Are the Canaries the lowest-paid region in all of Spain?

Measured by the median yes, among the 17 autonomous communities; the INE table does not break out Ceuta and Melilla. Measured by the mean the Canaries are second from last, behind Extremadura.

Why does the median say more than the average?

Because a few very high salaries lift the average without benefiting anyone in the middle. In the Canaries the median amounts to 82.1 per cent of the mean.

Why does the fast growth not reach wages?

The data show the finding, not the full cause. What is documented is that the gap to the Spanish median rose from 14.2 per cent in 2022 to 15.8 in 2024.

Do women in the Canaries earn less than men?

Yes: a median of 20,110.65 against 21,030.50 euros in 2024, a difference of 4.4 per cent against 16.3 nationally. The Canary female median is still 9.0 per cent below the Spanish one.

Do lower taxes make up for the pay gap?

Partly, and not measurably in a single figure. The general IGIC rate of 7 per cent is below the mainland's 21 per cent, while transport costs arising from insularity and housing costs work in the opposite direction.

CANARY ISLANDS · ECONOMY

Median pay of 20,632 euros: why the Canaries rank last of 17 regions

Median gross annual pay in the Canary Islands stood at 20,631.84 euros in 2024, the lowest figure of all 17 Spanish autonomous communities and 15.8 per cent below the national median of 24,497.17 euros. The source is the INE's annual structure of earnings survey, published on 28 May 2026. What needs explaining is not the last place but how it comes about: the Canary economy grew faster in 2024 than any other region, and the pay gap widened all the same.

17 September 2026 · By Martin Kosinski · 5 min. · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief

Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, with the Ermita de San Juan Bautista (illustrative)

Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0 (illustrative image).

The figures and where they come from

Median pay 2024, Canaries: 20,631.84 euros gross, last of 17 autonomous communities; ahead of it, Extremadura (20,904.64). INE, Encuesta Anual de Estructura Salarial, 28 May 2026.
Same survey: Spain 24,497.17 euros, the Balearics 24,962.01, the Basque Country 31,912.13 — the highest figure.
Mean instead of median: Canaries 25,120.38 euros, Spain 29,540.26. On this measure the Canaries are the second lowest, behind Extremadura (24,979.44).
Employment: 43.1 per cent of Canary workers are in retail, transport and hospitality, against 28.4 per cent nationally; in industry, 5.0 against 13.5 per cent. INE, labour force survey 2025, own calculation of shares.
Low pay: 38.2 per cent of Canary employees earned less than 1,582.2 euros gross a month in 2024, behind Extremadura (40.2) and ahead of Murcia (37.1). INE, Decil de salarios del empleo principal, 14 November 2025.
Economic output: Canary gross domestic product grew 4.4 per cent in volume terms in 2024, against 3.5 per cent for Spain. INE, Contabilidad Regional, 16 December 2025.

Median or mean — why elsewhere you read "second lowest"

Both figures come from the same survey, produce a different ranking, and both are correct. The mean adds up all earnings and divides by the number of employees; a few high salaries pull it upwards. The median is the pay of the person exactly in the middle. On the mean the Canaries are second from last at 25,120.38 euros, just above Extremadura — that is the figure the INE highlights in its press release, which is why many reports speak of the "second lowest" region. On the median the Canaries are last, and for the question of what an ordinary employee earns the median is the more honest measure. One qualification belongs here: the INE table does not break out Ceuta and Melilla. The last place applies to the 17 communities, not to all 19 Spanish territories.

The gap opens at the top, not at the bottom

The most revealing series in the survey are the percentiles. At the lower end the Canaries barely differ from the rest of the country: the tenth percentile stands at 11,877.70 euros against 12,018.46 nationally, a gap of 1.2 per cent. At the lower quartile it is 6.6 per cent, at the median 15.8, and at the upper quartile, with 29,218.96 against 36,969.61 euros, already 21.0 per cent. The statutory minimum wage is uniform across Spain and holds the Canary floor at the national level; what is missing are the steps above it. That is also the difference from the Balearics: their median is 21.0 per cent above the Canary one, but at the ninetieth percentile the lead narrows to 5.8 per cent. The top earners of the two archipelagos resemble each other; the broad middle does not.

