Catalonia has been one of the autonomous communities with the greatest economic weight in Spain for years, but that does not mean that wealth is distributed evenly among its more than 900 municipalities. There are towns where life is lived with a comfort that inspires envy, and others where the numbers simply do not add up. The map of per capita income in Catalonia is, in reality, a map of profound contrasts that says a lot about how the territory is structured, where skilled work is concentrated, and, by extension, why some postal codes are literally worth more than others.
The most recent data from Idescat (the statistical body of the Generalitat) for 2022, published in 2025, and from INE provide a fairly clear picture: the province of Barcelona holds almost all the privileged positions in the ranking, while the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona present much more heterogeneous realities.
The Municipalities with the Highest Per Capita Income in Catalonia
If there is one name that appears in almost all rankings, it is Matadepera. This small municipality in Vallès Occidental has become a kind of celebrity in the income statistics of Catalonia, not because it has invented anything new, but simply because it concentrates residents with very high incomes, high-end housing, and a comfortable distance from Barcelona. Sant Just Desvern tops the Catalan ranking with a gross disposable family income of 30,352 euros per inhabitant, while Matadepera occupies the second position with 29,265 euros.
Following these two municipalities are Tiana (26,539 euros), Alella (26,404 euros), and Teià (26,046 euros), all three belonging to the Maresme region, followed by Sant Cugat del Vallès (26,038 euros) and Sant Quirze del Vallès (24,946 euros) in Vallès Occidental.
The geographical reading is revealing: almost all these municipalities are located in an arc that surrounds Barcelona to the north and south, well connected to the capital but with the tranquility that the big city cannot offer. It is no coincidence that families with greater economic capacity settle in these locations: good road infrastructure, quality educational centres, proximity to the airport, and, in many cases, privileged natural surroundings.
Maresme and Vallès: Catalonia's Golden Belt
Baix Maresme, with municipalities like Alella, Teià, Tiana, or Cabrils, concentrates the highest incomes both per person and per household, in stark contrast to Alt Maresme, where towns like Pineda de Mar, Tordera, Malgrat, or Palafolls present significantly lower incomes. In the same territory, two distinct economic realities literally coexist.
Vallès Occidental reproduces a similar pattern. There are great contrasts between the low incomes of municipalities like Badia del Vallès, Barberà del Vallès, or the outskirts of Sabadell and Terrassa, and the high incomes of Bellaterra, Sant Cugat, and Sant Quirze. Less than ten kilometres can separate two completely different economic worlds.
Provincial Capitals and the Catalan Average
Barcelona city is not on the podium of the richest municipalities in Catalonia, which surprises more than one. The median income in Barcelona stands at 22,750 euros, almost 3,000 euros more than the average for Catalonia as a whole, but far from the residential municipalities in its surroundings.
The Catalan average is set at 19,950 euros per inhabitant. A figure that, like all averages, hides as much as it reveals: there are regions that fall well below and others that exceed it significantly.
Among the regions, Barcelonès records the highest income per inhabitant, with 21,297 euros per capita, while Montsià occupies the opposite extreme with 14,415 euros. Baix Llobregat, both Vallès, Garraf, and Maresme remain above 19,000 euros per capita.
The other provincial capitals present more modest results. Tarragona sits slightly below the Catalan average with 19,250 euros annually, while the city of Lleida, with 18,550 euros median, also falls below the regional average. Girona, on the other hand, slightly exceeds the average with 20,650 euros, just 700 euros above.
Lleida and Tarragona: Interesting Exceptions
Within the province of Lleida, Alpicat, in Segrià, occupies the top position with an average income of 24,850 euros annually, being the only municipality with more than 5,000 inhabitants in this area that exceeds the Catalan average. In Tarragona, Altafulla leads with 24,150 euros median income. These are examples that confirm that exceptions to the rule exist, although they are hard to find outside the metropolitan area of Barcelona.
The Municipalities with the Lowest Per Capita Income
The flip side of the coin is equally striking. The seven poorest municipalities in Catalonia, with an income per inhabitant more than 30% below the regional average, are Castelló d’Empúries, El Perelló, La Jonquera, Salt, Riba-roja d’Ebre, Lloret de Mar, and Montferrer i Castellbò.
Salt, Alcanar, Ulldecona, and Lloret de Mar are among the populations of more than 5,000 inhabitants with the lowest incomes, hovering around 15,000 euros per year. Lloret de Mar always generates conversation: an internationally known tourist destination but with an economic structure marked by seasonality and the low qualification of much of its employment. Mass tourism is not always synonymous with high income for residents.
The gap is notable: the family income of Sant Just Desvern, the richest municipality, is 2.5 times that of Montferrer i Castellbò, the poorest. A figure that puts into perspective how much the postal code remains, in Catalonia as in the rest of Spain, one of the most determining factors of living conditions.
Catalonia Compared to the Rest of Spain: A Solid Position but Not Without Flaws
At the national level, Catalonia competes with the Community of Madrid for the top spots in the income ranking, although Madrid has a clear advantage at the upper extremes. Pozuelo de Alarcón was once again the richest municipality in Spain in 2022, with 29,258 euros per inhabitant, while Matadepera, Sant Just Desvern, Sant Cugat del Vallès, and Alella are among the ten municipalities with the highest per capita income in the entire state. Four Catalan localities in the national top ten is quite impressive for a single autonomous community.
The Gini coefficient of Catalonia stands in the range of 0.30 to 0.32, reflecting a relatively balanced income distribution within the community, slightly lower than the national average and clearly below the inequality index of the Community of Madrid. In other words: Catalonia is wealthy and somewhat more equal than Madrid, although internal differences between municipalities tell a different story.
The main source of income for Catalan families remains salaried work. Employee remuneration represents 60.5% of the main resources of families and is the dominant income component in all regions. This means that areas with a higher concentration of skilled employment, such as the technological area of Vallès or the logistics axis of Baix Llobregat, maintain consistently higher incomes than areas with more agrarian economies or those dependent on low-cost tourism. The Objective
The map of per capita income in Catalonia, ultimately, is not just a statistical exercise: it is a faithful portrait of how the territory is organised, where investment reaches, what type of employment each area generates, and, ultimately, what opportunities residents of one municipality or another have. And these differences, in many cases, have been entrenched in the Catalan landscape for decades without anyone having yet found a way to significantly reduce them.
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