I chose 10 Spanish cities to compare, based on their popularity and cost of living. The cities include, Zaragoza, Alicante, Seville, Santander, Bilbao, Valencia, Malaga, Barcelona, and Madrid.
The characteristics I chose have to do with quality of life, ease of assimilation, geographic location, ability for international travel within Europe and to the United States. I have also considered fast train access for travel within Spain, distance to the major cities of Madrid and Barcelona, and distance to the beach and mountains.
I have also included the cost of living in a three bedroom home in the city center of each location, the language of instruction in local schools, and whether or not the city is accessible.
Important for families with kids, I have also considered the existence of a variety of school schedules within the given city, Spanish language schools for the ability to learn the language, and immersion opportunities. Immersion means that there is not an incredibly high level of english, and that you will be positioned to learn the Spanish well.
For future and current considerations, I included whether not each city has a grow economy, which means that it is statistically above the spanish average.
If you have a characteristic that you would like for me to include, please leave a comment or send me a message or email. If you have an argument for a point for a city, or something does not make since to you, I am willing to hear it and will consider the adjustment.
Below the chart is a graphic of the location of each city within Spain.
Location of the Spanish cities, relative to one another, and their distribution within the country.
