Wage gap between Spain's richest and poorest districts soars to 35,000 euros

The wage gap between the richest and poorest neighbourhoods in Spain has soared to 35,000 euros.

New data presents the Madrid neighbourhood of El Viso as the wealthiest in the country with an average income of 40,815 euros. While residents in Polígono Sur in Seville barely took home an average of 5,816 euros.

The Urban Indicators data published by the Spain's national statistics institute (INE) show Madrid has the six richest neighbourhoods in the country. In addition to El Viso, Recoletos (37,067 euros), Castellana (36,660 euros), Piovera (36,045 euros), Nueva España (34,317 euros) and Almagro (33,101 euros) stand out. The next three in the list are in Barcelona, led by Tres Torres, with an average net income of 32,958 euros per year.

At the other end of the spectrum, three of the four neighbourhoods with the lowest income in Spain are in Andalucía region's Seville province. Polígono Sur is followed by Pajaritos with 6,043 euros and Colores/Entreparques, where residents live on an average of just 6,889 euros per year.

In 2020 - the year to which the data refers - the average annual income per worker in Spain was 25,165.51 euros, more than four times higher than the incomes of the poorest neighbourhoods.

The divide between the north and south of the country is further shown in the so-called 'functional urban areas', which the INE uses to define a city and the municipalities that form its working environment. That is, when at least 15% of its working population commutes to that city or large town for work.

According to the statistics, San Sebastian leads the rankings, with an average annual net income of its inhabitants of 16,835 euros, while Torrevieja is the poorest municipality, with 8,441 euros - a difference of more than 8,000 euros per year.

Bilbao, with an average annual net income per inhabitant of 15,436 euros, is the second richest area, followed by Madrid, with 15,407 euros. At the bottom of the table, in addition to Torrevieja, Lorca stands out with 9,402 euros and Marbella with 9,721 euros.