{"id":107442,"date":"2022-01-17T07:00:57","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T06:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/?p=107442"},"modified":"2022-01-17T16:03:42","modified_gmt":"2022-01-17T15:03:42","slug":"pay-rent-according-income","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/pay-rent-according-income\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is The Maximum Amount of Rent I Can Pay According to My Income?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When you decide to start living on your own, renting a place is probably your best option. It is important to know what amount of rent you are able to pay for, and it doesn&#8217;t matter if you will live alone or rent together with someone else. The least you need to learn is<strong> what income you need to be able to rent an apartment<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The main idea behind us writing this article and you reading it, is that you discover <strong>how much rent you can afford<\/strong> according to your income.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Before you grab your calculator and start with the numbers, collect the following data:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>An overview of your <strong>monthly income<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>An overview of your <strong>monthly expenses<\/strong> (without the rent)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Having insight in this information will help establishing where the boundaries are when wanting to start renting an apartment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Now let&#8217;s get started with <strong>a list of your own monthly living expenses<\/strong> to see how far you get.<\/p>\n<div id=\"metaslider-id-104522\" style=\"max-width: 850px; margin: 0 auto;\" class=\"ml-slider-3-20-3 metaslider metaslider-responsive metaslider-104522 ml-slider\">\n    <div id=\"metaslider_container_104522\">\n        <ul id='metaslider_104522' class='rslides'>\n            <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/\" target=\"_self\"><img width=\"850\" height=\"182\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/en-1.jpg\" class=\"slider-104522 slide-104523\" alt=\"rental apartments in Barcelona\" rel=\"\" title=\"Banner medio home inquilinos\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n        <\/ul>\n        \n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_17 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-grey\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class=\"ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1\"><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/pay-rent-according-income\/#List_of_monthly_living_costs\" title=\"List of monthly living costs\">List of monthly living costs<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/pay-rent-according-income\/#3_Rules_of_thumb_to_calculate_how_much_rent_you_can_pay\" title=\"3 Rules of thumb to calculate how much rent you can pay\">3 Rules of thumb to calculate how much rent you can pay<\/a><ul class=\"ez-toc-list-level-3\"><li class=\"ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/pay-rent-according-income\/#The_30_rule_or_35\" title=\"The 30% rule (or 35%)\">The 30% rule (or 35%)<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/pay-rent-according-income\/#The_40x_rent_rule\" title=\"The 40x rent rule\">The 40x rent rule<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/pay-rent-according-income\/#The_50-30-20_rule\" title=\"The 50-30-20 rule\">The 50-30-20 rule<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/pay-rent-according-income\/#So_how_much_should_I_spend_on_rent\" title=\"So how much should I spend on rent?\">So how much should I spend on rent?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"List_of_monthly_living_costs\"><\/span>List of monthly living costs<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Your monthly costs<\/strong> may vary greatly on what your responsabilities are each month. If you have a pet, for example, you must also take into account its food, visits to the vet, and toys.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For your orientation we have come up with a <strong>list with monthly living expenses<\/strong> so you can see if they apply to you.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_107446\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-107446\" class=\"size-full wp-image-107446\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/nomina-minima-para-alquilar-un-piso.jpg\" alt=\"lady on bed with dog and laptop\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-107446\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Photo via Pexels<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<table style=\"width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: #850909;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 100%;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Tip<\/span><\/strong> &#x1f4a1;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 100%; text-align: justify;\"><strong>Keep all your receipts from the last couple of weeks and gather these, together with the costs that are paid by direct debit, to know exactly where your money goes. Don&#8217;t forget to keep it real, because even that coffee you get at the coffee shop each day adds up!<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Start collecting items for your list with the following <strong>expenses<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Transport (public transport subscription or gas payments)<\/li>\n<li>Invoices for water, gas and electricity<\/li>\n<li>Local taxes<\/li>\n<li>Food and hygiene products<\/li>\n<li>Phone and internet invoices<\/li>\n<li>Insurance<\/li>\n<li>Taking care of children<\/li>\n<li>Taking care of pets<\/li>\n<li>Gym subscription<\/li>\n<li>School tuition or extra activities<\/li>\n<li>Clothing and personal care<\/li>\n<li>Leasure time (restaurants, concerts, theatre, cinema, et cetera)<\/li>\n<li>Home and interior (furniture, decorations, plants)<\/li>\n<li>Holidays<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Set aside what you think is a good (but also realistic) amount for each and every one of these expenses. Now that you have done this, we can start with some rules of thumb or strategies to help you determine <strong>what part of your budget can be spent on rent<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_107445\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-107445\" class=\"size-full wp-image-107445\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/gastos-mensuales-de-una-casa.jpg\" alt=\"lady sits at wooden table with laptop\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-107445\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Photo via Pexels<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_Rules_of_thumb_to_calculate_how_much_rent_you_can_pay\"><\/span>3 Rules of thumb to calculate how much rent you can pay<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_30_rule_or_35\"><\/span>The 30% rule (or 35%)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It&#8217;s an old rule that has been around for ages, and it says you should ideally calculate with a <strong>maximum of 30% of your monthly income<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">To give you a practical example, we will show you how this rule works: If you have an <strong>income of 1,500 euros per month<\/strong>, then <strong>the rental price<\/strong> of your apartment <strong>should not exceed 450 euros<\/strong>. Considering the current prices of housing, this sounds quite ridiculous, doesn&#8217;t it?