Madrid · Madrid
Escorial, El
Home to the largest Spanish building of the Renaissance — rectangular, overbearing and austere, resembling a prison more than a palace from the outside.
Living in Escorial, El
El Escorial grew up around the largest building of the Spanish Renaissance — the austere granite monastery-palace-mausoleum that Felipe II raised in the Guadarrama foothills to 'rule the world with two inches of paper.' Today it's a green commuter town of 17,000 at around 860m on the cooler, wetter flank of the mountains northwest of Madrid, a relief from the capital's summer heat. Its population is mostly Spanish-born, with Romanian, Moroccan and Ukrainian communities. A hospital is about ten minutes away, Collado Villalba twenty, and Madrid's airport under an hour — an easy mountain-edge base within the capital's orbit.
Escorial, El's Spainability Scores — by who's moving
Not our opinion: we ran the same scoring engine behind the quiz for six settler profiles across all 8,132 municipalities. Each score is Escorial, El's percentile for that group — 87 means it beats 87% of the towns we could score. How scoring works.
Higher than 60% of the 8,088 Spanish municipalities we could score for American retirees.
Home to the largest Spanish building of the Renaissance — rectangular, overbearing and austere, resembling a prison more than a palace from the outside. A strong pick for American retirees — 12 min to a hospital and a health centre close by.
- Winter average temp 1°C
- Drive to a hospital 12 min
- U.S.-born residents 2.54 per 1,000
- Registered long-let rent €8.63/m²·mo
Higher than 35% of the 2,555 Spanish municipalities we could score for heat-averse settlers.
Home to the largest Spanish building of the Renaissance — rectangular, overbearing and austere, resembling a prison more than a palace from the outside. A strong pick if you can't stand hot summers — a settled international community and mild 22.9°C summer highs.
- Summer high (Jul–Aug) 22.9°C
- Rainy days a year 113 days
- Summer water stress (WEI+) 44
- Winter average temp 1°C
Higher than 32% of the 8,088 Spanish municipalities we could score for retiring couples.
Home to the largest Spanish building of the Renaissance — rectangular, overbearing and austere, resembling a prison more than a palace from the outside. A strong pick for a retiring couple — 12 min to a hospital and a health centre close by.
- Winter average temp 1°C
- Drive to a hospital 12 min
- Surgical wait (region) 50 days
- Registered long-let rent €8.63/m²·mo
Higher than 27% of the 2,555 Spanish municipalities we could score for remote workers.
Home to the largest Spanish building of the Renaissance — rectangular, overbearing and austere, resembling a prison more than a palace from the outside. A strong pick for a remote-working couple — a settled international community and 17,322 people.
- 100 Mbps+ coverage 92%
- Drive to nearest airport 54 min
- Registered long-let rent €8.63/m²·mo
- Summer high (Jul–Aug) 22.9°C
Higher than 23% of the 2,555 Spanish municipalities we could score for families.
Home to the largest Spanish building of the Renaissance — rectangular, overbearing and austere, resembling a prison more than a palace from the outside. A strong pick for a family with school-age kids — a settled international community and 12 min to a hospital.
- Schools in town 7
- PISA maths (region) 494
- Registered long-let rent €8.63/m²·mo
- Drive to a hospital 12 min
Higher than 16% of the 2,555 Spanish municipalities we could score for budget-first coastal settlers.
Home to the largest Spanish building of the Renaissance — rectangular, overbearing and austere, resembling a prison more than a palace from the outside. A strong pick for coastal living on a budget — a settled international community and 17,322 people.
- Registered long-let rent €8.63/m²·mo
- Net income per person €17,477
- Summer high (Jul–Aug) 22.9°C
What is the climate like in Escorial, El?
Escorial, El's reported winter average is 1°C, while July–August highs reach 22.9°C.
