Retire and Live in Southern Spain: Good, Bad or just UGLY?

Retire and Live in Southern Spain: Good, Bad or just UGLY?

if you’re thinking about moving abroad
there’s a really good chance you’re
considering this country for your future
home nearly 60,000 Americans have
already chosen to live here and a lot of
them tell us how much they love it but
is it still a good place to live as an
xpad in this video we’re going to put it
to the test and see how it ranks on the
10 factors that matter most when you’re
choosing a place to live abroad and
stick around until the end because we’re
going to do a cost of living rollup and
a residency Visa overview if you haven’t
figured it out yet we’re talking about
Spain since Spain is a big country at
least by European standards we’re going
to review the region called Andalusia in
southern Spain that stretches from
Portugal over to the Mediterranean Sea
the first Factor we’re going to look at
is safety and stability we’re from the
America so safety is something we think
about every time we post a video and
talk about safety we get comments from
our European viewers how they think it’s
so funny that when Americans do videos
on YouTube we always talk about safety
when they just take it for granted it’s
not something something that they really
spend a lot of time worrying about but
we do coming from the United States and
Latin America it’s just not as safe as
Europe Spain is known for its safety we
walked all over the place day and night
and we never felt nervous we saw kids
out playing by themselves we took public
transportation and we never felt like we
were being targeted as tourists in terms
of stability Spain had snap elections in
2023 there have been protest about the
kadalin independence there been there
was even a political assassination
attempt in Madrid during our visit so
bottom line is Spain is experiencing
some turmoil like every other country
right now we’re going to give Spain a
thumbs up for this Factor despite some
of the political issues that they’re
having right now our next factor is
weather and natural disasters and when
you think a southern Spain you think
about warm or even hot temperatures all
year round if you have a fist full of
dollars that’s enough to see The Good
the Bad and the Ugly in southern Spain
and for a few dollars more you can just
skip the Bad and the Ugly although
thanks for the flashbacks that just
reminded me watching those old Clintwood
movies with my dad back in the day I
remember watching those Spaghetti
Westerns as a kid with my dad too that
was our Saturday afternoon ritual to sit
down and watch Clint Ewood sweat on
television most of those movies were
filmed in this region of Andalusia and
the deserts that are there they get
their name spaghetti from the Italian
directors who made the films if you want
to sweat like Clint Eastwood then you’re
going to want to be there in the summer
because it gets really hot here too hot
for a lot of people like B it actually
hit 111° F or 44° C last July in Malaga
and they hit a record 102° fah or 39° C
in cot last April we didn’t need a coat
in Seville or in Mala when we were there
in November and December it’s a great
area to visit or spend the entire winter
and we were actually Chile and Granada
ailia had to buy a winter coat yes I did
let’s talk about natural disasters
they’ve been experiencing a yearlong
drought and some of those Rivers are dry
and there’s also a chance of earthquake
in this region in fact they had three
earthquakes in Granada in 2021 that did
cause minor damage so we’re going to
give this factor a thumbs down for Spain
if you want to live there year round
because it just gets so hot in the
summer it is a great place to live
during October to April so you can just
avoid the summer months you can go to
Northern Spain our next factor is
quality of life and you can have a high
quality of life in this region yeah the
Spaniards actually live quite a bit
longer than us Americans and and that
could because they really value their
personal time they have emphasis on
family and friends and having a social
life people seem really happy for the
most part we observed and heard multiple
people singing while they worked Spain
also has a lot of history and culture
lots of museums cultural activities and
you can take some flamco classes if you
want to if you’re an outdoors person
you’re going to be happy because you’ve
got the hiking you’ve got beaches and
you’ve got outdoor shopping there are a
lot of people living in this area from
other countries so you’ll have the
opportunity to interact with locals and
foreign residents from all over the
world locals were mostly friendly
especially in Granada we found them very
welcoming and most people were overall
although we did experience some tourist
