I Compared American Bills to My Spanish Bills Side by Side and the Difference Is Obscene

Not because Spain is “cheap.” Because the U.S. bill stack is built around two monthly monsters that don’t exist the same way here, and everything else becomes background noise.

The first time you do this properly, it feels like cheating.

You take the bills you pay in Spain, line by line, and put them next to the bills most Americans pay for a similar, boring life. Not luxury. Not Pinterest. Just housing, utilities, phones, transport, healthcare, and the usual “adulting” costs that show up whether you’re happy or not.

Then you notice what’s missing on the Spanish side.

Not the little stuff. The big stuff. The bills that sit in your life like permanent furniture.

And that’s when the comparison turns ugly.

We’re a family in Spain, and I’m not going to pretend every Spanish household has the same bills or the same income. Regions differ. Buildings differ. Heating differs. Some people have private insurance, some don’t. Some people own a car, some don’t.

But when you compare the structure, not the anecdotes, the gap is still brutal. The U.S. bill stack is heavier, more fragile, and more likely to explode if one thing goes wrong. The Spanish stack is smaller, steadier, and more predictable, even when rent is painful.

Below is the side-by-side that actually matters, with numbers you can copy and run against your own life.

The two bills that make the U.S. feel like a monthly hostage situation

Americans often assume the difference between the U.S. and Spain is “groceries are cheaper” or “tapas are cheap.” That’s not it.

The real gap lives in two categories that behave like gravity in the U.S.:

Healthcare and cars.

In the U.S., a huge number of households pay hundreds per month in premiums, then still pay deductibles and copays, and still worry about surprise bills. In Spain, residents generally don’t pay a monthly premium to access the public system, and that alone changes the emotional climate of money. You can still spend on private insurance here, but it’s optional for many people, not structurally required for basic access.

Then cars. In the U.S., even a normal life can require one or two vehicles. That means a payment or depreciation, insurance, fuel, maintenance, registration, parking, and repairs. It’s not one bill. It’s a system. In Spanish cities and many towns, you can build a life where a car is optional, not mandatory. The costs don’t vanish, but the default is lighter.

Once those two monsters shrink, everything else becomes negotiable. Your phone plan stops feeling like a blood oath. Utilities stop feeling like a monthly roulette wheel. Your budget becomes less about surviving spikes and more about managing choices.

That’s why this comparison can feel “obscene.” It’s not a moral judgement. It’s basic math.

To keep it clean, I’m comparing monthly bills for a family household and separating rent from the “bill stack.” Rent varies too much by neighborhood, and it deserves its own post. Here, we’re looking at the recurring costs that hit every month regardless of where you live.

Also, for the currency conversion in this article, I’m using the ECB euro reference rate from 18 December 2025: €1 = $1.1719.

The Spanish bill stack for a normal family life

Let’s start with Spain, because it surprises Americans in two ways.

First, the bills are often smaller than expected. Second, they’re annoyingly fragmented. You might pay water to one provider, electricity to another, internet bundled with mobile, and municipal fees on a different schedule. It’s not elegant, but it’s manageable.

Here’s a realistic monthly “bill stack” for a family household in Spain, excluding rent and groceries, with ranges because Spain is not one city.

Utilities and household basics

• Electricity: €85–€110 in a typical month for a modest family apartment, depending on season and tariff.
• Gas (if you have it): €20–€60 monthly on average, with winter spikes if you heat with gas.
• Water: €15–€38 monthly in many municipalities, higher if you have a garden or a larger household.
• Home basics (community fees, trash fees, small municipal charges): often €10–€30 when you annualize them.

Connectivity

• Fiber internet: €25–€50 monthly depending on speed and provider.
• Two mobile lines: often bundled, and a common real-world bundle lands around €40–€55 total for home internet plus two lines, depending on the deal.

Health-related bills

• Public healthcare access does not come with a monthly premium for residents, but you still pay for some things.
• Pharmacy and health extras: €20–€70 monthly is a normal range for many families, depending on prescriptions and how often someone needs something.
• Optional private health insurance: €50–€100 per person per month is a common range, and families who add it usually do it for speed and convenience, not because the public system is unusable. Some pay less, some pay more, but it’s a choice, not an automatic default.

