If you are choosing where to live in Barcelona, the useful number is not the one attached to the neighbourhood name. The city runs from 143,505 euros of gross household income in les Tres Torres to 31,137 in Can Peguera, a factor of 4.6, but the spread inside a single neighbourhood can be almost as wide. Diagonal Mar i el Front Marítim del Poblenou holds, across seven census tracts, one at 40,688 euros and another at 116,159. The median of the 73 neighbourhoods is 53,935 euros and the median of the 1,068 tracts is 55,894.
Does the neighbourhood average tell me what a street costs? Often not. Diagonal Mar runs from 40,688 to 116,159 euros across seven tracts and its average of 72,976 describes neither end. Les Corts runs from 54,452 to 145,832 euros across 35 tracts, a spread of 2.7 times, and el Bon Pastor from 34,843 to 80,070.
Why the average misleads inside a neighbourhood
| Neighbourhood | Lowest tract | Highest tract | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diagonal Mar i el Front Marítim del Poblenou | 40,688 euros | 116,159 euros | 2.9 times |
| les Corts | 54,452 euros | 145,832 euros | 2.7 times |
| el Bon Pastor | 34,843 euros | 80,070 euros | 2.3 times |
| la Maternitat i Sant Ramon | 49,540 euros | 113,395 euros | 2.3 times |
| el Poblenou | 51,065 euros | 101,712 euros | 2.0 times |
In Diagonal Mar the lowest tract sits just above the average for la Barceloneta, which is 39,951 euros, and the highest sits above Vallvidrera, at 104,335. The neighbourhood average, 72,976 euros, matches neither.
Les Corts repeats the pattern across 35 tracts. It is the neighbourhood where the name tells you least about what is earned on any given street, which is exactly the situation a long-term rental search runs into. Where to base yourself for a shorter stay is a different question, answered in the best neighborhoods to stay.
What the figure actually measures
Every row below is gross income per household, which changes how the whole table reads.
The atlas publishes gross income per household, not per person and not a salary. A household of four and a household of one with the same 55,894 euros do not have the same spending power, so neighbourhoods with larger households look better here than they are.
The atlas publishes the amount for each tract but not how many households sit behind it, so the neighbourhood figure is an unweighted average of its census tracts. Where a neighbourhood has few tracts the average rests on very little: Can Peguera and Baró de Viver have 2 each, and Vallbona has one.
Where the ceiling cuts the data
The atlas limits the series at 153,137 euros, and 28 of the 1,068 tracts carry that identical figure while no other value repeats more than twice. The highest value below the ceiling is 147,394 euros.
| Neighbourhood with tracts at the ceiling | Tracts at 153,137 euros | Total tracts |
|---|---|---|
| Sant Gervasi - Galvany | 9 tracts | 31 tracts |
| les Tres Torres | 8 tracts | 11 tracts |
| Pedralbes | 4 tracts | 7 tracts |
| Sant Gervasi - la Bonanova | 4 tracts | 18 tracts |
| Sarrià | 3 tracts | 16 tracts |
Above that line the table stops distinguishing: a tract at 160,000 euros and one at 400,000 would appear the same. In les Tres Torres, 8 of its 11 tracts touch the limit, so its real average is higher than the 143,505 euros published and the distance to Can Peguera is wider than the arithmetic suggests.
The top five and the bottom five
| Neighbourhood | Gross household income | Census tracts |
|---|---|---|
| les Tres Torres | 143,505 euros | 11 tracts |
| Pedralbes | 135,485 euros | 7 tracts |
| Sant Gervasi - la Bonanova | 120,597 euros | 18 tracts |
| Sant Gervasi - Galvany | 120,036 euros | 31 tracts |
| Sarrià | 119,408 euros | 16 tracts |
| les Roquetes | 36,396 euros | 10 tracts |
| Baró de Viver | 34,248 euros | 2 tracts |
| la Trinitat Nova | 33,807 euros | 5 tracts |
| Ciutat Meridiana | 33,237 euros | 6 tracts |
| Can Peguera | 31,137 euros | 2 tracts |
The top five all sit in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi and les Corts; the bottom five in Nou Barris and Sant Andreu. Which district holds which neighbourhood is in the districts guide.
Seven neighbourhoods clear 100,000 euros and fourteen stay under 40,000. The lowest tract in the whole city is in Can Peguera, at 27,607 euros, against a ceiling of 153,137 shared by five neighbourhoods: a factor of 5.5 that is also a floor.
What income does not explain on the street
El Raval declares 38,545 euros per household and holds one of the densest cultural offers in the city: what is there is in the Raval guide. El Poblenou declares 64,824 euros.
Income and street life do not line up, in other words, and two other measures show the same thing.
Traffic does not follow income either. La Dreta de l’Eixample leads the city with 672 collisions in twelve months without being a low-income neighbourhood, and the breakdown by street and hour is in Barcelona traffic accidents. Perceived safety by area is in the safety guide, and the municipal markets work the same at both ends of this table, as the markets guide shows. Getting between the two ends costs the same wherever you live: 2.90 euros a single zone 1 ride, or 13.00 euros for the ten-trip T-casual, compared in which metro ticket to buy.
Frequently asked questions about income by neighbourhood in Barcelona
Does the neighbourhood average tell me what a street costs?
Often not. In Diagonal Mar i el Front Marítim del Poblenou seven census tracts run from 40,688 to 116,159 euros, and the neighbourhood average of 72,976 describes neither end. In les Corts the 35 tracts run from 54,452 to 145,832.
Which is the richest neighbourhood in Barcelona?
Les Tres Torres, with 143,505 euros of gross household income, ahead of Pedralbes with 135,485, Sant Gervasi - la Bonanova with 120,597, Sant Gervasi - Galvany with 120,036 and Sarrià with 119,408. All five sit in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi and les Corts.
Is this figure a salary?
No. The atlas publishes gross income per household, not per person, so a household of four and a household of one with the same 55,894 euros do not have the same spending power. Neighbourhoods with larger households look better in this comparison than they are.
Why is the gap between neighbourhoods wider than it looks?
Because the series publishes no value above 153,137 euros and 28 of the 1,068 tracts sit exactly there, eight of them in les Tres Torres. The true average of that neighbourhood is higher than published, so the 4.6 factor is a floor.
Where does the middle of the city sit?
The median of the 73 neighbourhoods is 53,935 euros per household and the median of the 1,068 census tracts is 55,894. Seven neighbourhoods clear 100,000 euros and fourteen stay under 40,000, while 33 tracts fall below 35,000.