aragón: 88
Frequent flyer raises long-distance trains and airport access to 5, and international community, restaurants and bars and cultural scene to 4.
- Barcelona, Cataluña: 96
- Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid: 96
- València (Valencia), Comunitat Valenciana: 92
- Zaragoza, Aragón: 88
- Valladolid, Castilla y León: 86
Questions about where to live in Spain
What is the best place to live in Spain?
It depends on what you need from a place, which is why the Spain City Finder re-ranks as you set your priorities. With all 13 factors weighted equally, València (Valencia), Barcelona and Madrid score highest of the 163 places compared. Change the starting point and the answer changes: Family puts Coslada first, Budget first puts València (Valencia) first, Car-free puts Barcelona and València (Valencia) level at the top and Frequent flyer puts Barcelona and Madrid level at the top.
What are the best places to live in Spain for families?
The Family starting point raises safety and international schools to 5, and access to nature and healthcare to 4. With it, Coslada, Madrid, València (Valencia), Cerdanyola del Vallès and Getafe score highest.
Which places in Spain are easiest to live in without a car?
The Car-free starting point raises bike friendliness, public transit and walkability to 5, and long-distance trains to 4. With it, Barcelona, València (Valencia), L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Albacete and Zaragoza score highest.
Where is housing most affordable in Spain?
9 places share the top score on the housing cost factor. The largest of them are Lugo, Lorca, Orihuela, Ferrol and Alcoi/Alcoy (Alcoy). Lugo: Median rent €4.88 per m² a month for an apartment, 2024.
Which places in Spain score highest for safety?
On the safety factor, the highest scores go to Pozuelo de Alarcón, San Fernando, Tres Cantos, Ávila and Rincón de la Victoria. Pozuelo de Alarcón: 55 violent crimes and 62 home burglaries per 100,000 residents (Spanish average 238 and 151). The safety score is built from official crime figures. A low score means more recorded crime than other places on this list, not that a place is unsafe; How the scores work explains the measure.
Where does the data come from?
The Spain City Finder compares 163 places on 13 factors using official statistics and open data. The figure behind every score is shown beside it, and each source is listed under How the scores work and at the foot of this page. The methodology sets out how every city finder turns figures into scores.
Does the City Finder tell me whether I can move to Spain?
No. It is an informational research tool that compares places using general statistics. It does not assess eligibility for any visa, residence permit or citizenship, and nothing in it is legal, immigration, tax or financial advice. For visa and residence routes, see Move Me To EU.
About the Spain City Finder
The Spain City Finder compares 163 places across Spain on 13 factors: housing cost, safety, bike friendliness, access to nature, international community, healthcare, long-distance trains, airport access, public transit, restaurants and bars, cultural scene, walkability and international schools. Every factor starts at the same weight. Raise the ones you care about, lower or switch off the ones you don't, and the ranking and map re-sort as you go. You can shortlist places, compare them side by side, and copy a link that reopens your exact setup. Madrid, Barcelona, València, Zaragoza and Sevilla open up into their neighborhoods.
It is built for Americans weighing a move to Spain, whether through citizenship by descent, a visa or another route, who want to turn a long list of places into a shortlist worth visiting. Madrid, Barcelona and València (Valencia) are on the list, and so are smaller places that rarely make the usual rankings. Scores are built from official statistics and open data, the figure behind each score is shown next to it, and the sources are listed at the foot of this page. The methodology explains how a figure becomes a score.
For visa and residence routes, see Move Me To EU, Karte Global's visa and relocation practice. Considering more than one country? Browse every city finder, or compare places across the whole EU on one scale in the EU City Finder.
How the scores work
Each figure is turned into a 0 to 100 score. Most factors are scored half by comparison and half on a fixed scale. The comparison half ranks the places against each other: the weakest twentieth score 0 and the strongest twentieth score 100. The fixed half measures each place from zero up to the level of the strongest, so a city is not marked zero merely for coming last on a list of good options. Housing cost and journey times have no natural zero and are scored by comparison only. Public transit is already a percentage of residents and is used as it stands, and cycling is scored on a fixed scale (see the table). Safety has its own scale, described below and in the table.
Cities are compared with the other cities on this list. Neighborhoods are compared only with other neighborhoods of the same city, so a neighborhood score of 80 in Zaragoza and 80 in Madrid are not the same thing. A score is a comparison, not a grade, and the figure behind every score is shown next to it.
Your overall match is not a flat average. Weights are squared, so a factor at 5 counts nearly three times as much as one at 3. The result is stretched so that strong matches separate from middling ones. A place that excels on something you rated 4 or 5 earns a small bonus, shown as "strong fit"; one that does badly on it takes a penalty, shown as "weak fit". Where a place has no figure for a factor, that factor is left out of its match and the others carry the weight.
Badges: Measured a published official statistic or survey result. Derived calculated by us from published data. Editorial written or judged by us: only the short descriptive notes, which never affect a score. Planned not in the score yet.
Reading the safety score. Violent crime counts twice as much as home burglary. Half of the score ranks the places on this list against each other, so the places with the most recorded violence and burglary get little for that half however safe they are by international standards. The other half is absolute, on a fixed scale that does not depend on the other places: no recorded violent crime or burglary would score 100, and the Spanish average scores 76. A low score means "more recorded crime than other Spanish places", not "unsafe". Across Spain the police recorded 238 violent crimes and 151 home burglaries per 100,000 residents in 2025. Crime is counted where it happens, so places that draw commuters, visitors and nightlife record more per resident than quieter ones. The figure behind each score is shown so you can judge the gap for yourself.
Reading the train and airport figures. Train counts and journey times come from the published timetables for one ordinary Tuesday, 20 October 2026. Engineering works and seasonal changes move these figures, most of all for smaller stations. Treat these two factors as a snapshot of this season, and check a route you would rely on. The Balearic and Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla have no rail link to the mainland, so their places show no train figure.
Neighborhood view uses the census districts of Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Sevilla, which are the cities' own districts, and the 12 census districts of Zaragoza, each named after the city districts that lie mostly inside it. It uses only the factors that can be measured inside a city. Safety is not scored for neighborhoods: crime is published by municipality, not by neighborhood.