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the last <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bde.es\/f\/webbde\/SES\/Secciones\/Publicaciones\/PublicacionesSeriadas\/DocumentosOcasionales\/20\/Fich\/do2013.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><strong>study by the <em>Banco de Espa\u00f1a<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (from 2020) they are already talking of a percentage of 35%. In the same example with an <strong>income of 1,500 euros<\/strong>, that would translate to a <strong>maximum of 525 euros for your monthly rent<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_40x_rent_rule\"><\/span>The 40x rent rule<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Another strategy to come up with a number on the maximum amount of rent you can afford, is the <strong>40-times-the-rent rule<\/strong>, and this rule is based on the fact that your <strong>annual income should be a minimum of 40 times the rental price<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">If we continue with the same example, and it is possible to find an apartment for <strong>525 euros<\/strong>, then this would mean <strong>an annual sum of 21,000 euros<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_50-30-20_rule\"><\/span>The 50-30-20 rule<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The last rule of thumb we want to share with you really helps to <strong>split up your complete budget<\/strong> (monthly or yearly) and takes into account all of your expenses. Every number refers to a percentage that accounts for a different type of expense. It goes as follows:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><strong>50% of your monthly income<\/strong>: for fixed expenses (rent, invoices, insurance)<\/li>\n<li><strong>30% of your monthly income<\/strong>: expenses of personal choice (leisure, et cetera)<\/li>\n<li><strong>20% of your monthly income<\/strong>: savings and\/or investments<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">We will stick with the same example we started with, and work with the monthly income of 1,500 euros. The percentages can then be divided into the following amounts for each type of expense:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>750 for fixed expenses<\/li>\n<li>450 for personal expenses<\/li>\n<li>300 for savings<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As you may have noticed, this rule of thumb is more flexible than the others. It allows you to decide what expense is essential and which one is not. It also lets you set your limits and makes it possible to keep on saving.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_107444\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-107444\" class=\"size-full wp-image-107444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/cuanto-debo-pagar-de-alquiler.jpg\" alt=\"how much rent can i pay according to my payslip, calculator\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-107444\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Photo via Pexels<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a class=\"fasc-button fasc-size-large fasc-type-flat fasc-rounded-medium ico-fa fasc-ico-before fa-chevron-circle-right broken_link\" style=\"background-color: #850909; color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/yearly-rental\" rel=\"nofollow\">Looking to rent a property? Find it here<\/a><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"So_how_much_should_I_spend_on_rent\"><\/span>So how much should I spend on rent?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Now that you have learned what monthly expenses play a role when renting a house, you have gotten an idea of <strong>what maximum amount of rent you can afford<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">You have seen that there are three rules of thumb, and although they are only an indication on how to divide your income, we can see clearly that these rules do not match at all with the reality of the real estate sector in some of the larger cities.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Although it is also true that more and more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/rent-reference-index\/\"><strong>regulations<\/strong><\/a> have found its way to control the real estate sector, we can still see that the balance between income and rental prices is far off.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the end it is clear that you should have an overview of both your income and your (expected) expenses (fixed and variable), and that you&#8217;d better start saving early to pay for unexpected events.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Besides that, <strong>everyone has their own priorities<\/strong>, so those who prefer paying for a more modest apartment will have more money to spend on movies or eating out every month.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Others, however, will prefer paying for a more spacious apartment or one that is located in a better neighbourhood, because it will save them on public transport costs and lets them enjoy their time at home more.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">If you are looking for an apartment in Barcelona, don&#8217;t hesitate one bit and contact the real estate experts at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\"><strong>ShBarcelona<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a class=\"fasc-button fasc-size-large fasc-type-flat fasc-rounded-medium ico-fa fasc-ico-before fa-chevron-circle-right\" style=\"background-color: #850909; color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/\">Check out ShBarcelona<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>What do you think? <\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Are there more rules of thumb to know how much rent you can afford with your income?<\/strong><\/p>\n<div style=\"display: none;\"\n    class=\"kk-star-ratings kksr-valign-bottom kksr-align-left \"\n    data-id=\"107442\"\n    data-slug=\"\">\n    <div class=\"kksr-stars\">\n    <div class=\"kksr-stars-inactive\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"1\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"2\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"3\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"4\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"5\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"kksr-stars-active\" style=\"width: 0px;\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n    <div class=\"kksr-legend\">\n            <span class=\"kksr-muted\">Rate us!<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you decide to start living on your own, renting a place is probably your best option. It is important to know what amount of rent you are able to pay for, and it doesn&#8217;t matter if you will live alone or rent together with someone else. The least you need to learn is what [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":107443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8876],"tags":[9869,9868,9867],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107442"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107442"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107452,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107442\/revisions\/107452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}