Madrid Workers Earn €2,000 More Than Catalan Workers
- The wage gap between Madrid and Catalonia remains unresolved.
- If we look at the highest hierarchical job category, the gap between the two regions is more pronounced [see graph].
- Conversely, the communities with the greatest salary dynamism, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, coincide with regions with greater migratory attraction and population growth, rather than with...
The wage gap between Madrid and Catalonia remains unresolved. according to the latest study on salary evolution prepared by EADA Business School and the consultancy Icsa, based on a sample of 80,000 salary data and relating to 2025, workers in the central community earn an average of 1,860 euros more per year than those in Catalonia. Based on the figures in the report, this is the average difference taking into account the three levels examined by the business school (executives, middle managers and employees or rank-and-file workers). This is not the first time that Madrid has outperformed Catalonia, according to the authors of the study.
If we look at the highest hierarchical job category, the gap between the two regions is more pronounced [see graph]. While Madrid executives earn 95,528 euros annually, their Catalan counterparts earn 92,443 euros. Despite it’s persistence, this gap is narrowing in intermediate and basic positions. These differences can be linked to the so-called capital effect which causes the concentration in Madrid of most headquarters of large companies and acts as a magnet for high-level (and high-earning) professional and technical services.
Conversely, the communities with the greatest salary dynamism, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, coincide with regions with greater migratory attraction and population growth, rather than with clear improvements in per capita productivity. Furthermore, the autonomous community that has experienced the greatest growth in remuneration for executives in 2025 has been Aragon with 2.49%; Asturias for middle managers with 2.87%, and the Balearic Islands for employees with 9.98%.
Real purchasing power
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Aside from this comparison by regions, the EADA and Icsa report yields other conclusions. The results of the 2025 edition highlight that employees concentrate the largest salary increase in the past year, with an increase of 5.50%, bringing the average salary to 28,577 euros, while executives experience an betterment of 1.59%, bringing the average to 90,246 euros annually. For their part, middle managers register a more moderate evolution.
Once again,the sector with the best pay is the year,except in the employee category,were it is indeed surpassed by industry,with a difference of 1,368 euros.on the contrary, commerce and tourism are those that register the worst salary in all the categories analyzed. In particular, in the employee category, the industrial and banking sectors remain the best paid, with an average of 31,597 euros and 30,229 euros, respectively.
On the contrary, employees in the commercial and tourism sector are the worst paid, with an average of 20,228 euros. Although it is the segment that experiences the largest increase if compared to the average salary of 2024.
The salary gap between Madrid and Catalonia reaches almost 2,000 euros per year. Workers in the capital earn, on average, 2,000 euros more annually than those in Catalonia, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) processed by the consulting firm ECD.
Specifically, the average gross annual salary in Madrid in November 2023 stood at 29,199.8 euros, while in Catalonia it was 27,248.8 euros. This difference of 1,951 euros represents an increase of 7.2% compared to the same month of the previous year, when the gap was 1,820.6 euros.
This divergence in salaries is not new,but it has been widening in recent months. Experts point to several factors that explain this situation,including the greater concentration of companies and economic activity in Madrid,as well as the higher cost of living in the Catalan capital.
The data also show that the average salary in Madrid is higher than the national average, which in November 2023 was 28,063.5 euros. Catalonia, on the other hand, is slightly below the national average.
This salary gap has implications for workers and companies. For workers, it means that they may have to move to Madrid to find better-paid jobs. For companies,it means that they may have to offer higher salaries to attract and retain talent in Catalonia.
The INE data also reveal differences in salaries by sector. In some sectors,such as finance and insurance,the salary gap between Madrid and Catalonia is even greater than the overall average.
The consulting firm ECD warns that this salary gap could widen further in the coming months if the economic situation in Catalonia does not improve.
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