The average annual transport expenditure of Spanish households in 2025 stood at €4,020. Compared with 2015 (€3,158), this represents an increase of just over 27 per cent in ten years. This is according to the report El precio de moverse. El transporte como factor de desigualdad en España by EAE Business School published on 15 October 2026. Despite the increase, transport’s share of household budgets remains stable at around 11.5 per cent according to the study.
However, the authors find that the burden is highly uneven: cars and longer journeys predominate in rural areas with low population density, while public transport is used more extensively in large cities. As a result, direct costs for fuel, maintenance and parking are higher outside urban centres. The study suggests that this often cancels out any potential savings on housing in the surrounding areas and increases the risk of transport poverty – the situation in which high travel costs limit access to work, education and healthcare.
The report stresses that transport spending is a key driver of social and territorial inequality in Spain . Low-income households and those in peripheral areas are particularly vulnerable because they are less likely to have access to reliable public transport, while spikes in energy and service prices affect them disproportionately. The findings are consistent with earlier analyses by Ministerio de Transportes , which systematically set out the regional distribution of transport poverty and its causes in 2025.
The EAE Business School puts forward the following policy options: expand the frequency, coverage and connections of public transport outside metropolitan areas; offer targeted reduced fares for low-income households; and pursue spatial planning that brings homes, workplaces and services closer together. The authors also recommend integrating fares across modes of transport, investing in digital and physical last-mile connections, and introducing measures to make the costs of fuel, insurance and maintenance transparent. The study notes that such interventions directly affect how the costs and benefits of mobility are distributed and must be coordinated at municipal, regional and national level.
EAE Business School, which is part of the Planeta Formación y Universidades network, bases its report on household surveys, price series and territorial indicators. The figures for 2025 relate to a completed period; forecasts are treated separately from the findings reported. The key point, the authors say, is that measures to reduce transport costs should focus above all on areas where dependence on cars is greatest.
Editor: Daniel Mayer (Article created with AI assistance).