Bilbao, Bizkaia: population, climate, prices
Bizkaia, Basque Country · 351,124 inhabitants (1 Jan 2025)
Living in Bilbao
Bilbao is a city of 351,124 inhabitants 9 km from the sea in Bizkaia (Basque Country), with cool winters and warm, wet summers (January nights 5.4°C, August afternoons 26.4°C). The nearest international school (Aleman San Bonifacio, German curriculum) is 2.0 km away. Summers stay moderate: August afternoons average 26.4°C, cooler than 88% of the towns. Public waiting lists in Basque Country are among the shortest in Spain (64 days for planned surgery). Against that, sunshine is scarce by Spanish standards (4.5 hours a day, 124 rainy days a year); housing is expensive (3,406 €/m² appraised, 800 € a month for a typical apartment); recorded crime is high (54.1 per 1,000 residents; Spain about 41). Around 2055, Spain's official climate scenarios put August afternoons here at about 27.2°C and the number of warm nights at 6 a year.
Each sentence is chosen by where the town ranks among the 333 places compared on that measure (top or bottom 20%); the numbers are the ones in the sections below, from the sources named there.
About Bilbao
Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the province of Biscay and in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 347,342 as of 2024, it is the 11th most populous city in Spain, and the most populous in northern Spain. The Bilbao metropolitan area has 1,037,847 inhabitants, making it the most populous metropolitan area in northern Spain. The comarca of Greater Bilbao is the fifth-largest urban area in Spain. Bilbao is also the main urban area in what is defined as the Greater Basque region.
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Getting there
- Nearest airport
- Bilbao Airport (BIO), 5 km, 7,062,681 passengers in 2025, 73 destinations
- Direct to Amsterdam
- Bilbao airport, 5 km (year-round)
- Direct to Brussels (Zaventem or Charleroi)
- Bilbao airport, 5 km (year-round)
- Direct to London
- Bilbao airport, 5 km (year-round)
- Direct to Paris
- Bilbao airport, 5 km (year-round)
- Direct to Frankfurt
- Bilbao airport, 5 km (year-round)
- Direct to the US
- Madrid airport, 312 km (year-round); summer only from Bilbao, 5 km
- Train station
- Bilbao-Intermod. Abando Indalecio Prieto (0.6 km)
- Fastest train to Madrid
- 4 h 35
- Fastest train to Barcelona
- 7 h 03
Distances are straight-line. Flights as listed in airport route tables on 4 Oct 2026; train times from Renfe's timetable (Iryo and Ouigo not included).
Healthcare
- Nearest public general hospital
- Hospital Universitario Basurto (in town, 697 beds)
- Nearest large public hospital (500+ beds, most specialties)
- Hospital Universitario Basurto (in town, 697 beds)
- Nearest private general hospital
- Clínica Imq Zorrotzaurre (in town, 128 beds)
- General hospitals within 25 km
- 13
- Waiting time for planned surgery (Basque Country)
- 64 days on average; 2.3% wait more than 6 months (Spain: 121 days)
- Waiting time for a first specialist visit
- 49 days on average; 69.2% wait more than 60 days (Spain: 102 days)
Ministry of Health, National Hospital Catalogue 2025 (situation on 31 Dec 2024); general hospitals only. Distances are straight-line to the hospital's municipality. Residents registered in Spain use public hospitals; non-EU applicants for some visas must have private health insurance. Waiting times are for the whole region (public health service, 31 Dec 2025), as reported by each region to the Ministry of Health (SISLE-SNS); private insurance usually avoids most of the wait.
International schools
- Nearest international school
- ALEMAN SAN BONIFACIO (German), Bilbao, 2.0 km
- International schools within 25 km
- 4
- Nearest by curriculum (within 100 km)
- British 8.7 km · American 11 km · French 3.8 km · German 2.0 km
Within 30 km (up to five):
| School | Curriculum | Levels in the register | Where | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALEMAN SAN BONIFACIO | German | infant, primary, secondary | Bilbao | 2.0 km |
| LYCÉE FRANÇAIS DE BILBAO | French | infant, primary, secondary | Ugaldeguren (Santimami) | 3.8 km |
| ST. GEORGE'S BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL | British | infant, primary, secondary | Artatza | 8.7 km |
| AMERICAN SCHOOL OF BILBAO | American | infant, primary, secondary | Baserri-Santa Ana | 11 km |
Ministry of Education, register of non-university schools (RCD), October 2026: every school authorised to teach a foreign curriculum in Spain, without the business, arts and hairdressing schools in the same list and without schools for one nationality (Japanese, Libyan, Iraqi, Russian, Panamanian). Curriculum as labelled in the register or clear from the school's name; levels as listed in the register, which leaves them out for some schools. Straight-line distance from the town centre. We do not rate schools: visit, and ask about accreditation and fees.
