Ciudad Real emerges as the most affordable provincial capital for renting a home, with an average monthly price around 453 euros for an 80-square-meter standard apartment. Following closely are Ourense, Cáceres, and Zamora, where rents hover between 520 and 524 euros per month. These figures come from Fotocasa, a leading real estate portal. By comparison, major cities such as Barcelona, San Sebastián, and Madrid command much higher prices, with living spaces of similar size commonly ranging from 1,484 to 1,652 euros per month.
The group of twenty cheapest capitals is mostly inland, with Castellón de la Plana, Murcia, and Pontevedra as notable coastal exceptions that lie near beaches. Extremadura stands out as the only autonomous community consisting of several provinces that all appear on the cheapest list. Cáceres sits in third place, while Badajoz ranks tenth, each with a mean monthly price around 595 euros.
In both Castilla La-Mancha and Castilla y León, affordability concentrates in the provincial capitals. Ciudad Real leads with 453 euros, followed by Zamora at 524 euros, Palencia at 536 euros, Ávila at 558 euros, León at 578 euros, Cuenca at 579 euros, Albacete at 597 euros, Valladolid at 660 euros, Guadalajara at 712 euros, and Toledo at 716 euros. Galicia also contributes several affordable options: Ourense ranks as the second cheapest capital city, while Lugo and Pontevedra appear at fifth and thirteenth place respectively. Fotocasa notes that among these communities, only Lleida (629 euros), Huesca (662 euros), Murcia (668 euros), and Logroño (684 euros) reach the list of affordable capitals.
What share of income typically goes to rent?
In 2022, average rents required around 43 percent of gross earnings for Spaniards, according to Fotocasa. The year before showed about 40 percent, and 2012 saw roughly 30 percent. In the twenty cheapest provincial capitals, the rent-to-income ratio sits nearer to 25 percent on average, based on household net income data from the National Institute of Statistics (2020). Ciudad Real stands out as the most affordable city, needing only about a fifth of income to cover rent.
On the opposite end, Toledo, although ranking as the twentieth most affordable city, still requires a higher effort, averaging around 30 percent of income for rent. Other cities with a 25 to 26 percent share include Badajoz (28%), Cuenca (26%), Logroño (26%), Guadalajara (26%), Murcia (26%), Cáceres (25%), Ávila (25%), and Albacete (25%). The pattern shows rent burdens creeping higher, especially in areas facing economic pressure.
Analysts note that renting costs have risen steadily in recent years, pushing many households to reconsider emancipation or relocation. Sharing housing often becomes a practical solution to manage high rent and limited wage growth. The broader issue is not simply slower wage growth but the persistent surge in rental prices over the past 17 years, which drives a larger portion of income toward housing. This trend pushes rent affordability beyond commonly recommended levels, troubling many households, particularly in economically distressed regions. As María Matos, a housing market researcher and spokesperson for Fotocasa, observes, the persistent rent increases contribute to constrained access to rental homes and greater social and economic pressure on families seeking stable housing.