Transport

• If you live in a Spanish city and build life around walking and transit, your “transport bills” might look like €30–€80 per month per adult depending on the city and how often you use taxis. Some months are almost nothing, some months are higher, but it usually isn’t a car payment disguised as adulthood.

When you total this up for a typical city household that is not running two cars, you often land in the ballpark of:

• €250–€420 per month without private health insurance
• €400–€650 per month if a family adds private insurance for everyone

The point is not that Spain is free. Housing can be brutal, and wages can be low. The point is that the recurring monthly bills, the ones that hit you whether you’re thriving or not, are often boring and containable.

The American bill stack for a comparable “normal” life

Now the U.S. side, where Americans often underestimate how many separate bills are baked into the baseline.

To keep this honest, I’m not comparing Spain-city life to an American household in a dense, car-free neighborhood with perfect public transit. Those exist, but they’re not the default. I’m comparing to a very common American setup: a family household with at least one car, typical utilities, typical internet and mobile service, and employer-sponsored health insurance.

Here’s what that “normal” stack commonly looks like.

Healthcare

• Employer-sponsored family health coverage: average annual premium around $26,993 in 2025, with workers contributing on average $6,850 toward that premium.
• That worker contribution alone is about $571 per month, before deductibles, copays, dental, vision, and the random stuff that slips through.

Cars

• AAA’s estimate for the average annual cost to own and operate a new vehicle in 2025 is $11,577, which is about $965 per month when annualized.
• Many families don’t buy new cars, but even a used car still drags monthly costs: insurance, fuel, maintenance, repairs, registration, parking, and the inevitable “something broke.”

If your household needs two cars to function, you already know where this goes.

Utilities and basics

• Electricity: U.S. residential electricity prices vary wildly by state, but the national average price reported by EIA for late 2025 is around 18 cents per kWh, which frequently translates into $120–$180 per month depending on your home and climate.
• Natural gas: many households run $40–$120 per month outside heavy winter, higher in cold regions.
• Water: commonly $40–$90 per month, higher in some cities and during hot seasons.
• Trash and other municipal fees: $20–$50 is common.

Connectivity

• Internet: average prices are often cited in the $70–$80 per month range.
• Mobile: averages vary by plan type and household size, but an often-quoted U.S. average phone bill is around $141 per month.

Add it up for a very normal American household and your “bill stack” can land around:

• $1,200–$1,800 per month even before childcare, student loans, and the dozen little fees that show up as “misc.”

And if you include one car in a realistic way and include health insurance contributions, the number can climb fast. This is why Americans feel financially squeezed even on decent salaries. The baseline is heavy, and the baseline is not optional.

The side-by-side that actually matters

Here’s the comparison in the simplest form. These are not perfect, because no two households match exactly, but the structure is clear.

Spain, typical city household, excluding rent and groceries

• Utilities and home basics: €120–€180
• Internet and mobile: €40–€55
• Health extras and pharmacy: €20–€70
• Optional private insurance (if chosen): €150–€300+ for a family
• Transport (city life): €60–€160 for two adults, depending on passes and taxis
  Total: €250–€420 without private, €400–€650 with private

U.S., typical household, excluding rent and groceries

• Electricity, gas, water, trash: often $220–$420
• Internet and mobile: often $210–$230 combined
• Health insurance worker contribution (family coverage): about $571/month average
• Car costs (annualized): often $600–$1,000+ per car depending on vehicle, financing, mileage, insurance, and state
  Total: easily $1,200–$2,200+, depending on cars and healthcare structure

Using the December 2025 exchange rate, €420 is about $492. Even the higher Spanish bill stack with private insurance often sits below what many Americans pay just for premiums plus a car.

That’s the obscene part. Not the coffee. Not the bread. The fixed costs.

Also notice the psychological difference. In Spain, you can often adjust. Change providers, change tariff, walk more, skip private insurance for a while, keep life steady. In the U.S., the biggest categories can be locked in. Health coverage is tied to employment. Car dependency is tied to geography. You can be careful and still get hit.

This is why Americans describe money as anxiety. It’s not because they’re bad at budgeting. It’s because their budget is booby-trapped.

The Spanish calendar that keeps bills boring

This is the part relocation forums rarely explain.

Spain doesn’t only change prices. It changes routines, and routines change bills.

A Spanish city household often has a rhythm that prevents the most expensive habits from forming.

