Albacete · Castilla-La Mancha

Albacete

A largely modern city named 'the plain' by the Moors, notable for an Ionic-columned cathedral and an ornate 1925 glass-and-iron shopping arcade.

175,068 residents~92 min to Molina de Segura
Albacete, Albacete
Photo: Fernando · CC BY-SA 4.0

Why people fall for Albacete

Portrait drawn from The Rough Guide.

Capital of Albacete province, Castilla-La Mancha.

Worth the trip

  • The Catedral, with Ionic columns instead of ordinary pillars astride its nave
  • Pasaje Lodares, a 1925 iron-and-glass gallery with neo-Baroque and modernist decoration, lined with shops

A little history

Named Al-Basit ('the plain') by the Moors.

Who Albacete is for — and who it isn't

Not our opinion: we ran the same scoring engine behind the quiz for six settler profiles across all 8,132 municipalities and read off where Albacete lands.

Albacete is mid-pack for all six profiles we score (between the 41st and 81st percentile) — a solid all-rounder, a standout for nobody. Your own priorities may read it differently: that's what the quiz is for.

The numbers

The decision data — each figure placed among all Spanish municipalities that report it ("top 10%" always means good, also where lower is better). Regional overlays and estimates are labelled, and where there's no local reading we say so plainly.

Climate

Winter average temp
7.1°C top 50% of 8,131 towns 0.7°C below the Spanish average (7.8°C)
Summer high (Jul–Aug)
33.4°C bottom 18% of 8,131 towns 3.2°C above the Spanish average (30.2°C)
Rainy days a year
50 days top 17% of 8,088 towns 27% less than the Spanish average (69 days)
Sunshine
8 h/day top 18% of 3,829 towns 10% more than the Spanish average (7.2 h/day)
Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
211 bottom 2% of 8,033 towns 154 above the Spanish average (56)

Cost & economy

Home price
€1,762/m² top 41% of 306 towns 20% less than the Spanish average (€2,208/m²)
Net income per person
€14,611 top 45% of 8,059 towns about the Spanish average (€14,495)
Income growth ’18–’23
24.7% bottom 42% of 6,605 towns

Schools

Schools in town
no local data
Nearest international school
5 km top 3% of 8,132 towns
PISA maths (region) regional estimate
464 #14 of 17 regions, −15 vs national 17 below the Spanish average (481)

Healthcare

Drive to a hospital
0 min top 1% of 8,132 towns
Nearest health centre
72.8 km bottom 3% of 7,025 towns
Surgical wait (region) regional estimate
92 days #8 of 17 regions, −11 days vs national 15% less than the Spanish average (108 days)

Getting around

Drive to nearest airport
116 min bottom 16% of 8,132 towns
Fibre-to-home coverage
98% top 13% of 8,132 towns 19% above the Spanish average (79%)
100 Mbps+ coverage
100% top 8% of 8,132 towns 17% above the Spanish average (83%)

Who lives here

Population
175,068
Born in Spain
89% 0.2% above the Spanish average (88.8%)
Born elsewhere in EU/UK
1.5% 2.4% below the Spanish average (3.8%)
U.S.-born residents
0.51 per 1,000
Nearest airport Valencia Airport (VLC) — 116 min drive · international hub: direct flights to 32 countries (incl. UK, Germany, Sweden)
Winter 7.1°C average — 0.7°C below the Spanish average (7.8°C)
Summer 33.4°C high — 3.2°C above the Spanish average (30.2°C)
Homes €1,762/m² — 20% less than the Spanish average (€2,208/m²)

Numbers: SpainScore town dataset, derived from INE, AEMET, Mitma and the Catastro. Percentile chips count only the municipalities that report the figure — the "of n" says how many. Region-ranked figures (PISA, surgical waits) compare Spain's 17 comunidades autónomas. A blank means no municipal-level figure is published — not a zero.

The year, month by month

AEMET 30-year climate normals — what a January or an August actually feels like, not the annual average.

-5° 15° 25° 35° 50 0 mm 11° 13° 16° 19° 24° 10° 30° 14° 34° 17° 33° 17° 27° 14° 21° 15° 11° day high night low JFMAMJJASOND
day high → night low (°C) rain (mm/month, right axis) Measured at the ALBACETE BASE AÉREA station.

How does Albacete fit you?

These are the town's numbers. Whether it's your town depends on what you're optimising for — winter sun or mild summers, a city or a village, short medical waits, an easy flight home. The 3-minute quiz scores Albacete against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 92 min from Molina de Segura, if that's your anchor.

Take the quiz — rank Albacete for you →

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