At the end of 2021, Valencia municipality housed 3,065 residents who, on average, carried a debt of 9,122 euros per person. This wasn’t personal debt, but the council’s. The consulate, located roughly 90 kilometers from the regional capital, has consistently ranked among Spain’s most indebted per capita. The town’s history is tied to brick-and-mortar projects and expropriations that drained public coffers and amplified liabilities. The mayor from the Popular Party, Fernando Giner, initially proposed a naval complex for this inland city, a plan that later evolved into a logistics and commerce park. Valpark was described as a secure bet and a substantial benefit. The 2008 crisis left Vallada with more than a million square meters of expropriated land with no buyers.
By 2015, Giner lost the mayoralty that his party had held for decades. Voter turnout was exceptionally high, and the PSOE captured the absolute majority that had last been seen in the 2019 elections. This shift was interpreted as a consequence of a administration that saddled Valladinos with debt. The mayor, Maria Jose Tortosa, directed her efforts toward easing the red numbers and clearing the wasteland that could one day become a business park. Two legislatures later, tasks appeared to be split in two: land was redistributed and then redistributed again. Valpark is back in operation, yet Vallada remains the municipality with Spain’s highest per capita debt.
Although the overall debt of local institutions rose for the first time in a decade, increasing from 21,945 million euros to 22,068, it was the county councils, assemblies, and island councils that skewed the data, not the city councils. The outstanding debt of the latter, consisting of payments awaiting redemption and the interest they accrue, reached 17,324 million euros in 2021. The peak had come in 2012, when the figure hit 35,290 million euros. After the “bubble burst,” liabilities fell and did not stop, not even through the pandemic. The Budget Stability and Fiscal sustainability Act, enacted in 2014, encouraged consulates to over-allocate funds to reduce debt. In fact, the sharpest decline occurred between 2013 and 2014.
Of Spain’s 8,131 municipalities, 4,814—60%—closed 2021 without financial debt. On the other side of the spectrum, there are towns that have not finished calculating, just like Vallada.
Historical debts that continue to rise
The second municipality with the highest debt per capita, 7,692 euros per person, shares a comparable saga. Castellón’s razor-thin margin of a population of about 750 swells dramatically in the summer from tourism. From 2015 and under the PP administration, Mayor Jose Vicente Torres faced removal from his party and a resignation amid investigations for alleged falsehoods. His governance during the heavy brick era and the debt that merely grew gave him a political foothold again in 2019. Despite remaining among the top per‑capita indebted municipalities in Spain, the consulate in Castellón benefited from regional grants to redeem pending payments up to 2022.
The bronze medal goes to the Cádiz municipality of Los Barrios, where 23,983 residents carry an average debt of 7,320 euros. The total debt stands at 175.5 million euros, closely mirroring Córdoba, which has a population more than ten times larger. In the consulate, numerous corruption cases tied to the long-running proximity between public companies and Socialist party officials have appeared. Several publicly traded firms faced bankruptcy amid alleged irregularities; two former mayors faced legal challenges for municipal tax administration, with PSOE consultants involved. Urban agreements from years past remain under investigation. When the Socialist-led council gave way in 2011, leadership passed to Jorge Romero of the Andalusian Party after a pact with the PP. Romero resurfaced as a key figure in 2019 as part of the 100×100 plan while criticism persisted. Citizens were urged to back 100×100 and the PP government, yet Romero’s exit from the equation lingered as a topic. A resident councilor remarked, “This town has 300 years of history and it will take almost 300 more to repay its debt.” This perspective was shared in an interview with the Voice of Cádiz, attributed to Miguel Alconchel.
Madrid: highest debt, yet also the most populous
Nearly all of the 17,324 million euros in municipal debt is concentrated in a single city: Madrid. This city not only carries the greatest sum, it is also the most populous. The historic stronghold of the Popular Party was a notable feature during the campaign. Manuela Carmena, who assumed the mayorship in 2015, was pledged to reduce debt, which hovered near 6 billion euros in 2014. Like other mayors who branded their administrations with a reformist label, the goal was to clear the accounts that often dominated headlines. Today, the capital is again led by the PP, with Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida praised for continuing debt depreciation. Nonetheless, the 2022 closing figures indicate Madrid’s debt rose to 1.738 million, suggesting the trend toward higher liabilities could persist for the first time in a decade.
Other large debts include Jerez de la Frontera, where 918,4 thousand residents account for total liabilities of …the city’s debt stands at 1.02 billion euros and continues to rise as it relies on credit lines for supplier payments, loan refinancing, and court orders. Suspicion of irregularities around urban agreements from years past has shaped much of the political discourse. As one council member stated, the city’s long arc of debt reflects a broader pattern seen in several municipalities.
Check the results of the next 28M municipal elections in Spain
Readers can review the outcomes of all municipal elections in Spain in the next 28M. Note that this is a snapshot of how local governance and debt management intersected with political shifts. (Source: national financial and electoral records.)