Americans Living in Spain: How Many, Where They Live and What They Pay (Official Data)
- ☎️ How many Americans live in Spain: the official count, year by year
- 🔍 Where Americans live in Spain, by province
- ⚠️ Where Americans live in Spain, city by city
- 🔍 Who the Americans in Spain are
- 🥇 How Americans get residence in Spain: the permits actually issued
- 🌍 What Americans buy in Spain, and what they pay
- 🔍 Questions Americans ask before moving
- 📣 Sources
How many Americans live in Spain? 57,379 United States citizens were registered as residents on 1 January 2025, according to Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE). That is 17,220 more than three years earlier and almost double the 2015 figure. Counting people born in the United States, whatever passport they hold today, the number rises to 76,180. This page sets out where those Americans live, city by city, how they got their residence, what they buy and what they pay, all from official Spanish and European sources, each with its year.
How many Americans live in Spain: the official count, year by year
There are two official series and they do not contradict each other. The municipal register (Padrón) counted US citizens every 1 January from 1998 to 2022. Since then Spain reports through its Continuous Population Statistics, the figure Eurostat publishes. Both are shown here so the jump is not mistaken for a change of method.
| 1 January | US citizens registered in Spain | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 12,901 | INE, Padrón Continuo |
| 2005 | 25,831 | INE, Padrón Continuo |
| 2010 | 25,771 | INE, Padrón Continuo |
| 2015 | 30,183 | INE, Padrón Continuo |
| 2019 | 37,352 | INE, Padrón Continuo |
| 2022 | 41,953 | INE, Padrón Continuo |
| 2023 | 46,261 | INE and Eurostat, population by citizenship |
| 2024 | 50,623 | INE and Eurostat, population by citizenship |
| 2025 | 57,379 | INE and Eurostat, population by citizenship |
The growth is recent and steep: from 30,183 in 2015 to 57,379 in 2025. The register also shows that the growth is not a pandemic blip: every year since 2015 has ended with more Americans than the one before, except 2021.
Why you see 41,000, 50,000 and 108,000 in the same search
- 41,953 is the last figure of the old municipal register, at 1 January 2022. Still quoted, but three years out of date.
- 50,623 is the same population on 1 January 2024 in the newer series; 57,379 is 1 January 2025.
- 76,180 counts people born in the United States, including those who have since taken Spanish or another citizenship.
- 108,000 is an estimate by an association of Americans abroad that tries to include part-time and unregistered residents. It is a model, not a count, and no Spanish body publishes it.
Where Americans live in Spain, by province
The province breakdown comes from INE’s Annual Population Census at 1 January 2025, the newest official count by nationality for every province and town. Madrid and Barcelona alone hold more than two in five of all Americans in Spain. The fastest growth is not there, though: since 2021 Valencia has more than doubled and Alicante has almost doubled, two of the provinces our clients on the non-lucrative and digital nomad visas choose most often.
| Province | US citizens (2025) | Share of all Americans in Spain | Change since 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Madrid | 14,240 | 25% | +39% |
| Barcelona | 11,251 | 20% | +52% |
| Valencia | 4,907 | 9% | +132% |
| Malaga | 3,945 | 7% | +69% |
| Alicante | 2,932 | 5% | +94% |
| Cadiz | 1,977 | 3% | +20% |
| Balearic Islands | 1,834 | 3% | +41% |
| Seville | 1,577 | 3% | +40% |
| Granada | 1,383 | 2% | +64% |
| Girona | 959 | 2% | +80% |
Where Americans live in Spain, city by city
Province figures hide the real pattern. INE’s Annual Population Census gives the count for every municipality in Spain, whatever its size. These are the cities with the most American residents and the share of the local population they represent.
| City | US citizens (2025) | Share of the city’s population |
|---|---|---|
| Madrid | 10,423 | 0.3% |
| Barcelona | 7,720 | 0.5% |
| Valencia | 3,179 | 0.4% |
| Seville | 965 | 0.1% |
| Malaga | 852 | 0.1% |
| Alicante | 730 | 0.2% |
| Granada | 658 | 0.3% |
| Palma de Mallorca | 623 | 0.1% |
| Rota | 521 | 1.8% |
| El Puerto de Santa María | 499 | 0.6% |
| Zaragoza | 469 | 0.1% |
| Sant Cugat del Vallès | 465 | 0.5% |
Two notes on reading it. Rota, in Cadiz, has 521 Americans on its town register. The naval base next door is a different count: the US Navy puts the base community at about 7,000 people, counting service members, civilians, contractors and their families. The census is built from the municipal registers, so the two numbers measure different things, and the base sits between Rota and El Puerto de Santa María, which helps explain why both towns are on the list. And the places where Americans are most visible are not the biggest: in Sitges, on the coast south of Barcelona, more than one resident in a hundred is American (1.2%), and in Almuñecar on the Granada coast almost one in a hundred (0.9%).
Who the Americans in Spain are
The stereotype of the retiree does not match the register. Of the 57,379 US citizens counted on 1 January 2025, 15% were 65 or older, against 41% of the British. The largest group is aged 30 to 49 (17,460 people, 30%), followed by 15 to 29 (13,549, 24%, most of them students) and 50 to 64 (10,531, 18%). 7,108 are children under 15. Women outnumber men: 54% of American residents are female.
