Employee or autónomo in Madrid?
As an autónomo you keep €5,457 more a year.
A gross salary of €32,000 against billing €45,000, living in Comunidad de Madrid. That is €455 a month.
Compare a salary with what you would bill as an autónomo in Madrid, after Seguridad Social and IRPF, with the 2026 rates. To match a €30,000 salary here, bill €33,402 a year.
Where they break even
To match this salary, bill €37,237 a year.
That is €3,103 a month, or €169 for each of 220 working days.
After holidays and public holidays, about 220.
To match this billing, a job would have to pay €40,103 gross.
What the job costs the company
The company pays €42,288 a year for this salary: €32,000 gross plus €10,288 of employer Seguridad Social.
If it paid you that as an autónomo, you would keep €28,292 net, €3,490 more than as an employee.
Net pay at every income
Net per year when a company or client spends the same amount on you: as a salary plus employer Seguridad Social, or as your invoices.
- Employee
- Autónomo
Spent by the company or client per year
The lines cross at €25,000: above it, the autónomo keeps more.
Show the figures as a table
| Spent by the company or client | Employee net | Autónomo net | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| €15,000 | €10,613 | €9,345 | −€1,268 |
| €20,000 | €14,151 | €12,909 | −€1,242 |
| €25,000 | €16,524 | €16,288 | −€237 |
| €30,000 | €18,496 | €19,704 | +€1,208 |
| €35,000 | €21,079 | €23,156 | +€2,077 |
| €40,000 | €23,633 | €26,608 | +€2,975 |
| €50,000 | €28,742 | €33,309 | +€4,568 |
| €60,000 | €33,435 | €39,205 | +€5,770 |
| €80,000 | €42,506 | €51,271 | +€8,765 |
| €100,000 | €53,925 | €62,248 | +€8,323 |
The figures for Madrid
In Madrid, a €30,000 gross salary costs the company €39,645 and leaves €23,452 net a year. An autónomo with no business costs needs to bill €33,402 to keep the same: €2,784 a month, or €152 for each of 220 working days.
IRPF here combines the state scale with the regional scale of Madrid and the minimums it sets. Seguridad Social and the cuota de autónomo are the same everywhere in Spain, so the differences between regions come only from IRPF.
If the company paid you its full cost of €39,645 as invoices instead, you would keep €27,819: €4,367 more than on the payroll. About €6,200 of business costs a year would cancel that difference.
Worked examples in Madrid
Several salaries in Madrid: what each costs the company and leaves you, what an autónomo with no business costs would have to bill to keep the same, and what billing the company's full cost would leave. Single, 34, no children, permanent contract.
| Gross salary | Employee net | Cost to the company | Billing to match | Autónomo net, billing the cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| €20,000 | €16,829 | €26,430 | €23,690 | €18,730 |
| €25,000 | €20,077 | €33,038 | €28,507 | €23,184 |
| €30,000 | €23,452 | €39,645 | €33,402 | €27,819 |
| €40,000 | €30,196 | €52,860 | €42,904 | €36,227 |
| €50,000 | €36,190 | €66,075 | €52,803 | €44,374 |
| €60,000 | €42,184 | €79,290 | €62,647 | €52,006 |
| €80,000 | €53,853 | €99,871 | €83,271 | €63,315 |
How Madrid compares with the other regions
The billing that matches a €30,000 salary in each region, from lowest to highest: from €31,926 in Álava to €34,288 in Navarra. In this list, Madrid is number 6 of 21.
| Region | Employee net | Billing to match | Autónomo net, billing the cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Álava | €23,555 | €31,926 | €29,305 |
| Bizkaia | €23,555 | €31,926 | €29,305 |
| Gipuzkoa | €23,555 | €31,926 | €29,305 |
| Ceuta | €26,080 | €33,257 | €31,465 |
| Melilla | €26,080 | €33,257 | €31,465 |
| Comunidad de Madrid | €23,452 | €33,402 | €27,819 |
| Región de Murcia | €23,285 | €33,408 | €27,620 |
| La Rioja | €23,418 | €33,411 | €27,733 |
| Asturias | €23,217 | €33,416 | €27,507 |
| Canarias | €23,274 | €33,416 | €27,563 |
| Castilla y León | €23,217 | €33,416 | €27,506 |
| Illes Balears | €23,139 | €33,418 | €27,331 |
| Cantabria | €23,342 | €33,421 | €27,599 |
| Comunitat Valenciana | €23,307 | €33,423 | €27,546 |
| Galicia | €23,255 | €33,426 | €27,487 |
| Andalucía | €23,188 | €33,427 | €27,412 |
| Aragón | €23,170 | €33,427 | €27,395 |
| Castilla-La Mancha | €23,124 | €33,427 | €27,349 |
| Cataluña | €23,091 | €33,439 | €27,252 |
| Extremadura | €23,333 | €33,457 | €27,397 |
| Navarra | €23,644 | €34,288 | €27,052 |
What the figures leave out
Net pay is only part of the choice. These are the differences that do not show up in the numbers above.
- Paid time off
- An employee gets at least 30 calendar days of paid holiday and around 14 public holidays. An autónomo bills nothing on those days, so the yearly billing has to cover them.
- Unemployment
- An employee who loses the job can claim paro. An autónomo pays for cese de actividad, but it is paid only in limited cases and for a shorter time.
- Sick leave
- Both are paid from the fourth day off, at 60% and then 75% of the contribution base. Many employers top this up to the full salary, and the autónomo's base is usually lower.
- Dismissal
- An unfair dismissal pays 33 days of salary per year worked. When a client stops paying an autónomo, there is no compensation.
- Pension
- The pension follows the contribution base. An employee contributes on the full salary; most autónomos contribute on a lower base, so their pension is lower.
- VAT and paperwork
- An autónomo adds 21% VAT to invoices, pays it to Hacienda every quarter, and files the modelo 130 and 303. Most pay a gestoría for this.
How it is worked out
- IRPF is the yearly tax, not the amount withheld from each payment or invoice.
- Individual tax return, no disability, no regional deductions beyond the minimums.
- The autónomo uses estimación directa simplificada, with 5% off for hard-to-justify costs, up to €2,000. The cuota bracket uses net income less a further 7%.
- Cuota de autónomo by income bracket for 2026, or €80 a month with the tarifa plana.
- Employer cost includes 1.50% for accidents at work, the rate for office jobs.
- Navarra and the Basque provinces use their own foral rules.