Madrid, Spain: population, climate, prices

Madrid, Madrid · 3,506,730 inhabitants (1 Jan 2025)

Living in Madrid

Madrid is a city of 3,506,730 inhabitants inland in Madrid, with cold winters and hot summers (January nights 3.0°C, August afternoons 32.0°C). Public waiting lists in Madrid are among the shortest in Spain (50 days for planned surgery). The nearest international school (San Marcos American Preschool Madrid, American curriculum) is 2.0 km away. Summer air is dry (August dew point 12.1°C), so the heat is easier to bear than on the coast. Against that, housing is expensive (5,314 €/m² appraised, 869 € a month for a typical apartment); recorded crime is high (55.8 per 1,000 residents; Spain about 41). Around 2055, Spain's official climate scenarios put August afternoons here at about 33.3°C and the number of warm nights at 49 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 Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It had a population of over 3.4 million in the city proper in 2025, and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.8 million. Madrid is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), after Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the second-largest in the EU, after Paris. The municipality covers an area of 605.77 square kilometres (233.89 sq mi). Madrid lies on the River Manzanares in the central part of the Iberian Peninsula at about 660 metres (2,170 ft) above mean sea level. The capital city of both Spain and the surrounding autonomous community of Madrid, it is the political, economic and cultural centre of the country.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Read more on Wikipedia →

Buying: appraised price

5,314 €/m²

Last 4 quarters to 2026 Q2, 44,609 valuations. 1 year 15.2%, 5 years 65.9%.

Renting: typical apartment

869 €/month

13.97 €/m² per month for a typical 66 m² (2024 contracts). 5 years 17.7%. Houses: 1,273 €/month.

Safety: recorded crime

55.8 per 1,000

Conventional crime 2025 (Spain ≈ 41). Home burglaries 1.23, violent robbery 2.10, theft 20.7 per 1,000. 1 year -2.4%.

Sea

304.9 km

Straight-line distance from the town centre to the coast.

Getting there

Nearest airport: Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD), 14 km, 68,179,054 passengers in 2025, 242 destinations
Direct to Amsterdam: Madrid airport, 14 km (year-round)
Direct to Brussels (Zaventem or Charleroi): Madrid airport, 14 km (year-round)
Direct to London: Madrid airport, 14 km (year-round)
Direct to Paris: Madrid airport, 14 km (year-round)
Direct to Frankfurt: Madrid airport, 14 km (year-round)
Direct to the US: Madrid airport, 14 km (year-round)
Train station: Asamblea de Madrid-Entrevías (4.9 km)
Fastest train to Madrid: in town
Fastest train to Barcelona: 3 h 01

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 12 de Octubre (in town, 1,161 beds)
Nearest large public hospital (500+ beds, most specialties): Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre (in town, 1,161 beds)
Nearest private general hospital: Hospital Universitario Fundacion Jimenez Diaz (in town, 651 beds)
General hospitals within 25 km: 50
Waiting time for planned surgery (Madrid): 50 days on average; 0.8% wait more than 6 months (Spain: 121 days)
Waiting time for a first specialist visit: 68 days on average; 63.5% 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: SAN MARCOS AMERICAN PRESCHOOL MADRID (American), Madrid, 2.0 km
International schools within 25 km: 70
Nearest by curriculum (within 100 km): British 3.7 km · American 2.0 km · French 6.0 km · German 4.0 km · Nordic 13 km · Dutch 7.0 km

Within 30 km (up to five):

School	Curriculum	Levels in the register	Where	Distance
SAN MARCOS AMERICAN PRESCHOOL MADRID	American	not listed	Madrid	2.0 km
BREWSTER SPAIN (EE.UU.)	American	not listed	Madrid	2.0 km
SCUOLA MATERNA ITALIANA DE MADRID	Italian	not listed	Madrid	3.0 km
SCUOLA STATALE ITALIANA DE MADRID (ITALIANO)	Italian	not listed	Madrid	3.0 km
HOLY MARY CATHOLIC SCHOOL (BRITANICO)	British	not listed	Madrid	3.7 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: +11.6% in ten years (3,141,991 in 2015, 3,506,730 in 2025)
Age: 20.3% aged 65 or over, 13.5% under 16 (2022; Spain: 20.0% and 14.9%)
Local income: 19,632 € net per person per year (2023), 131% of the Spanish average; median 22,750 € per adult-equivalent
Foreign residents: 15.6% of all residents; 3.4% of residents aged 65+ (2022)
Largest nationalities: Venezuelan 1.3%, Romanian 1.2%, Chinese 1.1%, Colombian 1.1%, Italian 0.9%; all EU citizens 3.6% (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: 93 out of 100: how much there is compared with the other 332 places (big cities score highest)

