I am seriously considering moving to madrid and wonder what the avg. cost of living is in madrid. How much would an apartment cost per month? How much does food cost? How much taxes are taken out on average as a percentage of income? I realize that I probably will not make the same income in Madrid as I do in the US(computer consulting) but I am hoping that the salaries/cost of living in Madrid is somewhat commensurate with the same in the US. I figure it probably will be less but I would like to make at least a decent living there. Comments?

If you work as an IT consultant chances are that you are going to be able to get a good salary. IT sector is living a good moment with labor shortage in several disciplines, b2b, CRM,...
Cost of living really depends in your life standards. If you will be sharing an apartment or not,....

My friend lives in Madrid. She has a tiny one-bedroom apt. in Moncloa (near the university) and pays 75,000 ptas/month, nothing included. I think she was making approx. 250,000-300,000 per month, but I'm not sure. It's cheap for a capital city, but expensive by Spanish standards (my 3-bedroom furnished apt. in Burgos was 75,000 incl. heat and hot water.)