fatigue especially in Seville which is
not surprising because we were there
during the lower season and there were
still a lot of tourists yeah in fact
2023 set a record for tourists in Spain
they had 85 million tourists in 2023 and
to put that in perspective the country
only has a population of 47 million
people almost double the number of
tourists last year we’re going to give
on the luciia a big old thumbs up for
quality of life yeah despite the tourist
because you might even live longer
healthc care and health insurance is the
next Factor we’re going to look at Spain
ranks high for public and private
healthcare it’s ranked number 26 by CEO
world as a new Resident you’re going to
have to get Private health insurance but
it is much more affordable compared to
the US prices are going to range
anywhere from $60 to 200 maybe even a
little bit more per person per month and
it depends on so many factors like your
age yeah and also your smoking habits if
you just want to pay cash and go see a
doctor it’s only like $50 to $60 for an
office visit without insurance so it’s
so affordable compared to what we’re
used to in the US and after you’ve been
living there for a year you can apply
for the public health insurance yeah so
we’re going to give Spain a big thumbs
up for healthc care language barrier is
the next Factor we’re going to discuss
and Spain Spanish is hard they drop
letters they don’t pronounce everything
the same way that we’re used to like the
S sounds like a th so instead of graus
it’s grath and instead of saying day Nat
for your welcome they just say Nat so it
took a little bit of getting used to
actually we never really got used to it
and they speak so much faster than what
we’re used to in Latin America however
the locals really did warm up to us once
we started speaking Spanish so it makes
a big difference you got to put yourself
out there and speak some Spanish yeah
but we’re going to give Spain a thumbs
down for the language barrier Factor
just because it was so hard for us and
it’s so much easier for us to speak
Spanish in Latin America if you’re
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started learning yet but you are
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the lifetime plan walkability and public
transportation is the next factor and
you won’t need a car in Spain which
means you’ll save hundreds of dollars
per month and reduce that stress from
driving so easy to walk around there we
logged hundreds of miles and I had to
buy new shoes if you don’t want to walk
though you’ve got the Metro trams buses
taxis and Uber the train system is
awesome we loved it you can take the
train throughout Spain and we took it
from Seville to Granada it was only $5
per ticket and then we took it from
Granada de Miga for $25 a ticket we’re
giving this factor a big thumbs up for
walkability and transportation housing
is the next factor and according to
eeday alista the average rental in the
region is € 10.8 per square meter or 1
EUR per square foot so 100 square met or
1,000 s foot condo will run you around
$1,100 per month and that’s on average
the average place by the beach in Malaga
however is going to be more expensive
there are some very high-end condos
there so that could we saw a place for
rent that was $10 ,000 for a massive
Penthouse to give you an idea in general
though you can find furnish rentals
for500 for a studio or up to 1700 or
more depending on the location and the
size thumbs up for housing here
especially compared to prices in the
United States food and restaurants is
the next Factor the main grocery stores
in Spain are carfor which is actually a
French chain there’s Aldi which is
German and then there’s Maradona they
also have lots of small stores and big
marcados you can find a variety of fresh
fruits and vegetables and Specialty
Foods such as vegan gluten-free and
Asian and lots and lots of Olives way
too many olives I think we’re still
carrying a few of those olives with us
the dining out is wonderful there
there’s lots of variety casual fine
dining International Cuisine it’s a
coffee wine and beer culture and we were
surprised to see so many people drinking
at lunch in their business attire
restaurants close at 4: or 4:30 and they
close 3 to 4 hours and it was pretty
hard for us to get used to this since we
are used to eating on an earlier time
frame dinner starts at 8 or 8:30 and
places don’t start to fill up until 9:00
or even later which was also pretty hard
for us to get used to yeah I’m not sure
we’ll ever get used to eating dinner at
9 or 10:00 at night the average price
for lunch was $15 to $30 and dinner was
around $50 to $70 and that was for two
people unless you’re in some of the
popular tourist areas where the prices
were double or even triple that was kind
