Cádiz · Andalucía
Tarifa
Europe's southernmost town, once known for its high suicide rate blamed on unremitting winds — now a prosperous windsurfing and kitesurfing capital.
Why people fall for Tarifa
Portrait drawn from Lonely Planet, the Michelin Green Guide & The Rough Guide.
Spreading out beyond its Moorish walls at the extreme south of Spain, facing the Strait of Gibraltar.
Worth the trip
- The fifteenth-century, Baroque-fronted church of San Mateo, with a beautiful late Gothic interior
- Crumbling Moorish ramparts to wander
A little history
Until the mid-1980s Tarifa was a quiet village known, if at all, for its abnormally high suicide rate, blamed on the unremitting winds.
Who it suits: Windsurfers and kitesurfers
Who Tarifa 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 Tarifa lands.
Good for
- Remote-working couples 96th percentile of 8,132 towns 18,627 people · 23 km from the sea
- Heat-averse settlers 94th percentile of 8,132 towns 23 km from the sea · mild 25.1°C summer highs
- Budget-first coastal settlers 93rd percentile of 8,132 towns 18,627 people · 23 km from the sea
- Families with school-age kids 91st percentile of 8,132 towns 23 km from the sea · 18,627 people
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
- 13.9°C top 3% of 8,131 towns 6.1°C above the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 25.1°C top 8% of 8,131 towns 5.1°C below the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 57 days top 35% of 8,088 towns 16% less than the Spanish average (69 days)
- Sunshine
- no local data
- Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
- 9 top 12% of 8,033 towns 47 below the Spanish average (56)
Cost & economy
- Home price
- no local data
- Net income per person
- €13,049 bottom 31% of 8,059 towns 10% less than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 36.3% top 8% of 6,605 towns
Schools
- Schools in town
- 9 top 7% of 7,042 towns
- Nearest international school
- 22 km top 22% of 8,132 towns
- PISA maths (region) regional estimate
- 457 #16 of 17 regions, −22 vs national 24 below the Spanish average (481)
Healthcare
- Drive to a hospital
- 36 min bottom 47% of 8,132 towns
- Nearest health centre
- 14.3 km bottom 24% of 7,025 towns
- Surgical wait (region) regional estimate
- 173 days #17 of 17 regions, +70 days vs national 60% more than the Spanish average (108 days)
Getting around
- Drive to nearest airport
- 85 min bottom 39% of 8,132 towns
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 95% top 28% of 8,132 towns 16% above the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 99% top 14% of 8,132 towns 16% above the Spanish average (83%)
Who lives here
- Population
- 18,627
- Born in Spain
- 87.3% 1.5% below the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 7.3% 3.5% above the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 1.93 per 1,000
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.
How does Tarifa 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 Tarifa against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 43 min from Algeciras, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Tarifa for you →Nearby towns
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