Who lives here
- Population trend
- +1.7% in ten years (345,141 in 2015, 351,124 in 2025)
- Age
- 24.7% aged 65 or over, 12.1% under 16 (2022; Spain: 20.0% and 14.9%)
- Local income
- 19,478 € net per person per year (2023), 130% of the Spanish average; median 24,150 € per adult-equivalent
- Foreign residents
- 10.0% of all residents; 1.1% of residents aged 65+ (2022)
- Largest nationalities
- Moroccan 1.1%, Colombian 1.1%, Romanian 0.7%, Chinese 0.6%, Venezuelan 0.6%; all EU citizens 1.3% (share of all residents, 1 Jan 2022; the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland and the Nordic countries are not published per town)
INE: population register (Padrón) and household income atlas. Local income is a rough guide to local prices and affluence; Spain publishes no official cost-of-living index for towns.
Within a 10-minute walk of the centre
- Everyday essentials on foot
- 6 of 6 ✓ 15+ food shops ✓ 3+ pharmacies ✓ 25+ cafés, bars or restaurants ✓ 2+ parks ✓ 3+ bus stops ✓ 2+ libraries, theatres, cinemas or cultural centres
- Lively centre
- 88 out of 100: how much there is compared with the other 332 places (big cities score highest)
- 158 food shops (supermarkets, bakeries, greengrocers…)
- 40 pharmacies
- 53 doctors, clinics or hospitals
- 509 cafés, bars and restaurants
- 70 parks and gardens
- 81 bus stops
- 13 libraries, theatres, cinemas, cultural centres
- 1 market places
Counted in OpenStreetMap within 800 m of the town centre, taken as the point OpenStreetMap marks as the town's centre, moved at most 500 m to the busiest nearby spot (for a few spread-out municipalities without such a point: the busiest spot near the official coordinate). OpenStreetMap is kept by volunteers: very complete in most Spanish towns, thinner in some. “Everyday essentials” only asks whether the basics are there, so a small town can score 6 of 6; “lively centre” ranks each count among all 333 places and averages them, so it mostly reflects size. Large municipalities with several centres (Lorca, Oleiros, Ames…) can score low because their official centre is a small village.
Holiday lets and beaches
- Tourist apartments
- 1,257 (0.76% of all homes; Spain 1.28%), 1.4 tourist beds per 100 residents (May 2026)
- Blue Flag beaches
- nearest in Bakio, 21 km; 4 within 30 km
Tourist apartments: INE count of homes listed on Airbnb, Booking and Vrbo. A high share means busy summers and pressure on rents. Blue Flag 2026 (ADEAC): beaches meeting water-quality, safety and service standards; this includes some lake and river beaches. Distances are straight-line between town centres.
Water
- River basin
- Cantabrico Oriental
- Reservoirs now
- 60.3% full (week of 2026-09-29); the same week in the previous 10 years averaged 72.2%
- Worst week 2016-2025
- 58.9% full (2016-11-08)
- Weeks below 40% full, 2016-2025
- 0% of all weeks
Ministry for the Ecological Transition, weekly hydrological bulletin: all reservoirs over 5 hm³ in the basin. Low reservoirs are what led to drought restrictions in Catalonia (2023-24) and Andalusia (2022-24). Some basins (Segura) also rely on transfers and desalination, so their reservoir level alone overstates the risk of taps running dry.
What the rankings say
- Oxford Economics Global Cities Index 2026 (overall, of 1,000 cities): 211 (source)
- ViveDonde quality-of-life ranking 2026: 6 (source)
- OCU residents' survey 2026 (15 largest cities): 3 (source)
- MySpainVisa: best places to retire (2026): listed (source)
Climate
● average daily high ● average nightly low ■ rainy days (1 mm or more). These are 1991-2020 averages, not record temperatures: a hot spell will be warmer and a cold night colder than these values.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average daily high, °C | 13.6 | 14.3 | 16.7 | 18.2 | 21.1 | 23.6 | 25.5 | 26.4 | 24.6 | 21.6 | 16.7 | 14.2 |
| Average nightly low, °C | 5.4 | 5.2 | 6.8 | 8.2 | 11.1 | 13.9 | 15.9 | 16.2 | 14.0 | 11.8 | 8.4 | 6.2 |
| Rain, mm | 130 | 109 | 98 | 97 | 76 | 58 | 52 | 53 | 75 | 112 | 171 | 127 |
| Rainy days (1 mm or more) | 12.8 | 11.1 | 10.5 | 12.0 | 10.3 | 7.2 | 7.4 | 7.4 | 8.9 | 10.7 | 13.7 | 12.4 |
| Sunshine, hours per day | 2.6 | 3.4 | 4.4 | 4.8 | 5.7 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 5.9 | 5.4 | 4.2 | 2.8 | 2.6 |
| Humidity, % | 73 | 70 | 68 | 69 | 69 | 71 | 72 | 71 | 72 | 71 | 74 | 73 |
| Days reaching 30 °C / 86 °F | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 2.5 | 3.3 | 4.9 | 3.8 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
The year in numbers
- Köppen climate class
- Cfb: Oceanic
- Summer mugginess (August average dew point)
- 16.0°C – muggy
- Typical hottest day of the year
- 37.6°C
- Typical coldest night of the year
- -2.3°C
- Days reaching 25 °C / 77 °F
- 66 a year (estimate)
- Days reaching 30 °C / 86 °F
- 17 a year
- Days reaching 35 °C / 95 °F
- 1 a year (estimate)
- Warm nights (low of 20 °C / 68 °F or more)
- 1 a year (estimate)
- Frost nights (0 °C / 32 °F or less)
- 8 a year
- Overcast days
- 155 a year
- Average humidity
- 71%
Dew point measures how sticky the air feels: under 13 °C (55 °F) feels dry, 16-18 °C (61-64 °F) muggy, over 18 °C oppressive. For comparison, Davis, California (also Köppen Csa) has a summer dew point of about 11 °C. "Typical hottest day" is the 1991-2020 average of each year's single hottest day. Estimates are counted from daily satellite data adjusted to this place's averages; checked against AEMET's own 30 °C counts they are usually within 4 days a year.
