The riskiest part of entering Europe is not the product. It is the burn between hiring your first people there and signing your first customer. Where you base that team decides how long you can wait.
What a month costs
Numbeo's crowdsourced cost of living index for 2025 compares cities against New York (100). Treat it as directional, not audited, but the gap is hard to miss.
| City | Cost of living | Rent |
|---|---|---|
| Madrid | 48.9 | 30.8 |
| Barcelona | 50.6 | 29.6 |
| Berlin | 59.6 | 30.4 |
| Munich | 65.9 | 37.7 |
| Paris | 68.2 | 36.9 |
| London | 77.9 | 66.1 |
| San Francisco | 90.5 | 78.0 |
Rent in Madrid runs at less than half of London's and about 40% of San Francisco's on the same scale.
Salaries that go further
The same index gives Madrid a local purchasing power of 102.4, level with London at 101.8. In plain terms: an engineer in Madrid lives about as well as one in London, on a salary that costs you considerably less.
That is the real advantage. Not cheaper people, but senior people whose pay buys a good life, so the offer is attractive without being inflated.
Plan the fully loaded cost
Employers in Spain pay social security on top of salary: about 30% in total, mostly common contingencies (23.6%) and unemployment (5.5%), plus training, wage guarantee and workplace accident cover.
Two things matter for your budget:
- It is capped. Contributions apply up to a maximum monthly base, so at senior salaries the burden stops growing with pay.
- It buys a lot. Public healthcare, pensions and unemployment cover are included, which is part of why engineers value a Spanish contract.
A tax regime built to bring talent in
Spain's Startup Law widened the special regime for people relocating to Spain, known as the Beckham law. Qualifying newcomers pay a flat 24% on Spanish income up to €600,000, for the year they arrive and the following five. It also opened the regime to highly qualified professionals, entrepreneurs and remote workers.
For you, that means senior engineers from elsewhere in Europe, or from your own team, can relocate to Spain on terms that compete with any hub.
Life keeps people
For forward deployed engineers, the hidden cost is not salary. It is turnover: every time someone leaves, your customer loses the person who knew the deployment best. A city where people want to stay, with sun, food, culture and a short flight to every European customer, is a retention strategy.
How to use it
- Base your first team in Spain, not only your first customer.
- Budget fully loaded: salary plus about 30%, capped at senior levels.
- Use the relocation regime for anyone you move from your core team.
- Deploy across Europe from the same time zone, with a partner that owns hiring, onboarding and retention.
Runway is the currency of a first European launch. Spain gives you more of it.