🇮🇪 Ireland vs Spain 🇪🇸 — Take-Home Pay
A side-by-side look at how much of your salary you actually keep in each country.
🇮🇪 Ireland
= €48,000 per year
Estimated monthly take-home
€3,218
€38,611 per year · 19.6% goes to tax & contributions
| Item | Per year | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | €48,000 | €4,000 |
| Income taxafter tax credits | −€6,400 | −€533 |
| USC | −€973 | −€81 |
| PRSI4.2% employee (rising to 4.35% from Oct 2026) | −€2,016 | −€168 |
| Take-home pay | €38,611 | €3,218 |
Estimate only — not tax advice. Figures are estimates based on publicly available tax rules and may not reflect your full circumstances. See our methodology & sources. Always confirm with an official tax authority or a licensed adviser before making decisions.
🇪🇸 Spain
= 30.000 € per year
Estimated monthly take-home
1830 €
21.955 € per year · 26.8% goes to tax & contributions
| Item | Per year | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | 30.000 € | 2500 € |
| Income taxafter tax credits | −6111 € | −509 € |
| Social security~6.45% employee (general + unemployment + training), capped | −1935 € | −161 € |
| Take-home pay | 21.955 € | 1830 € |
Estimate only — not tax advice. Figures are estimates based on publicly available tax rules and may not reflect your full circumstances. See our methodology & sources. Always confirm with an official tax authority or a licensed adviser before making decisions.
Effective tax at a glance
| Income level | Ireland | Spain |
|---|---|---|
| Low | €28,800 → 12% tax | 18.000 € → 21% tax |
| Median | €48,000 → 20% tax | 30.000 € → 27% tax |
| High | €96,000 → 35% tax | 60.000 € → 35% tax |
Why Ireland and Spain differ
The answer changes with income. At the median, Ireland leaves you more — 80.4% of gross Ireland against 73.2% Spain — but by three times the median the ranking has flipped to Spain, at 59.4% versus 61.9%.
The two systems get there differently. Ireland takes 15.4% of a median salary as income tax and 4.2% as social contributions; Spain splits its own median 20.4% to 6.5%. Comparing headline income-tax rates between Ireland and Spain would therefore mislead you by roughly 2.3 points in whichever direction the contributions fall.
Neither Ireland nor Spain routes a mandatory savings component through payroll, so everything deducted in the table below is genuinely gone rather than being saved on your behalf — the comparison needs no adjustment before you read it.
Matched income levels, Ireland against Spain
Converting EUR into EUR would compare two different standards of living. Each row instead takes the same multiple of the Ireland median and the Spain median, then asks what share of each survives locally.
| Income level | Ireland | Spain | Keeps more |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry level (0.6× median) | €28,800 → 11.7% | 18.000 € → 21.1% | Ireland |
| Median (1× median) | €48,000 → 19.6% | 30.000 € → 26.8% | Ireland |
| Well paid (1.5× median) | €72,000 → 28.9% | 45.000 € → 31.6% | Ireland |
| Senior (2× median) | €96,000 → 34.7% | 60.000 € → 34.5% | Spain |
| High earner (3× median) | €144,000 → 40.6% | 90.000 € → 38.1% | Spain |
What rent does to the comparison
Tax is the smaller of the two variables. On each country’s own median salary, these are the cities we hold rent data for and what a one-bedroom city-centre flat leaves behind — a spread that routinely dwarfs the 7.3-point tax gap between Ireland and Spain.
| City | 1-bed city-centre rent | Share of take-home | Left after rent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dublin (Ireland) | €2,300 | 71% | €918 |
| Madrid (Spain) | 1300 € | 71% | 530 € |
| Barcelona (Spain) | 1350 € | 74% | 480 € |
Frequently Asked Questions
+Is take-home pay higher in Ireland or Spain?
At the median, Ireland: you keep 80.4% of gross Ireland against 73.2% Spain. At three times the median the answer is Spain, at 59.4% versus 61.9% — so the honest answer depends on what you earn.
+Why do Ireland and Spain tax differently?
Ireland relies on income tax, USC and PRSI and Spain on IRPF income tax and social security. In practice Ireland takes 15.4% of a median salary as income tax and 4.2% as contributions, while Spain splits its own median 20.4% to 6.5%.
+Should I move from Ireland to Spain for the money?
Tax alone is a real but partial reason: the gap at the median is 7.3 percentage points of gross. Rent typically moves further than that between two cities inside Ireland alone, so compare the Ireland and Spain housing figures below, and the salary you would actually be offered, before treating the tax gap as decisive.
+Which is better for a high earner, Ireland or Spain?
At three times the median — €144,000 Ireland, 90.000 € Spain — Spain leaves more, keeping 61.9% against 59.4%. High earners are also where contribution ceilings bite, and Ireland and Spain set theirs at different points.
Estimate only — not tax advice. Figures are estimates based on publicly available tax rules and may not reflect your full circumstances. See our methodology & sources (last reviewed June 2026). Always confirm with an official tax authority or a licensed adviser before making decisions.