1991-2020 averages, AEMET station BILBAO AEROPUERTO (1082), 4.5 km away; temperatures adjusted to the town's altitude. © AEMET.
Around 2055 (projection)
- August average high
- 27.2°C: +0.8 °C compared with today (models range from -0.1 °C to 2.1 °C)
- Warm nights (low of 20 °C / 68 °F or more)
- 6 a year, +5 (models: +1 to +12)
- Frost nights
- 7 a year (-1)
- Rainy days (1 mm or more)
- 113 a year, -11 (models: -23 to +1)
- Rain amount
- -6% over the year: summer -22%, winter +0%
- Sunlight reaching the ground
- +0.5% (models: -1.6% to +3.0%); no official sunshine-hours projection exists
Spain's official climate scenarios (Escenarios-PNACC 2024, AEMET regionalisation of 11 global climate models, ~5 km grid), middle emissions scenario SSP2-4.5: average change from 2011-2040 to 2041-2070, added to today's 1991-2020 values above. The range shows the lowest and highest of the 11 models. Rain: the same models regionalised by CSIC (DeepESD). Sunlight: EURO-CORDEX regional models (RCP4.5). A projection, not a forecast. Read: Spain around 2055, region by region →
Questions people ask
Where is Bilbao?
Bilbao is in the province of Bizkaia (Basque Country), Spain, 9 km from the sea. The nearest airport is Bilbao Airport (BIO), 5 km away.
How many people live in Bilbao?
351,124 registered residents on 1 January 2025 (INE), +1.7% in ten years.
What is the climate of Bilbao?
January afternoons average 13.6°C and nights 5.4°C; August afternoons 26.4°C. 4.5 hours of sunshine a day and 124 rainy days a year (AEMET 1991-2020).
Is Bilbao safe?
Recorded conventional crime in Bilbao was 54.1 offences per 1,000 residents in 2025, about average for Spain (national rate about 41). Home burglaries: 1.22 per 1,000.
How hot is Bilbao in summer?
August afternoons average 26.4°C (1991-2020), with 1 nights a year above 20 °C and 1 days of 35 °C or more.
How cold is Bilbao in winter?
January afternoons average 13.6°C and January nights 5.4°C, with 8 frost nights a year.
Is there a hospital in Bilbao?
Yes: Hospital Universitario Basurto, a public general hospital with 697 beds. Planned surgery in Basque Country waits 64 days on average.
Can you fly direct from Bilbao to Amsterdam or London all year?
Yes. Bilbao Airport (BIO) (5 km away) has year-round direct flights to Amsterdam, London, Brussels, Paris and the US.
What does it cost to rent or buy in Bilbao?
A typical apartment (70 m²) rented for 800 € a month in 2024 contracts. Homes were appraised at 3,406 €/m² on average over the last four quarters, 33.7% in five years.
Nearby and similar towns
- Nearest towns in this comparison
- Basauri (Bizkaia, 5 km), Barakaldo (Bizkaia, 6 km), Sestao (Bizkaia, 8 km), Leioa (Bizkaia, 8 km), Portugalete (Bizkaia, 9 km)
- Most similar towns (summer heat, winter nights, rainy days, home prices, size)
- Vigo (Pontevedra), Oviedo (Asturias), Gijón (Asturias), A Coruña (A Coruña), Vitoria-Gasteiz (Álava)
Distances are straight-line between town centres. Similarity is the distance in standardised values of the five measures.