Rent takes 98.7% of young workers’ pay in solo flats and over 33% in shared homes
The youth emancipation rate fell to 14.5% in 2025, the lowest since comparable records began, says Spain's Youth Council, which warns a young worker must spend almost their entire salary to rent a home alone.
Published on 22/05/2026 - 18:45 GMT+2
Spain’s housing access crisis continues to push Spanish young people further away from the possibility of moving out of the family home. In 2025, the youth emancipation rate fell to 14.5% among 16- to 29-year-olds, the lowest level since comparable records began, according to the latest data from the Youth Emancipation Observatory of the Spanish Youth Council (CJE).
The report (source in Spanish), published on Friday, notes that a young employee would have to allocate 98.7% of their net salary to rent a home on their own in Spain. The estimated average age for moving out of the parental home has already surpassed 30.
It also stresses that the difficulty of accessing housing is currently one of the main drivers of youth impoverishment in Spain: "Among young people who live in rented accommodation, the risk of poverty rises from 25.9% before paying for housing to 43% afterwards".
"Moving out means becoming poorer for young people," says Andrea Henry, president of the CJE. "The labour market and the housing market have stopped speaking the same language for young people," Henry warns.
According to the Observatory’s figures, the average net salary of a young person is around 1,190 euros a month, while the average rent for a home comes to 1,176 euros. The CJE warns that access to housing has become "one of the main fault lines of inequality" between generations.
The organisation argues that the problem no longer affects only those who are unemployed or in situations of exclusion, but also part of the working young population. "Even in work, a huge proportion of young people cannot build an independent life without falling into precariousness, over-indebtedness or dependence on their families," the report notes.
Flat-sharing is not affordable either
Rising housing costs are also driving room rentals and shared arrangements as an alternative for those who cannot afford the cost of living alone. However, the Youth Council warns that sharing a flat does not guarantee affordable conditions in many cities either, and accounts for 33.6% of the average salary.
The report also underlines that financial support from families is increasingly what determines who can move out and who cannot, in a context in which buying a home remains out of reach for much of the young population.
The Spanish Youth Council is calling for public measures to increase the supply of affordable housing and make it easier for young people to access decent accommodation. "The problem is structural and is having serious consequences for an entire generation," it warns.