How Americans get residence in Spain: the permits actually issued
Eurostat publishes the first residence permits Spain issues each year, by reason. In 2024 Spain issued 15,638 first permits to US citizens, up from 9,603 in 2019. The split says a lot about who is arriving:
| Reason for the first permit | 2019 | 2024 | Share in 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Education (students, language assistants) | 5,097 | 6,904 | 44% |
| Family (spouses and children of residents and of Spanish citizens) | 1,839 | 4,012 | 26% |
| Employment (including remote work permits) | 791 | 1,634 | 10% |
| Other reasons (residence without work, such as the non-lucrative visa) | 1,876 | 3,088 | 20% |
Looking at all permits in force rather than new ones, 53,009 US citizens held a valid residence permit at the end of 2024: 44% for family reasons, 32% for other reasons, 16% for study and 8% for work. In practice the two routes our American clients use are the non-lucrative visa, for anyone who can live on passive income or savings without working at all, in Spain or remotely, and the digital nomad visa, for employees of companies outside Spain and for freelancers whose clients are outside Spain, with up to a fifth of the work allowed for Spanish companies. Students who finish a course and want to stay, and the American spouses of residents and of Spanish citizens, make up most of the rest. Choosing between these routes is the first thing our Spain immigration lawyers settle with an American client, because the income test, the family members and the timing differ in each one.
What Americans buy in Spain, and what they pay
Spain’s notaries publish the nationality of foreign buyers for every area. In the twelve months to June 2026, Americans were among the five largest groups of foreign buyers in Madrid, Barcelona and Seville, and in the old town of Valencia (postcode 46001) they were the largest group of all, with 18% of purchases. Below, for the cities where most Americans live, the price actually paid per square metre in that period and the median rent for a flat that landlords declared to the tax office in 2024, the latest year the Ministry of Housing has published.
| City | Sold price per m² (to June 2026) | Average sale price | Median rent of contracts in force (2024, tax records) | Middle half of those contracts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madrid | €5,257 | €466,434 | €869 | €700 to €1,166 |
| Barcelona | €4,761 | €388,276 | €900 | €736 to €1,169 |
| Valencia | €2,714 | €256,606 | €681 | €515 to €899 |
| Seville | €2,366 | €221,037 | €668 | €550 to €825 |
| Malaga | €3,178 | €311,151 | €718 | €561 to €927 |
| Palma de Mallorca | €4,183 | €432,106 | €800 | €641 to €995 |
Read the rent column with care. It covers every tenancy that was running in 2024, including contracts signed years ago at old prices, which is why it looks low next to the sale prices. It is the official floor, not what a newcomer pays: a flat advertised today in Madrid or Barcelona asks well above the median shown, and the upper end of the middle half is the better guide for a new arrival. The Ministry publishes this series once a year; we will update the table when the 2025 figures appear.
Our guides to buying a house in Spain as a foreigner and mortgages for non-residents cover the process and the financing. If budget decides the city, the cheapest places to live in Spain use the same official price and rent data.
Questions Americans ask before moving
Can a US citizen just move to Spain?
Not without a residence permit. A US passport allows 90 days in any 180-day period across the Schengen area as a visitor, and a visitor stay gives you no right to settle. For the non-lucrative visa you apply at the Spanish consulate that covers your state, before you travel. The digital nomad route is the exception: it can be filed the same way, or from inside Spain if you are already here legally. Once you enter with a residence visa you have one month to apply in person for your residence card, the TIE. Our guide on moving to Spain from the USA walks through the documents.
Can you live on $2,000 a month in Spain?
You can live on it in most of the country, but you cannot get the non-lucrative visa with it. That visa requires the main applicant to show €2,400 a month, €28,800 a year, plus €600 a month for each family member, and the amount is tied to a public index, the IPREM, which is set in the state budget and can change from one year to the next. The digital nomad visa asks for €2,850 a month gross, before tax, mostly from work for companies or clients outside Spain. With either visa in hand, the rents in the table above show what $2,000 buys: comfortably a flat in Valencia, Seville or Malaga, tightly in Madrid or Barcelona.
Can you live on $1,000 a month in Spain?
Only in the cheapest inland cities and only as a resident who already holds a visa obtained on other income, because neither of the two self funded routes, the non-lucrative visa and the digital nomad visa, is granted on $1,000 a month. The routes with lower thresholds lean on something else: a study place, with its own smaller means test, or a family member already living in Spain who has to show the income for both of you. Declared rents in Lugo, Jaen or Zamora are between €400 and €500 a month, which is what makes that budget possible there.
Can you live off $3,000 a month in Spain?
Yes. At most exchange rates that is above the €2,400 a month the non-lucrative visa asks of a single applicant, and close to the €3,000 a month a couple needs. It covers the median rent of a flat in Madrid or Barcelona with room to spare and a comfortable life almost anywhere else. Our advisors check the exact threshold for your family size and the year you apply, because the threshold is set in the state budget and can change from one year to the next.
Sources
- INE, Estadística del Padrón Continuo: foreign population by nationality, provinces and year, 1998 to 2022 (published 2023), for the historical series.
- INE, Censo Anual de Población, table 66323: population by nationality for every province and municipality at 1 January 2025 (published 2 December 2025), used for the province and city tables; the change column compares with the same table at 1 January 2021.
- INE, Estadística Continua de Población, population by nationality at 1 January 2025 (published 2025), also reported to Eurostat as migr_pop1ctz; US-born residents from Eurostat migr_pop3ctb (2025).
- Eurostat, first residence permits by reason (migr_resfirst) and valid permits by reason (migr_resvalid), 2019 to 2024 (published 2025).
- Consejo General del Notariado, Portal Estadístico del Notariado: house price finder and buyer nationality, July 2025 to June 2026 (retrieved 8 September 2026).
- Ministry of Housing, SERPAVI: median rents of running contracts declared for tax year 2024 (database published March 2026).
- US Navy, NAVSTA Rota, Welcome Aboard 2025 (October 2025): size of the base community.
- Figures retrieved on 8 September 2026; province and city tables updated to the 2025 census on 23 September 2026. Where two sources cover the same year, the newer series is used and the older one is named.