El Masnou or Sant Cugat del Vallès
Side by side, so you can pick yours.
| El Masnou | Sant Cugat del Vallès | |
|---|---|---|
| Property tax (IBI) rate | 0.8196% | 0.555% |
| Yearly property tax, average home | €805 | €950 |
| To Plaça Catalunya by public transport, centre to centre | 32 min · Direct by Rodalies (R1) | 36 min · Direct by FGC (S1) |
| To Barcelona by car | 27 min | 23 min |
| To the airport by car | 39 min | 29 min |
| Walk to the beach | 8 min | 194 min |
| Walk to school | 2 min | 6 min |
| Price per m², Jul 2025–Jun 2026 | €3,916 | €5,512 |
| Residents of other nationalities | 12.9% | 15.3% |
| Rent-controlled area | Yes | Yes |
| Tourist flats per 100 residents | 0.5 | 0.1 |
| To the airport by public transport, centre to centre | 66 min | 75 min |
Sources and notes
- Property tax (IBI) rate: Each council's 2026 tax bylaw. Read on 3 November 2026.
- Yearly property tax, average home: Council rate (2026 tax bylaw) × average cadastral value of the town's homes (Catastro 2026). Read on 3 November 2026.
- To Plaça Catalunya by public transport, centre to centre: Official public transport timetables, leaving between 7 and 9am, waits included. Read on 11 October 2026.
- To Barcelona by car: OSRM over OpenStreetMap data, © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), without traffic. Measured on 3 November 2026.
- To the airport by car: OSRM over OpenStreetMap data, © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), without traffic. Measured on 3 November 2026.
- Walk to the beach: On foot, with OSRM over OpenStreetMap data, © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Measured on 3 November 2026.
- Walk to school: On foot, with OSRM over OpenStreetMap data, © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Measured on 3 November 2026.
- Price per m², Jul 2025–Jun 2026: Generalitat de Catalunya, registered sales of resale homes (Jul 2025–Jun 2026). Read on 3 November 2026.
- Residents of other nationalities: Idescat, 2025 population census. Read on 3 November 2026.
- Rent-controlled area: The Catalan government's list of declared towns, with their publication in the BOE (Law 12/2023). Read on 3 November 2026.
- Tourist flats per 100 residents: Registre de Turisme de Catalunya (data as of 5 October 2026), over the residents in Idescat's 2025 census. Read on 3 November 2026.
- To the airport by public transport, centre to centre: Official public transport timetables. Read on 11 October 2026.
Average home: the IBI rate × the town's average residential cadastral value (Catastro, 2026). Not shown where a recent cadastral revaluation is being phased in.
- El Masnou pays €145 less property tax a year on an average home.
- El Masnou is 4 minutes closer to Barcelona by public transport.
- To Barcelona, 7–9am: Sant Cugat del Vallès by FGC, one every 3 min; El Masnou by Rodalies, one every 8 min.
- From El Masnou the beach is 8 minutes' walk; from Sant Cugat del Vallès, 194.
- In El Masnou, a square metre costs 29% less (Jul 2025–Jun 2026).
Is moving from El Masnou to Sant Cugat del Vallès worth it?
more than today
more than today
more than today
What it measures: what you pay each month today, renting in El Masnou, minus what you would pay renting in Sant Cugat del Vallès, at the average rent of its contracts, whatever the floor area (your reference home: 103 m², the average sold in El Masnou). These are published averages for each municipality, not your own flat.
Going by public averages, if you moved from El Masnou to Sant Cugat del Vallès, you'd pay €391 more a month, and you'd spend 30 more hours a year travelling.
What we assumed (1)
- Hours a year count 45 weeks of going into the centre: the year minus holidays.
El Masnou: €145 less property tax a year on an average home. El Masnou: 4 minutes closer to Barcelona by public transport.
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