If You're a Remote Worker, Spain is the Second-Best Place in The World to Live

Remote worker looking to relocate? Then Spain is one of the best locations in the world to relocate to, only beaten to the top spot by its nearest neighbour, Portugal.

Kayak, an international travel company, conducted extensive research to find the best location for digital nomads to lay their hats, and Spain came up top!

Here are just some of the reasons why working remotely from Spain is such an attractive proposition:

The Rise of Remote Working

Remote working is becoming increasingly popular amongst individuals who want to achieve a better work home life balance, and who realise that certain roles can be fulfilled from anywhere in the world. The Covid-19 pandemic only helped to make this clearer, with employees all over the world successfully undertaking their jobs from home without any negative business impact. For many, all you need to work from anywhere in the world is somewhere to sit and a solid internet connection!

The result is the rise of a group of people known as digital nomads who are travelling the world and working at the same time. These people are looking for a high quality of life in conjunction with a low cost of living, in a location where they have the internet connection and other tools they need to maintain their careers. Spain is a country that offers all of these things and more.

Why Did Spain Rate So Highly?

According to the Kayak research, the top ten countries for remote workers were listed as, in the following order from 1-10: Portugal, Spain, Romania, Mauritius, Japan, Malta, Costa Rica, Panama, the Czech Republic, and Germany.

When sharing their data, Kayak wrote that “Spain claimed the title for the second-best country to work from because of its accessibility when it comes to 9 – 5 nomads”...“Spain is great for remote work because it has high-speed internet, a variety of co-working spaces and remote visas for employees that have gone digital. It’s also incredibly safe with few serious car accidents and is very LGBT friendly. Work from Spain if you want to see all of the Spanish history, art, food and drink that this eclectic country has to offer.”

How Was the Result Calculated?

The ranking was calculated using data that Kayak had collated in variety of different categories, including prices, travel, how easy remote working would be, weather, and social life possibilities. Spain scored incredibly highly in all categories, with the exception of weather where the score issued was surprisingly average.

The data they used to produce the ranking, as well as Spain’s score for each category, are as follows:

Prices: 71/100. A location has to be affordable to appeal to remote workers. This figure assessed both short and long term rental prices, as well as the cost of transport, food and restaurant bills.

Travel: 93/100. This was calculated by looking at ease of accessibility, the number of flights per day, as well as hotel, car hire, and fuel prices.

Remote work: 67/100. Perhaps the most important figure if you’re dependent on your income, the ease of securing a remote worker visa, internet availability and speed, and even availability of co-working spaces were all assessed here.

Health and Safety: 84/100. How likely you are to be caught up in political instability, victim of a car accident, and equality for LGBT people were all assessed here.

Social Life: 77/100. This looked at national English proficiency, how many bars and clubs there were across the country, and also the availability of cultural venues

Weather: 30/100. Finally, the average rainfall and temperatures in the nation's main cities were assessed.

Why Did Portugal Secure the Top Spot?

Many Spaniards have called into question why Portugal secured the top spot, rather than Spain. Whilst Spain scored highly in all categories, boasting better internet speeds and flight connections than Portugal, the local prices, political stability and English proficiency were all considered to be better in Portugal than they are in Spain. One ranking that has been called into question is why Portugal was given a better weather ranking than Spain!

What we do know is that Spain is an incredibly appealing location for digital nomads, and the Spanish government’s recently introduced startup law and visa for digital nomads will only make the country more appealing to this cohort. It’s a fantastic destination for remote workers to enjoy a high quality of life in idyllic surroundings.

Are you thinking of living and working in Spain? Does the idea of a nomadic lifestyle appeal to you? Whether you dream is to buy or rent a property in Spain, our local property experts are perfectly placed to help you find the home of your dreams. Get in touch today to find out more about how we can help you.