Spain vs United Kingdom: take-home pay compared
Spain has long faced a well-documented outflow of nurses, doctors, and engineers to Northern Europe, particularly the UK. Comparing take-home pay at broadly equivalent salary levels shows a meaningful part of why.
Net salary side by side
Figures are calculated using this site's own tax engine for each country — click through to the full calculator to adjust for your exact situation.
| Gross salary | 🇪🇸 Spain net/mo | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom net/mo |
|---|---|---|
| 30,000 / 26,000 | €1,930/mo (22.8%) | £1,853/mo (14.5%) |
| 45,000 / 39,000 | €2,720/mo (27.5%) | £2,633/mo (19.0%) |
| 60,000 / 52,000 | €3,469/mo (30.6%) | £3,393/mo (21.7%) |
| 80,000 / 70,000 | €4,423/mo (33.7%) | £4,263/mo (26.9%) |
"Gross salary" is shown in each country's own currency at matching nominal amounts, not currency-converted — useful for comparing two job offers quoted in local currency. Effective rate shown in brackets.
Spain's effective rate is heavier at every comparable income band
Spain's IRPF income tax alone reaches 37% at €35,200 of taxable income — a threshold that catches many mid-career professionals — and Seguridad Social employee contributions add a further 6.35%. Spain's autonomous communities also apply their own complementary rates on top of the state scale (averaging roughly 9% additional), which the baseline figures above don't fully capture, meaning real Spanish take-home can run even lower than shown. See our deep dive on why Spanish nurses emigrate for the profession-specific picture.
Why this specific comparison matters so much in healthcare
Spain trains a large number of nurses and doctors relative to its domestic healthcare system's capacity to employ and pay them competitively, while the UK's NHS has recruited actively from Spain and other Southern European countries for years. The take-home gap shown here, combined with EU/UK mutual recognition arrangements for many qualifications (though increasingly complex post-Brexit), has sustained one of Europe's more significant intra-continental healthcare worker migration flows.
Frequently asked questions
The UK, at every income level shown, often substantially — e.g. £3,393/month vs €3,469/month at the €60k/£52k comparison — with the pound worth more than the euro, the UK figure buys meaningfully more despite looking similar. Spain's combined IRPF and Seguridad Social burden is considerably heavier than UK income tax and National Insurance at comparable levels.
Primarily pay and career progression. UK NHS salaries, while facing their own pressures, generally offer higher take-home pay than Spanish public healthcare salaries at equivalent seniority, and the NHS has actively recruited from Spain and other Southern European countries for years.
Yes. Spain's autonomous communities apply their own complementary tax rates on top of the state scale, typically adding several more percentage points depending on the region. The figures shown here use the state scale only, so real take-home in some regions may be somewhat lower.
No — these are nominal take-home figures. Madrid and Barcelona are generally cheaper than London across most categories, particularly housing, which offsets some of the UK's take-home advantage in real terms.
Want the full story? Read: Why Spanish nurses emigrate: the real salary comparison →