You walk more. Not because you’re virtuous. Because life is built around walking. Errands are near you, and public transit exists as default. That quietly removes the “car as life support” category.

You eat differently. Not just what you eat, but how you run the week. A lot of households cook in repeatable patterns and buy smaller amounts more frequently. That reduces waste, and it reduces panic delivery orders when the fridge looks chaotic.

You also build a different relationship with convenience. In the U.S., convenience is often purchased. In Spain, convenience is often designed into the neighborhood. That’s why the monthly bills shrink. You’re not paying privately for systems that the environment provides.

The other big shift is paperwork timing. In Spain, some costs land quarterly or annually, not monthly. You pay a municipal fee, a renewal fee, a school fee, and you feel it more sharply for a week, but the monthly baseline stays calmer.

If you want one phrase that explains how Spain feels financially different, it’s this: fewer catastrophic line items.

This doesn’t mean Spanish families are rich. Many are not. Wages can be low, and housing can be tight in major cities. But the bill stack behaves differently. When your monthly fixed costs are lower, you can survive income fluctuation with less panic. That’s why some families with modest incomes still look relaxed. Their bills are not hunting them every month.

The mistakes Americans make that rebuild the U.S. bill stack inside Spain

Now the part people don’t like to hear.

You can move to Spain and still have American bills.

You do it by importing the American lifestyle categories without noticing.

Mistake 1: Keeping two cars in a Spanish city
If you live in a walkable area with transit and still keep a car “just in case,” you can recreate the U.S. car-money leak quickly. Parking, insurance, maintenance, and tickets are a steady drip.

Mistake 2: Choosing the most expensive version of every service because it’s in English
It’s normal to pay a little more when you land. The mistake is living permanently in the “expat tier,” where every provider, every rental, and every service is priced for foreigners.

Mistake 3: Treating private healthcare as mandatory without understanding why you want it
Private insurance can be great in Spain. The mistake is buying the most expensive plan out of fear, then not using it, while also not learning how the public system works for your situation. Paying for fear is expensive.

Mistake 4: Rebuilding the American convenience stack
Constant delivery, constant rideshares, constant “we’ll just grab something.” Spain is a place where small daily costs can creep up if you live like you’re still in a car-dependent U.S. suburb.

Mistake 5: Ignoring seasonal spikes
Electricity and heating can spike in winter depending on your building. The fix is not panic. The fix is planning and, frankly, choosing housing with decent insulation and windows. Windows are money is not a joke in Southern Europe.

Mistake 6: Underestimating upfront landing costs
Deposits, agency fees, appliances, furniture, document fees. Spain can be financially calmer monthly, but the first months can be chunky.

If you avoid these mistakes, the Spanish bill stack stays sane. If you pile them on, you’ll look up in six months and wonder why Spain feels “not that cheap.” You rebuilt the wrong system.

In the next 7 days, run your own side-by-side and stop guessing

If you’re still treating this like vibes, do this once and you’ll never unsee it.

Day 1: Pull three months of your real bills
Not estimates. Real payments. Utilities, internet, mobile, insurance, car costs, subscriptions. Put them in a list.

Day 2: Separate bills from lifestyle
Bills are the stuff that hits you even when you don’t go out. Restaurants are not a bill. A car payment is. Insurance is. Utilities are. Fixed costs are the truth.

Day 3: Build two totals
Total A: your current monthly bill stack.
Total B: the “Spain-mode” bill stack you want, assuming fewer cars, different healthcare structure, and European-style utilities.

Day 4: Price your U.S. healthcare reality honestly
If you’re employed, look at what you actually contribute per paycheck plus what you paid out of pocket last year. The premium is only half the story.

Day 5: Price your car reality honestly
Include insurance, fuel, maintenance, and the “random repairs” category, not just the payment. Most Americans undercount cars because they don’t annualize.

Day 6: Run the conversion, then run it again without rent
Rent can distort everything. Compare bill stacks excluding rent so you can see the structure.

Day 7: Make one decision
If your biggest financial stress is healthcare and car costs, then your plan should attack those first, not obsess over grocery price myths. Attack the big two.

This is the real value of the comparison. It makes your choices sharper. It stops you from romanticizing, and it stops you from dismissing Europe as “not worth it.” You can see exactly what you’re buying with your life.