The sectoral structure explains most of it

This is the mechanism. According to the INE's labour force survey, 43.1 per cent of all Canary workers were employed in retail, transport and hospitality in the 2025 annual average, against 28.4 per cent across Spain. Conversely, industry accounts for 5.0 rather than 13.5 per cent, information and communication for 1.9 against 3.8, and financial services for 1.5 against 2.1. Set against that are the sector earnings reported by the same 2024 earnings survey: hospitality paid an average of 17,653.42 euros across Spain and was the worst-paid of eighteen branches of activity. Information and communication reached 42,741.94 euros and financial and insurance activities 51,862.90. The archipelago is heavily represented in the sector that pays least and thinly represented in all those that pay considerably more.

What does not explain the gap

One widespread explanation does not survive checking. Part-time work depresses annual pay sharply — the survey puts full-time work at 33,826.92 euros and part-time at 14,076.75 on the Spanish average. In the Canaries, however, the part-time share is lower than the national average: 9.9 against 13.7 per cent of those in work, 2025 annual average. The share of temporary contracts differs little either, 16.7 against 15.3 per cent. The Canary shortfall therefore does not arise mainly because fewer hours are worked, but because of what is worked at. That annual earnings include all employees, part-timers and part-year contracts among them, remains decisive for the level in a seasonal economy, but it does not carry the Canary case.

Growth, rents and what cuts the other way

Canary gross domestic product grew 4.4 per cent in volume terms in 2024, the strongest advance in Spain together with Murcia, against 3.5 per cent nationally. In the same year the Canary median wage rose 4.2 per cent in nominal terms and the Spanish one 4.9. Economic output and pay are measured differently and cannot be subtracted from one another; the comparison between the two pay figures is valid, however, and it shows the gap growing: from 14.2 per cent in 2022 to 15.2 and then 15.8 per cent in 2024. Housing costs come on top of that: a 70-square-metre flat at the average Canary asking rent of 15.40 euros per square metre reported by idealista for August 2026 costs 1,078 euros a month, or 62.7 per cent of the median gross annual wage — a calculation by this publication that reflects neither rents already in force nor households with two incomes. The counterweight is fair too: the general IGIC rate is 7 per cent against 21 per cent VAT on the mainland, and the Canary tax regime has deductions of its own.

How to check your own figure: the raw data are available free and without registration in the INE's INEbase. Table 28191 gives median, mean and percentiles by autonomous community, table 28185 the same earnings by branch of activity, and table 28193 by occupation — for a comparison with your own sector, 28185 is the right one. Canary-specific analyses are held by the Instituto Canario de Estadística (ISTAC) at gobiernodecanarias.org/istac. Note that the survey does not break earnings down by island.

Three traps: first, the reference year is 2024, not 2026 — the survey appears with a lag of about a year and a half. Second, all amounts are gross annual earnings including part-time and part-year contracts; they are not a monthly net figure and not a full-time salary. Third, median and mean must not be mixed.

FAQ

Are the Canaries the lowest-paid region in all of Spain?: Measured by the median yes, among the 17 autonomous communities; the INE table does not break out Ceuta and Melilla. Measured by the mean the Canaries are second from last, behind Extremadura.
Why does the median say more than the average?: Because a few very high salaries lift the average without benefiting anyone in the middle. In the Canaries the median amounts to 82.1 per cent of the mean.
Why does the fast growth not reach wages?: The data show the finding, not the full cause. What is documented is that the gap to the Spanish median rose from 14.2 per cent in 2022 to 15.8 in 2024.
Do women in the Canaries earn less than men?: Yes: a median of 20,110.65 against 21,030.50 euros in 2024, a difference of 4.4 per cent against 16.3 nationally. The Canary female median is still 9.0 per cent below the Spanish one.
Do lower taxes make up for the pay gap?: Partly, and not measurably in a single figure. The general IGIC rate of 7 per cent is below the mainland's 21 per cent, while transport costs arising from insularity and housing costs work in the opposite direction.

Read on

CITA News on WhatsAppFollow the channel and keep up with the islands.Follow