Alhaurín de la Torre has overtaken Benahavís as the municipality with the highest household income in the province

To begin with, Alhaurín de la Torre is the municipality with the highest average gross household income in the entire province, at 56,478 euros in 2024, the latest figures available.

This represents an increase of almost 7 per cent compared with the previous year, enabling Alhaurín de la Torre to overtake Benahavís, which previously held the top spot. The average gross household income in Benahavís has risen by just 1.55 per cent, to 54,240 euros.

After Alhaurín de la Torre and Benahavís, third place goes to Rincón de la Victoria, where the average household has a gross income of around 50,000 euros, slightly higher than the figure for Marbella and also for the Malaga city(47,575 euros gross per annum). In the towns that follow in the ranking, such as Estepona, Benalmádena and Torremolinos, the gross household income ranges between 44,000 and 45,000 euros.

The other municipalities where the figure exceeds 40,000 euros are Antequera, Fuengirola, Casares, Ronda and Mijas. And this figure is close to being reached in Cártama, Coín, Istán, Vélez-Málaga and Ojén.

At the other end of the scale is Benamargosa where the average household has a gross income of just 23,923 euros - around 60 per cent lower than an average household in Alhaurín de la Torre. Other municipalities such as Jubrique, El Borge, Genalguacil, Cútar, Iznate and Salares also have incomes below 25,000 euros.

When looking at average income per person, the wealthiest municipality in the province is Rincón de la Victoria, with an average per capita income of 20,596 euros, following a year-on-year increase of 6.33 per cent. Previous leader Benahavís recorded a fall of 0.48 per cent – or around 100 euros – to 20,320 euros.

Next come Alhaurín de la Torre, Torremolinos and Malaga city with average gross per capita incomes of around 18,000 euros. Only after this group of towns does Marbella feature, with an average gross income per resident of 17,657 euros. Benalmádena, Cartajima and Faraján also have incomes in the 17,000 euro to 17,00 euro range.

There is a significant gap in personal income within the province. The figure of around 20,600 euros in Rincón de la Victoria contrasts with the figure of around 10,600 euros in Almáchar, Iznate and Benamargosa.

After tax, it turns out that Alhaurín de la Torre and Rincón de la Victoria rank first and second, respectively, with more than 45,500 and nearly 40,000 euros respectively, followed by Marbella (39,540 euros) and Malaga (38,950 euros). Benahavís drops further down the list, with an average net household income of less than 30,000 euros, though still well above the figures for the municipalities with the lowest average net household income, which in this case are Jubrique, Genalguacil and Benamargosa (around 21,500 euros).

A similar pattern emerges when looking at average net per capita income, with Rincón de la Victoria and Alhaurín de la Torre leading the way, in that order, with 16,481 and 14,967 euros respectively, ahead of Cartajima, Malaga city, Torremolinos, Igualeja, Benalmádena, Marbella and Faraján, which have net per capita incomes of around 14,000 euros, compared with 11,152 euros in Benahavís.

The municipalities with the lowest net per capita income are Iznate, Benamargosa and Almáchar, where it is less than 10,000 euros.

No municipality in Malaga with more than 2,000 inhabitants features among the top entries in the national ranking of towns with the highest net personal income, which is led by Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid), with 32,612 euros.

However, there is also no town in the province amongst those with the lowest incomes. The town with the lowest income is Iznalloz (Granada), at 9,153 euros.

There are marked differences in income levels between municipalities in the province and across Spain as a whole. But there are also very wide disparities within the municipalities themselves.

Benahavís is the town with the greatest internal inequality according to two metrics: firstly, it has the highest Gini coefficient, at 44.8 points (this is an indicator for which perfect equality would be 0, meaning that all income is distributed equally amongst all its inhabitants; whilst 100 would mean that all income is concentrated in a single individual). The most equal municipality in the province according to this indicator is Villanueva de Tapia (22.4).

The other indicator used to measure the degree of inequality in income distribution is the 80/20 ratio, which compares the income of the richest 20 per cent of the population with that of the poorest 20 per cent. In Benahavís, the income of the former group is 4.2 times that of the latter. By contrast, in the most equal municipality according to this indicator, El Burgo, the wealthiest 20 per cent earn 1.8 times as much as the poorest.

In the two municipalities with the highest average incomes in the province, Alhaurín de la Torre and Rincón de la Victoria, the income distribution figures are better than in Benahavís, with Gini coefficients of 29.8 and 32.1, respectively, whilst the 80/20 multiplier stands at 2.4 and 2.7 times, in that order.

These differences are not only evident within the province and amongst the municipalities, but also across the country as a whole, given that the average gross household income in Malaga is 43,646 euros, far below that of Madrid, which is the highest at 66,771 euros, but also from that of Cáceres, which is the lowest (€35,800).

Malaga therefore ranks 32nd amongst Spain’s provinces and second in Andalusia after Seville (€43,874).