Rent for a room in the centre of Barcelona or Madrid goes from €500, nice flat €900 big one €1200+.
If you work in tech, there's a high probability that you work for a company with their HQ there. If you combine that with the fact remote work culture is still settling in, there's also a high chance that you also live there.
> You can buy a nice flat in some areas for less than 20k
A nice flat in the outskirts of Barcelona or Madrid should be about 200-250k. As you get closer to the centre, prices approach 400k, even 500k+ in some areas.
Other than that, Northern Spain has some infamously expensive areas that are comparable to Barcelona and Madrid. Same thing happens in the Costa Brava, some areas in the outskirts of Madrid, and some areas in Southern Spain.
Also, only 11% of the workforce work under what locals call an "indefinite contract". Banks only trust that 11%.
Spain is ideal for a digital nomad that is willing to live in some run down area or what people call "Empty Spain". And even in those places, finding a nice flat for €20k sounds like a pipe dream.
Honestly, if I were a digital nomad from some European country and I wanted to move to Spain, I would just move to Andorra. Spain is a short drive away and taxes are way lower.