of shocking actually yeah so as long as
you eat outside of the main tourist
areas it’s very very affordable we were
kind of surprised so we’re going to give
Spain a big thumbs up for food and
restaurants taxes is the next factor and
we’re going to start by talking about
sales tax the vet there is 21% but that
is not across the board there’s a big
range and it goes all the way down to 4%
yeah and the vet is actually included in
the price of the item so if you see a
sticker that says € that’s all you’re
going to pay it’s not like the US they
tack on the 21% on top of that but it is
still in the price it’s just factored
into the sticker let’s talk about income
tax if you live in Spain for 183 days a
year you’re going to become a tax
resident and they tax everything
including your Social Security and your
pension income yeah and also earned
income they do have a tax treaty with
the United States to avoid double
Taxation and they have special breaks
for digital Nomads and other tax
incentives however the tax rate in Spain
is very high high so that needs to be
factored into your decision to live
there so we are giving this a thumbs
down for taxes cost of living is the
last factor that we’re going to talk
about before we cover the be’s and you
can have a really nice quality of life
for a relatively low cost of living in
Spain the housing costs are about
$11,000 a month I think that would be a
good budget maybe 25 per month for your
cell phone another 35 for your internet
50 for the other utilities so maybe
about $1,100 toal toal for housing we’re
budgeting $600 per month per person for
food and $100 per month per person for
health insurance yeah and yours may be
higher depending on what you eat and how
much your health insurance costs and you
want to budget in some Miss Lady’s items
such as entertainment haircut and
transportation so we put in $100 for
that as well yeah so a total for a
single would be around $1,900 per month
and for a couple maybe $2,700 a month
might be a good average budget if you
take medications or you want to travel
back home a lot you will need to budget
for that yeah that could cost it quite a
bit more this is just a general
guideline for you it’s obviously going
to vary by person but it’s certainly a
lot cheaper than the United States to
live in Spain so we’re going to give
this factor a big thumbs up before we
reveal the tally let’s talk about
residency Visa options starting with the
non-lucrative VISA this is a passive
income Visa meaning you cannot work it’s
often considered Spain’s retirement visa
and for this one you’re going to need a
approximately €
28,800 per year or €400 per month you
have to apply for the Visa outside of
Spain and you have to get Private health
insurance and it cannot be travel
insurance it has to work inside of Spain
that means Medicare Medicaid will not
qualify they have an investor visa you
have to invest 500,000 EUR it’s what the
current number is there have been talks
about either increasing this amount or
just eliminating the golden Visa
entirely Spain has a digital Nomad visa
and for for this one the income
requirement is at least 200 times
minimum wage which is approximately €500
per month it’s valid for 12 months and
you can renew it up to five times and
you can apply for this one with within
the country and they do have special
income tax rates for this particular
Visa I think a score of 7 out of 10 is
pretty darn good A lot of people have
moved to Spain and they really like it
yeah if you’re thinking about moving to
Southern Europe then check out these
videos next and make sure to check out
lingopie if you want to learn a new
language fast look for their Link in the
pin comments that’s all we have for this
video before you go please leave us a
thumbs up and we will see you all next
time adios adios

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This country is wildly popular with expats from all over the world. Over 60,000 Americans already live here, and many of them live in the region we discuss in this video.

When you’re considering a place to live abroad, several important factors influence your decision, like safety, healthcare, cost of living, etc.

So let’s take a look at the 10 most important factors and see how Southern Spain rates to help you determine if it’s still a good place to live as an expat.

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0:00 Intro
0:42 Safety & Stability in Spain
1:44 Weather & Natural Disasters
3:22 Quality of Life in Southern Spain
4:44 Healthcare & Health Insurance
7:27 Walkability & Public Transportation in Spain
8:04 Housing in Andalucia
8:45 Food & Restaurants in Southern Spain
10:10 Taxes in Spain
11:07 Cost of Living in Southern Spain
12:17 Spain Residency Visa Options
13:16 Wrap-up