209 food shops (supermarkets, bakeries, greengrocers…)
49 pharmacies
7 doctors, clinics or hospitals
1277 cafés, bars and restaurants
69 parks and gardens
77 bus stops
49 libraries, theatres, cinemas, cultural centres
5 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: 10,836 (0.71% of all homes; Spain 1.28%), 1.1 tourist beds per 100 residents (May 2026)
Blue Flag beaches: nearest in San Martín de Valdeiglesias, 60 km; 0 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: Tajo
Reservoirs now: 54.9% full (week of 2026-09-29); the same week in the previous 10 years averaged 47.0%
Worst week 2016-2025: 34.4% full (2019-10-15)
Weeks below 40% full, 2016-2025: 9% 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): 30 (source)
InterNations Expat City Ranking 2025: 7 (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	10.0	12.2	16.2	18.9	23.2	28.9	32.8	32.0	26.5	19.7	13.5	10.3
Average nightly low, °C	3.0	3.7	6.3	8.2	11.9	16.5	19.5	19.3	15.5	11.1	6.4	3.7
Rain, mm	32	34	35	46	48	20	9	10	24	64	52	42
Rainy days (1 mm or more)	5.5	5.1	5.4	6.7	6.8	3.3	1.5	1.5	3.5	7.2	6.7	5.9
Sunshine, hours per day	5.2	6.5	7.1	8.2	9.5	11.1	12.0	11.1	8.6	6.7	5.5	4.7
Humidity, %	72	64	57	56	54	45	39	42	51	66	72	75
Days reaching 30 °C / 86 °F	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.9	13.9	24.6	23.1	6.6	0.0	0.0	0.0

The year in numbers

Köppen climate class: BSk: Cold semi-arid
Summer mugginess (August average dew point): 12.1°C – dry, comfortable
Typical hottest day of the year: 38.2°C
Typical coldest night of the year: -2.8°C
Days reaching 25 °C / 77 °F: 121 a year (estimate)
Days reaching 30 °C / 86 °F: 71 a year
Days reaching 35 °C / 95 °F: 17 a year (estimate)
Warm nights (low of 20 °C / 68 °F or more): 34 a year (estimate)
Frost nights (0 °C / 32 °F or less): 13 a year
Overcast days: 65 a year
Average humidity: 58%

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 MADRID, RETIRO (3195), 2.4 km away; sunshine from MADRID, CUATRO VIENTOS (3196), 8 km; temperatures adjusted to the town's altitude. © AEMET.

Around 2055 (projection)

August average high: 33.3°C: +1.3 °C compared with today (models range from 0.5 °C to 2.5 °C)
Warm nights (low of 20 °C / 68 °F or more): 49 a year, +15 (models: +3 to +25)
Frost nights: 7 a year (-6)
Rainy days (1 mm or more): 54 a year, -5 (models: -13 to -1)
Rain amount: -5% over the year: summer -24%, winter +4%
Sunlight reaching the ground: +0.7% (models: -0.2% to +1.8%); 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 Madrid?

Madrid is in the province of Madrid, Spain, inland. The nearest airport is Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD), 14 km away.

How many people live in Madrid?

3,506,730 registered residents on 1 January 2025 (INE), +11.6% in ten years.

What is the climate of Madrid?

January afternoons average 10.0°C and nights 3.0°C; August afternoons 32.0°C. 8.0 hours of sunshine a day and 59 rainy days a year (AEMET 1991-2020).

Is Madrid safe?

Recorded conventional crime in Madrid was 55.8 offences per 1,000 residents in 2025, high for Spain (national rate about 41). Home burglaries: 1.23 per 1,000.

How hot is Madrid in summer?

August afternoons average 32.0°C (1991-2020), with 34 nights a year above 20 °C and 17 days of 35 °C or more.

How cold is Madrid in winter?

January afternoons average 10.0°C and January nights 3.0°C, with 13 frost nights a year.

Is there a hospital in Madrid?

Yes: Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, a public general hospital with 1,161 beds. Planned surgery in Madrid waits 50 days on average.

Can you fly direct from Madrid to Amsterdam or London all year?

Yes. Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD) (14 km away) has year-round direct flights to Amsterdam, London, Brussels, Paris and the US.

What does it cost to rent or buy in Madrid?

A typical apartment (66 m²) rented for 869 € a month in 2024 contracts. Homes were appraised at 5,314 €/m² on average over the last four quarters, 65.9% in five years.

Nearby and similar towns

Nearest towns in this comparison: Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid, 10 km), Leganés (Madrid, 11 km), Coslada (Madrid, 12 km), Alcorcón (Madrid, 13 km), Getafe (Madrid, 13 km)
Most similar towns (summer heat, winter nights, rainy days, home prices, size): Barcelona (Barcelona), València (Valencia), Zaragoza (Zaragoza), Málaga (Málaga), Sevilla (Seville)

Distances are straight-line between town centres. Similarity is the distance in standardised values of the five measures.