Our Cost of Living in Granada (2025).
People’s cost of living is very variable and based on lifestyle choices. In our case we rent, we don’t have a car, and we live what I consider a pretty normal lifestyle in a typical Spanish neighbourhood. We’re not extravagant by any means.
So, again, your cost of living may be very different than ours. Really, the goal with these posts is to give you an idea of what you can expect living in Granada.
Granada is our 3rd base in Spain after 2 ½ years in Nerja and 1 year in Antequera. I’ve previously covered our cost of living in both these places so I thought it would be interesting to analyze our costs here in Granada (we’ve lived in Granada 1 ½ years now).
I also compare our cost of living in Granada to the previous cost of living breakdowns that I’ve done in both Antequera and Nerja.
Below I summarize our costs. Further below I’m going to break it down and give you a lot more detail.
Rent (824 Euros/mo)
We found a 3-bedroom apartment in the Zaidin area of Granada in June of 2024. Cost at the time: 800 Euros. As I wrote about, it was difficult finding an apartment in Granada and we considered ourselves lucky.
While the apartment could use some modernizing, it has been comfortable and very convenient. We’re an easy 15 minute walk to the center, have all the services in the neighbourhood (Mercadona, Mas, panaderias, pescaderias, carnecerias and fruterias, a China store and too many tapas restaurants to count). Lots of buses plus a tram stop right next to us (Hipica stop) which makes it easy to get to the bus and train station and the huge Sierra Nevada shopping center. In short, the location is great if you want easy access to everything with public transport or even just walking.
Negatives? I don’t know how we didn’t notice it when agreeing to rent the apartment: there’s no AC and we’re on the 10th floor of a 10th storey building. It gets very hot in summer. It’s also very loud – this is a heavily populated, working-class neighbourhood and being on the 10th floor all the sounds seem to carry. It’s not an apartment that we would want to stay in long term but for our immediate needs it’s been good.
Earlier this year the rent went up to 824 Euros/mo. Having looked for an apartment for 2 months last year, we know that’s around the market rate for rental apartments coming on the market in Granada.
Electricity (55 Euros/mo)
Our average monthly electric bills come to 55 Euros/mo. That seems low (in Antequera we paid 94/mo) but that’s because our hot water is heated by gas (Gas averages 25 Euros/mo which is included in the Gas/garbage/water category). Both Electricity and Gas are charged by a company called Endesa.
I mentioned not having an AC in Granada – that’s the main reason our electric bills are less than in Antequera (where we did have AC).
Wifi/cell phones (52 Euros/mo)
After having Movistar in Antequera (and vowing to never use that company again), we contracted Vodafone in Granada. They lured us in with a rate of 42 Euros which included home wifi and coverage for our two Vodafone numbers…then did a bait and switch, charging us 52 Euros/mo.
In the end, including our two telephones in a plan didn’t save us money (in the past, we’d just have basic wifi and had our phones on pay-as-you-go plans). After a good experience with a small cable company in Nerja (Axartel, now known as Avatel) we haven’t had great luck with either Movistar of Vodafone.
Gas/garbage/water (59 Euros/mo)
Included in this figure is 25 Euros/mo for Gas (mentioned above in the electricity section) and 34/mo for water (billed by a company called Emasagra). Usually the owners would charge the city garbage tax but our owners haven’t (so far).
Food and other basics (394 Euros at supermarkets, 150 Euros at fruteria)
We do most of our grocery shopping at Mercadona (save for a few items at Mas and Corte Ingles. I compare supermarkets in Spain in this post). We also get a lot of our vegetables and fruits at the local fruteria.
It’s funny how our total food bill has been pretty consistent over the last 3 years (as you’ll see in my comparisons further below). We’ve made quite a few differences this year: I’m drinking less (I used to drink about half bottle of wine a night, I’m down a bottle a week) and we’re buying more fruits and vegetables (eating healthy costs more). In the end, these two factors seem to be offsetting each other.
Pharmacy, hardware store, etc (63 Euros/mo)
The most expensive thing in here are Lissette’s beauty creams to be honest. We’ve bought a few fans (as I mentioned, no AC), some Ikea odds and ends, and had a bench made for us. I don’t include clothes in these cost of living breakdowns, that’s too variable depending on the individual (we don’t buy a lot of clothes and when we do – such as we did this summer – it is usually in Canada).
Restaurants (214 Euros/mo)
The amount we’ve spent on bars and restaurants in Granada has been higher than anywhere we’ve been in Spain. That’s mostly because we’ve got a good Sushi restaurant down the street and usually get some take away Sushi once a week (about 50 euros each time). That amounts to all of our restaurant outings over the last few months.
Tapas outings, coffee etc (60 Euros/mo)
We have a local place where we like to go for morning tostadas and coffee (usually 11 Euros between the two of us) as well as a couple of neighbourhood bars where we’ll have a tapa and a drink (usual cost 3 Euros for a tapa/drink).
Health Insurance (130 Euros/mo)
Between the two of us, we pay 130 Euros a month for our private health Insurance with Adeslas (I’ve got a post coming up soon detailing our private health experiences here in Spain).
