$225,000 in San Francisco ≈ €186,279 in Barcelona
Software engineer pay: San Francisco vs Barcelona
Equivalence is solved so household net cash matches across both cities, with taxes, housing, childcare, healthcare, food, and travel all included.
The bottom line
- →$225,000 in San Francisco leaves about the same net cash as €186,279 in Barcelona for this scenario, after real taxes and living costs.
- →Taxes take 29.3% of gross in San Francisco versus 38.5% in Barcelona.
- →The biggest non-cash swing: 7 more vacation days per year in Barcelona (statutory).
Where each paycheck goes
Every unit of gross, split four ways. Same net cash, very different shape.
Full Breakdown
| Category | San Francisco | Barcelona | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | $225,000 | €186,279 ($212,163) | equivalent |
| Income + payroll tax | −$65,913 (29.3%) | −€71,674 (38.5%) | A touch higher |
| Housing (rent) | −$43,824 | −€20,664 | ~46% less |
| Healthcare (household) | −$4,220 | −€1,270 | Universal |
| Food & groceries | −$13,770 | −€9,396 | ~22% less |
| Transit | −$972 | −€276 | ~68% less |
| Discretionary | −$10,125 | −€6,750 | ~24% less |
| Travel home | −$300 | −€850 | ~223% more |
| Net cash kept | $85,876 | €75,399 | equal in real terms |
Live in either city? Flag any number that looks off.
Computed at the city-median tech-worker salary, San Francisco (a senior software engineer). Each figure is in the city's local currency, from the same engine as the calculator; sources are cited per row there.
What changes beyond the money
- Statutory vacation days~15 → ~22
- Total paid days off~26 → ~36
- Paid parental leave12 wks → 16 wks
- Healthcare systemEmployer / private → Universal
These numbers use one scenario's assumptions. Plug in your own salary, family size, and lifestyle.
Open the interactive calculator to run your own →No signup. Your salary stays in your browser, and we never see it.
An interactive calculator, set to this comparison to start. Paste it where you want the widget, and keep the link under it in place; it is what keeps the widget free to use.
Moving from San Francisco to Barcelona for a software engineer
$225,000 in San Francisco requires €186,279 in Barcelona to match on household net cash. The gap is real, but it is smaller than the nominal numbers suggest once taxes run their course. Progressive brackets compress the after-tax difference faster than a compensation benchmarking site would lead you to believe, because those sites show gross and stop there.
The effective tax rate goes from 29.3% in San Francisco to 38.5% in Barcelona. That 9.2-point jump is what the equivalence solver is working against when it finds the matching gross salary.
Unvested equity changes this calculation entirely. RSU value is not modeled in the defaults above, but if you are mid-cycle at your current employer, leaving means forfeiting grants you have already been working toward, and that difference can be larger than the annual take-home delta that drove the comparison in the first place. The Advanced section's "RSU / stock annual value" field is where you plug that number in. Equity-heavy comp favors lower-tax cities at vesting; the after-tax discount gets larger the bigger the grant.
On an employer plan the healthy years feel nearly free; it's the bad year that finds the gap. Barcelona is universal, so most of that tail risk goes away. San Francisco still runs $4,220 a year in premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and none of it shows up on an offer letter.
Barcelona engineers get 22 vacation days per year. San Francisco averages 15. That 7-day gap is real money at a senior IC's daily rate, and it does not show up on the offer letter.
No kids, employer healthcare, and a single high-bracket income: this is the configuration that makes San Francisco look best in a head-to-head comparison. It is also the configuration most likely to change. The family scenario page (linked below) models what shifts once childcare and a second earner enter the picture.
Who comes out ahead
Both leave you close to 39% of gross once rent and taxes are paid.
You also get universal healthcare and more paid leave on top of the money math in Barcelona. Run the family scenario to see it.
Barcelona gives you 10 more paid days off a year and 4 more weeks of paid leave, none of which shows on an offer letter.
Common questions
How much do you need to earn in Barcelona to match a $225,000 salary in San Francisco?
About €186,279. cityparity solves for the Barcelona gross salary whose net cash (after taxes, housing, childcare, healthcare, and the rest) equals what you keep in San Francisco. It's an equivalence, not a raw conversion.
Is healthcare free in Barcelona?
Barcelona has universal public healthcare, so you avoid US-style deductibles and surprise medical bills. But most working professionals still carry private top-up cover, which cityparity models at about €1,270 a year and counts in the comparison.
How much vacation and parental leave do you get in Barcelona?
Barcelona has about 36 paid days off a year (vacation plus public holidays) and 16 weeks of parental leave. cityparity surfaces these as deltas rather than dollars, because time off is part of the real comparison.
Run your own numbers in the interactive calculator →