EAES 2024 · 2026-08-21
What Spain pays, by occupation group and region
The official salary map of Spain from the INE wage-structure survey: what each occupation group averages and what the typical (median) employee earns in each region. Employee data, not freelance rates, and the gap between mean and median is half the story.
Mean gross annual salary by occupation group
The survey publishes occupation detail at the level of the sixteen main CNO groups; these are MEANS (the survey does not publish per-group medians). Source: INE 28186
Median gross annual salary by region
Medians: half of employees in the region earn less, half more. Source: INE 28191
From salary anchor to freelance floor
| Occupation | Employed median (annual) | Illustrative freelance floor | |
|---|---|---|---|
| National median | €24,497 | 30 €/h | Run your numbers |
| Basque Country | €31,912 | 40 €/h | Run your numbers |
| Navarre | €29,385 | 37 €/h | Run your numbers |
A computed illustration, NOT survey data: floor = (median ÷ (1 − 30% tax buffer)) ÷ (46 weeks × 25 billable hours), i.e. matching the employed median as take-home on a realistic freelance calendar with no overhead. Your buffer, hours and overhead belong in the calculator.
Method
Figures come from the Encuesta Anual de Estructura Salarial, 2024 edition, fetched first-hand from the INE Tempus API on the date stamped above, with both source tables linked. Mean and median are labelled explicitly wherever they appear: the national mean (29,540) sits nearly 5,000 euros above the median (24,497), which is what a salary distribution with a long right tail does.
The survey measures EMPLOYEES. Freelancers are not in these numbers; use them as the anchor for what the employed version of the work earns in your region, then price the freelance overhead on top.
See what a gross figure leaves after the quota and IRPF
Refreshed each June when the next EAES edition publishes.