Other (150 Euros/mo)
I’ve added a 150 Euros as padding for anything I’ve missed. That includes bus and tram tickets, visiting museums, and other odds and ends. Honestly, that’s a pretty big pad because I can’t really think of anything else but I don’t want to be accused of lowballing our cost of living.
A few useful Resources
Private health insurance in Spain. We recommend Innoinsure, they make it easy. And you don’t need a Spanish bank account – you can pay with foreign credit cards. More info here.
Spartan FX. Buying a house or car in Spain and need to transfer and exchange a large sum of money? More here.
Wise. For everyday transfers and exchanges of money from your home country. Nobody should be using banks anymore. More here.
Adding it up
Our monthly cost of living in Granada comes out to about 2,150 Euros. As I mention, that’s just a basic cost of living without extras. I don’t include clothing costs (as I say, we rarely buy clothes and when we do it’s nothing fancy) and I don’t include travel. Both clothing and travel are very variable depending on people’s wants and needs.
Note: I’ll have a post on the quality of life in Granada. That’s coming up. I’ll also have another post on the neighborhoods of Granada. But for now I’m just covering costs.
Comparisons with Antequera and Nerja
Important: our 2025 costs in Granada are listed side-by-side with similar costings in Antequera (in 2024) and Nerja (in 2023). Costs in coastal communities have gone up significantly in recent years, I know Nerja is a much more expensive place now than it was 2 years ago.
(Click to enlarge the below)
Looking at the above, a few highlights:
- Antequera was the cheapest city: it’s not full of expats (unlike Nerja) or students (like Granada). The result was finding an apartment that was 200 Euros cheaper than what we paid in Nerja. But that’s not why we moved, we just wanted a different kind of experience. I’ve mentioned it before: Antequera is a beautiful city that is very underrated. It ended up not being the right fit for us but for many people it could be. More in this post: Living in Antequera (compared to Nerja).
- We paid just a bit more in Nerja 2 years ago than we are paying now in Granada…but that was 2 years ago. We got that apartment in 2020 during Covid when apartments were at a premium, these days a comparable apartment won’t cost less than a 1,000 Euros. Nerja has become very expensive according to a few people I know who are still there.
- One of our issues with Antequera was the lack of international cuisine. It’s why our Restaurant & Outings totals were so low (and why our grocery food bill was correspondingly higher). We’ve made up for that in Granada where we have a favorite Sushi restaurant (in Nerja we had a favorite Indian restaurant which accounted for much of our restaurant total).
Overall though, excluding Antequera where our rent was significantly lower, our costings in Euros have been pretty consistent over the years.
More detail below:
The Cost of Living in Antequera
Our Cost of Living in Nerja
Any thoughts on cost of living in Spain? I’m curious about other people’s costs and any surprises, shocks or hidden costs that they didn’t expect.
Related: Where to live as a retiree in Spain? Places…and comparing Theory vs Reality
Related: Where to live on the Costa Del Sol
Great article, Frank. our total cost is about the same.
We spend less on food and restaurants and the landlord pays community fee. My wife pays into the Spanish health system through her work, so we are both covered.
We average 125/mo for electric, with AC and deep fryer (both used a lot). Also a portable electric oven & an electric grill (both used a bit). The stove is gas and used for most cooking.
Our incidental & clothing costs are higher. In the winter we have about a dozen Canadian friends who spend 3 months here in Benalmádena, so socialization drives up the costs. even still, over the year it averages 2100 euros/mo.
So we’re almost exactly the same. Nice to hear. As Canadians, the biggest driver these days is the exchange rate: if your income is in Canadian dollars (as ours is), Spain is about 12% more expensive than it was a year ago.
Thank you for the comment Kevin.
Thanks Frank for the overview of Spain’s cost of living. It only confirms what I always suspected. I’m a member of a lot of expat groups discussing living in Spain and very often people living in Spain, “brag” how cheap it is to live in Spain. Maybe 20 years ago, but this certainly isn’t the case right now. We were in Granada a couple of weeks ago and for me the prices are comparable to the prices I pay here in Antwerp, Belgium. We pay €809 rent in Antwerp for a rather new, 4 year old, very well insulated apartment (level A). I would pay the same these days in Spain but it would be not be that well insulated and probably much older. We pay €90 for gas and electricity. The central heating is constantly on in the colder seasons and we really don’t need AC in the summer, even at 30 degrees outside. Internet and 2 mobiles with Orange, €71. Public Transportation is great in Antwerp. One gets every where in the larger metropolitan area for €66 per year. In Granada I bought the Credibus card, which is also cheap but still more expensive than what I pay now and is only limited to Granada. Besides the weather (a lot more rain here), I honestly see no reason to move to Spain. The weather and the blue skies is a huge argument to consider the move but certainly not the cost of living. Thanks again for this clarification.
Thank you Carlo for this very interesting comment. I’m not familiar with Antwerp and am surprised with the pricing. I can only compare to Canada which is quite a bit more expensive these days (I googled it: the average cost for 2 people in Canada ranges from 3,500 CAD/mo to 5,500 CAD/mo). But certain things always strike me as expensive in Spain, clothing being one. I also find eating out can be quite expensive with an average main course around 15 Euros…which is similar to Quebec City where we were this summer. But generally Spain less expensive, especially rents and food (both of which have soared in recent years in Canada).
Thanks again for the comment, puts things in perspective.