A lot of the information about teaching English in Barcelona is provided by TEFL teacher training academies, which have a financial interest in getting you here. While they happily write about the lifestyle and travel opportunities Barcelona offers, not a whole lot is written about the challenges English teachers in Barcelona face, which range from working conditions to stable housing. My goal with this website is to hear from real ESL teachers willing to share their personal experiences purely from a place of goodwill.
My honest account of teaching English in Barcelona in 2025: Not exactly what was sold to me, but I love it nevertheless
The upsides
Barcelona is an INCREDIBLE city to live in. It’s lively, it’s fun, and it’s full of good food and good people. There are people from all over the world here and the liberal nature of the city means you are free to be whoever you are, no matter your nationality, religion, sexual orientation or culture. Just don’t act like a tourist!
Geographically speaking, Barcelona is also ideally situated for travel lovers. I am writing this from Frankfurt, Germany, which is a flight of less than two hours away (having the opportunity to work in places like Frankfurt is another upside!). Barcelona is close to the French border, around two hours from Andorra by car, and easy to fly in and out of.
The weather is amazing and the Catalunyan culture is amazing. Catalans love to have a good time and enjoy life, and this is reflected in the many vibrant festivities that take place throughout the year.
Sant Jordi (the festival of books and roses) is just one of the many annual festivities celebrated in Catalunya
I also genuinely love teaching. All of my students have their individual quirks and interests, and I probably spend too much time tailoring my lessons to each of them. Their enjoyment and progress in the lessons makes it so worth it! It is also quite easy to find work as an English Teacher, so long as you’re active about applying.
The downsides
One major thing that was ‘sold’ to me when I was enquiring about the course was the money. I distinctly remember asking ‘How much do you earn?’ and the advisor responding ‘You can live very comfortably as an English Teacher in Barcelona, especially if you have one or two private students’.
Sure, that’s true, but only if you HUSTLE. My financially invested ‘advisor’ failed to mention that many English teachers in Barcelona are struggling financially. Most academies only pay 15/hour, so realistically, you need at least 3-4 private students to ‘live comfortably’, or maybe a side hustle. In other cities and towns around Spain, this amount would be doable, but not in Barcelona. An embattled Barcelona rental market means rents can be exorbitant (another thing my advisor failed to mention). An English Teacher working for the standard 15/hour wage with a working week of 25 hours makes around 1500 euros per month. Meanwhile, you can earn up to $5,500 USD per month teaching English in China, where the cost of living is much lower. It doesn’t even compare.
Another downside for me is the oversaturation and high turnover of the market, which brings with it a few different issues. These include the way that a lot of academies treat their teachers, low salaries, and the general instability of TEFL.
Overall, teaching English in Barcelona has far exceeded my expectations in some areas (cultural experiences, the teaching experience itself), and failed them in other areas (general working conditions in the sector).
Some other honest accounts of teaching English in Barcelona
Mafe’s experience (2025): ‘Barcelona’ is the best part of the Barcelona TEFL experience
An ESL teacher I have crossed paths with a few times, Mafe, shared her Barcelona TEFL experience with me this year. Her main takeaways were:
- The academy you work for will make or break your experience in Barcelona
- Be mindful of what you need, and don’t just say ‘yes’ to the first opportunity which comes your way
- Experiencing life in this beautiful city and meeting a lot of incredible people is the best thing about teaching English in Barcelona
Laura’s experience (2025): Madrid may be easier
“I worked in both Madrid and Cádiz before moving to Barcelona 10 years ago. I recently heard a statistic that I’m not sure has been confirmed, but it does feel true, that Barcelona is the most popular place in the world to teach English. In my experience, I would definitely say it’s the most competitive. There are fewer job opportunities and hours available for more teachers.
In Madrid, I’ve found it’s generally easier to find work as it’s less competitive. It’s also easier to secure decently-paid, non-freelance positions, including a lot of auxiliar de conversación roles that are decently paid, whereas Barcelona doesn’t have as many of those. In Barcelona, it’s more common to have to build up your own schedule. Madrid also seems to have more opportunities for university positions and teaching in primary schools.”
Reanna’s account (2021): Opening doors for travel and experiencing the beautiful city of Barcelona
Reanna is a travel blogger whose TEFL journey began when she realised she wanted to stay in Barcelona after a six-week backpacking adventure. TEFL was a way for her to earn an income as an English speaker.
She wrote this blog about becoming a private English tutor in Barcelona in 2021. It seems she had a fairly easy time getting private students (to the point where she was interviewing families, not the other way around), and charging up to €40/ hour. While she acknowledges it’s “on the higher side of tutor fees”, I personally haven’t heard of anyone charging this much before unless they were a Cambridge examiner (who charged €50). However, I am still a relatively new English Teacher at the time of writing (with only two years of TEFL under my belt) and can see that there are some English tutors charging over €30/hour.
Reanna touches on a lot of different topics in this post, and it may be useful for those who are doubting whether or not they should take the plunge. Ultimately, Reanna’s decision to start TEFL was down to wanting to experience the beautiful city of Barcelona as a resident, and it reminds me a lot of why I decided to switch careers to become an ESL teacher, too.
Daniel of The Chorizo Chronicles (2022): Teaching English in Barcelona is not financially viable
This blog post called ‘Is teaching English in Spain for losers? A former teacher speaks!’ is as negative about the job as you’d expect it to be, based on the title. And although he is talking about teaching in Spain more broadly, I think it applies to Barcelona, too.
There are a lot of uncomfortable truths he and the commenters discuss, including:
- You will not get rich simply by being an ESL teacher in Spain
- There are lots of academies who exploit their teachers
- The market is oversaturated with people who don’t take the profession as seriously as they should
These reasons have partially inspired me to start this website. I love teaching English and most certainly do not think it is for losers. I want the industry to get better, and for that to happen we need to have honest conversations about the parts of teaching English in Spain that well and truly suck. And, as painful as it is to read, Daniel was just being honest about his experience as an English Teacher in Spain.
The takeaway of teaching English in Barcelona, based on these five accounts
Based on these five accounts of teaching English in Barcelona, the experience of the city itself is still the best thing about it. It opens a lot of doors in terms of travel opportunities, new connections, and rich cultural experiences. However, there is still a long way to go before the average English teacher can feel financially secure, fully supported and fully valued in Barcelona.