I live in a Madrid Suburb(Majadahonda) and they are building Apartments(Pisos) and Chalets like CRAZY here. In the neighborhood that borders mine, I would venture a guess that over 1,500 units are in various phases of construction right now. I don't know what they are going for but I am happy with the rent I pay for my Chalet(Although, I get an allowance for housing from my work). I am a Southern Redneck Americano who few have to guess where I am from and I have met some of the most polite and friendly people here in Madrid. You will ALWAYS run across some ignorant clerk or shop owner who will discriminate(not wait on you or ignore you) against you because you are a foreigner but that happens anywhere you go in this world. I show the spaniards some good ole Southern hospitality(Holding doors for ladies, saying Gracias to clerks, and letting cars in front of me)and it always surprises me how friendly people can be.

For anyone who doesn't live in the USA. Let me enlighten you.The rent prices are going through the roof and we are suffering inflation,also what an average american makes after taxes is about $350-700 dollars, mind you that we have to split that up between rent,food,electric,phone,gas,water and so on!

You mean dayly?

I mean, the last time I was to tha USA, 700 bucks a week after taxes would have been considered average. 350 would have been called mysery.

It depends on what part of the US you are talking about. Here in the Southwest $350 per week is not great money but one could live on it. Not a lot of luxaries but live. The cost of housing is the clue as to what the general rate of pay will be. Here in the Phoenix, Arizona area where I live our house appraise last year for $255,000, the same house in Southern California would be about $650,000 in the San Francisco Bay area it would go for over a Million dollars. In El Paso, Texas it would be about $175,000. I agree with you Ignacio I could not live my standard of living on $350 per week. Since the war in Iraq has started everything has shot up in price. Wood boards that use to cost .97 cents each are now over $3.00 each and that has added to the cost of houseing. Gasoline when the war started was $1.35 per gallon is now over $2.00 per gallon. (gallon is approx. 4 liters)

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also what an average american makes after taxes is about $350-700 dollars
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You mean dayly?

I mean, the last time I was to tha USA, 700 bucks a week after taxes would have been considered average. 350 would have been called mysery............................................................................................You'r funny Ignacio, for example. I live in Boston and a typical house around here cost in the range of $400.000 and up. The reason mainly is because I live near everything (hospital, universities,shopping malls ect,but that's not the point I'm trying to make.What I'm trying to say is that $350-700 people make each weak or every two weaks has to be divided into many amenities and it's very difficult to rent an apartment nowadays much less buy a house without support.People in the U.S.A are not as wealthy as other countries might think.We are struggling here too especially with inflation and the war among other things.

Yes, but the point is... ¿are 350$ a week salaries frequent?

Or they are very low and exceptional outside the cheapest states?

The only way we can answer your question Ignacio, is to know what city you are asking about. The best thing you could do is to bring up a newspaper for the city you are interested in and look at the classified ads. That will tell you what the salaries are for that area. A job that pays $70,000 per year here in Phoenix, Arizona might only pay $45,000 per year in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The same job might pay $125,000 in San Francisco, California. Some of the things that effect it might be the states tax base and labor unions. California has outragious taxes and the unions are very strong. Those are two reasons that business are leaving California in droves. It was announced Monday afternoon that an insurance company that has been based in California since 1868 is moving to Omaha, Nebraska which has a much more favorable business enviroment. That will be a loss of 1300 jobs for Orange County, California. Here in Phoenix, Arizona a person could live on the $350 per week, he would not live on "Easy Street" but he could live. Just up the road 285 miles(500KM) in Las Vegas, Nevada most of the hotel "Valets" are earning about $70,000 per year handling luggage for the hotel guests. There are to many variables that enter into it, to say what one job pays in all areas.

Maybe that's why. I have been to New York, Chicago and Miami, which are by no means the cheaper towns, although California seems to be worse.

But, considering the prices of things that do not depend (much) on the place you live in, like cars, or phone bills, it seemed difficult to live on with that amount.

Besides, in the places I was to, like in Chicago, an illegal worker made more money (at least, that's what a mexican guy told me there).

Just so you know what you're up against, there's an article in today's English version of El País (.pdf format) newspaper which states, in part:
So if you think it's difficult for THEM it's certainly MUCH more difficult for someone from abroad who 1) doesn't speak Spanish at all or very well, 2) MIGHT only get one of these temporary contract jobs which pay almost nothing, 3) has no familial support in Spain whatsoever.

So now, the title of this topic, "Work in Spain? Show me the money!", has to make me laugh a little. First, there's little (if any) meaningful work in Spain. And second, there's VERY little money to be made IF you get a job there.

The opposite, however, must be intriguing for a Spaniard. I can only imagine what it must be like for a fortunate Spaniard who "mad skillz" in someone technical, (s)he comes to the USA as invited by some big company, and suddenly he goes from living at home with his parents in Barcelona (for example) to making $60,000+/year in, say, Chicago! Wow. Must be incredible. But alas, it's more difficult than ever for foreigners to come to the USA to work (legally).

Saludos, MadridMan

Spanish salaries have always been been low, but with the arrival of the euro, they've become downright pathetic. Recent statistics situated the average salary at about 16,000 euros a year, nearly in the cellar compared to its European Union associates. It seemed that everyone had the right to round things up except for the guy making money. All of you who live in Spain can vouch for me when I refer not only to housing prices but also vegetable prices, bar prices and hotel prices. We who live here love going out and it's no longer what it used to be.

After years of teaching at a colegio concertado I still make half of what a starting salary is at most public schools back home in Connecticut. Then again, prices are ridiculous there too. Going to the supermarket in CT, for example, is a painful experience. The money just melts away. People I know from Ireland laugh at what we think something in Spain is pricey. They say, you don't know what expensive is. But it's still disproportionate. I think that most Spanish salaries need a 5,000 euro boost to level things off a little more.

Ironically, other products have gone down a lot. Computers and electronic equipment is a fraction of what it used to cost, mainly thanks to the stronger euro. And a recent study has shown that clothes have gone down, though they're still higher than American prices.

On the other hand, if I had come to Spain to make money, I never would have come in the first place. I came, among other reasons, to enjoy this great country's quality of life. Its wonderful attitude towards life. If I had wanted to make money, I would have stayed in the New York Metropolitan area and gotten up at the crack of dawn every day to head into the city the way my brother does. I would have done what a Spanish computer programmer did years ago. He went to California to develop a new program with videos. He worked his b**** off for three years until Microsoft bought him out for a nice price of 10,000,000,000 pesetas (de aquellas, ni más ni menos). The man said he had gone to The US because he never would have made a cent off of it. But I looked for something else.

If you're looking to strike it rich don't come to Spain. You may get lucky, but chances are you'll have to fight for every peseta (or euro). It does suck at times, I have to admit, and I really do believe workers are underpaid. But for the moment, es lo que hay, as the Spaniards say.

Hopefully things will get better, but you need to be patient and conscious of what life is like. Of course I say this as we head right into the Christmas season and pray to make it to the end of the month!