What part of your salary goes to rent an apartment in Europe, in three maps that bring out the colors of Spain

A hot potato for citizens and governments is that if there is a problem, it is housing and if not, ask it in Sol. And the fact is that in recent years the prices have skyrocketed as before, but the play, although extensive, goes around: Soria is not the same as buying a house in Madrid. Or rent an apartment in Madrid rather than Vienna. Compared to recently How expensive or cheap is it to rent a house in Europe? This was not possible due to the lack of homogeneous data, so the European Monitoring Network on Development and Territorial Cohesion remedied this with three maps like the three suns.

The question it answers is: What financial effort from salary does renting a house require, and the answer varies greatly depending on where you live and the size. Behind this colorful cartography is the House for All project, developed by a European consortium led by the Technical University of Vienna. And funded by the EU and for its preparation they used a classic among those looking for an apartment: rental ads.

After tracking real estate portals across Europe every week between March 2024 and March 2025, They collected 22 million ads Valid, which allows them to calculate the average price by municipality and compare it with the average income based on Eurostat data. There are three maps for properties of three sizes: 25, 45 and 75 square meters respectively.

You only need to remember a few things to read the maps: a municipality in turquoise means that rents spend less than a third of the local median income, yellow means it spends between one third and two thirds, and black means things are very dark: that rents exceed two thirds. Be careful, gray indicates no data, it’s not cheap.

A Zulu 25 square meter studio

The good news is that if we’re talking about properties 25 square meters or less, the map is almost all turquoise. Thus, in Scandinavia, the Baltic countries and most of France, Germany and Italy, a studio rent costs less than a third of the local income. On paper, if you want to live alone, Europe looks pretty affordable at first glance. nevertheless, Not everything is blue on the map: In the big cities of Poland and Slovakia, in Portugal or on the coast of Andalusia, Murcia and the Valencian communities, yellow zones are already visible indicating between one third and two thirds of income.

However, there is a catch to this map: this map reflects the average cost of research of this size relative to local income, not whether research of that size is available. In fact, the report notes that such properties are relatively rare in most European countries and more common in Sweden, Finland, Bulgaria, Poland or Italy. Without going any further, in Spain they will collide with the minimum habitability conditions which, although it depends on each autonomy, for example, 40 square meters in Madrid according to the latest general urban planning plan, which dates from 2023. Well of course.

45 sq m apartment

This is the most common size in Europe and the most practical for a person who lives alone and where they live Maps are beginning to show the problem clearly. According to the report, in most parts of Portugal and southern Spain, renting a 45 square meter apartment costs between one third and two thirds of the local income, although there are several areas in both states where this second threshold is exceeded. Something similar happens in Ireland, especially around Dublin, and in large cities in Germany and Austria.

However, turquoise reigns in central and northern Europe, mostly blue in France and dominant, though nearby, in Italy (yellow again appears in major cities).

Eastern Europe tells a different story. In parts of Poland, Hungary and Romania the yellow is quite widespread with some scattered black spots. The report explains this by housing costs and low local incomes, which extend to Spain and Portugal. Here’s a lesson: color It depends on the cost of the apartment and what you earn..

A 75 square meter apartment

The third map is the hardest to read: According to reports, in almost all major European cities and in many coastal tourist areas, renting an apartment of this size is virtually impossible for a person on a single salary. Thus, there are areas in Eastern Europe, such as Poland, Hungary and Romania, where renters take about an average salary. Portugal, the south of Spain and the French Riviera stand in the black due to pressure from tourism and second homes.

Of course, a 75 square meter property is probably one size larger. Potentially interesting to share Living with someone, for example as a couple. However, this perception can inevitably be conditioned by the price because, after all, they are not too big for someone who, for example, wants to telework their own room.

The relief is in rural or peripheral areas of Italy, France and the Baltic countries, although in Spain you have to go to more rural and disconnected places. In Scandinavia, blue is still the dominant color

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cover House 4 is all