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Move & retire

Spain

A published income threshold, five years, and a health system you can buy into.

4/4
ingredients confirmed
Every ingredient this page asks for has a figure and a source.
Living
~$2,400/mo
Couple, all in. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level behind it prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.
Safety
High
Twenty-seventh globally, and safer on the index than Germany or the United Kingdom
Residency
Income-tested, published, and it settles
Nationals of Ibero-American countries can naturalise after two years of legal residence rather than ten. That the timetable turns on which passport you hold is a structural fact, recorded rather than averaged away.
Healthcare
Public, with a paid way in for the non-working
Out-of-pocket spending is 20.9% of current health expenditure here (World Bank, 2023, CC BY 4.0). Read it with care: the measure counts only what insured people pay — not premiums, and not the uninsured — which is why the United States comes out at 10.9%, ahead of most countries on this site.

Where these figures came from

One row per ingredient. Open any of them for the source, how far we trust it, and when we last checked.

Living~$2,400/mo

Pathoff judgement directed by evidence, not computed from it: the country’s position comes from the World Bank household consumption price level for 2024 (0.637 of the United States, CC BY 4.0 — the ICP benchmark carried forward annually by the World Bank’s own method); the US reference budget is ours. See the Pathoff method, section 12.

Couple, all in. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level behind it prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.

Confidence
made by us from the source
SafetyHigh

Global Peace Index 2026: rank 27 of 163, score 1.654. Converted by the Pathoff GPI formula (GPI in lib/scoring.ts)

Twenty-seventh globally, and safer on the index than Germany or the United Kingdom

Confidence
made by us from the source
ResidencyIncome-tested, published, and it settles

Pathoff outcome rubric (the Pathoff method, section 10-4), residency band "A route with conditions you can meet": The non-lucrative visa is a defined passive-income route — 400% of the IPREM, €28,800 a year, plus €7,200 per dependant — renewable 1+2+2 and leading to long-term residence at five years. High in the band. Short of the open band because it prohibits work entirely and consulates expect a margin above the legal minimum.

Nationals of Ibero-American countries can naturalise after two years of legal residence rather than ten. That the timetable turns on which passport you hold is a structural fact, recorded rather than averaged away.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
No change known to us
Last checked
2026-09
HealthcarePublic, with a paid way in for the non-working

Pathoff healthcare rubric (the Pathoff method, section 13-2), band "Covered, with a private top-up in practice": The national health service is strong and residents who are not working can buy into it through the convenio especial at a published monthly price. Held mid-band because private cover is a condition of the non-lucrative visa, waiting lists push many residents to keep it, and the convenio is administered regionally.

Out-of-pocket spending is 20.9% of current health expenditure here (World Bank, 2023, CC BY 4.0). Read it with care: the measure counts only what insured people pay — not premiums, and not the uninsured — which is why the United States comes out at 10.9%, ahead of most countries on this site.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
No change known to us
Last checked
2026-09

What it is like here

Spain states its terms: €28,800 a year in passive income, a one-year residence renewed two years at a time, and long-term residence after five. Living costs are well below the northern European level, the health service is good, and there is a paid public option for residents who are not working. The trade-offs are that the visa forbids working at all and consulates apply the income test with their own margin.

How the process works

1

Assemble a year of income evidence

Passive income only — pensions, dividends, rent. Employment income does not count.

⏱ 1–3 months
2

Apply at the consulate, then collect the TIE

The visa is issued abroad; the residence card is issued after arrival.

⏱ 2–4 months
3

Register on the padrón, then look at the convenio especial

Municipal registration is the precondition for the paid public health option.

⏱ 1–12 months

Where people settle

Valencia / Alicante
The established foreign-resident belt, milder and cheaper than Madrid
Málaga / Costa del Sol
Most English spoken, most expensive of the coasts now
Galicia / Asturias
Green, wet, much cheaper, and far less English

Open any ingredient above to see where its figure came from, how far we trust it and when we last checked. Nothing here is a substitute for the official source. Last reviewed 2026-09-04.

Photograph of Spain by Zarateman, licensed CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.