Climate
- Winter average temp
- 1°C bottom 1% of 8,131 towns 6.8°C below the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 22.9°C top 3% of 8,131 towns 7.3°C below the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 113 days bottom 7% of 8,088 towns 64% more than the Spanish average (69 days)
- Sunshine estimated
- 6.4 h/day bottom 18% of 3,829 towns 12% less than the Spanish average (7.2 h/day)
- Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
- 44 bottom 49% of 8,033 towns 12 below the Spanish average (56)
- River-flood depth (T=100, town centre) estimated
- 0 m top 1% of 8,129 towns 0.04 m below the Spanish average (0.04 m)
- River-flood risk score estimated
- 0 top 1% of 8,129 towns about the Spanish average (0)
- Wildfire burn rate (2010–23)
- 0.16 ha/km² bottom 40% of 8,132 towns 2.15 ha/km² below the Spanish average (2.31 ha/km²)
- Forest fires (2010–23)
- 3 bottom 32% of 8,132 towns 3 below the Spanish average (6)
- High fire-weather days (province) regional estimate
- 20.4% top 21% of 8,130 towns 2.4% below the Spanish average (22.9%)
The year, month by month
AEMET 30-year climate normals — what a January or an August actually feels like, not the annual average.
How good is healthcare in Escorial, El?
Escorial, El's nearest health centre is 4.7 km away, and the reported hospital drive is 12 min.
Healthcare
- Drive to a hospital
- 12 min top 9% of 8,132 towns
- Nearest health centre
- 4.7 km top 25% of 8,132 towns
- Surgical wait (region) regional estimate
- 50 days #1 of 17 regions, −53 days vs national 54% less than the Spanish average (108 days)
What are schools like in Escorial, El?
Escorial, El has 7 schools in town; the nearest international school is 10 km away.
Schools
- Schools in town
- 7 top 9% of 7,042 towns
- Nearest international school
- 10 km top 9% of 8,132 towns
- PISA maths (region) regional estimate
- 494 #4 of 17 regions, +15 vs national 13 above the Spanish average (481)
How much does it cost to live in Escorial, El?
Escorial, El's reported asking price is €3,310/m².
Cost & economy
- Home price
- no local data
- Asking price
- €3,310/m² asking · Fotocasa Jun 2026 · small sample
- Registered long-let rent
- €8.63/m²·mo
- Registered rent p25
- €7.08/m²·mo
- Registered rent p75
- €10.6/m²·mo
- Registered-rent yield
- no reliable sale-price data — yield not imputed
- Net income per person
- €17,477 top 12% of 8,059 towns 21% more than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 24.3% bottom 40% of 6,605 towns
Which languages are used in schools in Escorial, El?
Spanish is the only region-wide official language in Madrid, and Spanish-medium teaching is the public-school default. Individual bilingual and international programmes can use other languages, so check the specific school. See the Madrid region guide for the wider regional context.
What is the community like in Escorial, El?
Escorial, El's reported population is 17,322.
Who lives here
- Population
- 17,322
- Born in Spain
- 82.6% 6.2% below the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 4.2% 0.4% above the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 2.54 per 1,000
How easy is it to get around Escorial, El?
Escorial, El is a reported 54 min drive from the nearest airport, with 88% fibre-to-home coverage.
Getting around
- Drive to nearest airport
- 54 min top 29% of 8,132 towns
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 88% bottom 46% of 8,132 towns 9% above the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 92% bottom 47% of 8,132 towns 9% above the Spanish average (83%)
Numbers: Spainability town dataset, derived from INE, AEMET, Mitma and the Catastro. Registered long-let rent is SERPAVI declared-contract data; its p25–p75 values show the observed band. Registered-rent yield is gross, excludes costs and is never imputed. 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.
How does Escorial, El 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 Escorial, El against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 19 min from Collado Villalba, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Escorial, El for you →Questions to verify locally
- Ask whether current long-let rents match the registered-contract figure.
- Ask what recent sales closed at; the published figure is asking price.
- Test fibre speed at the exact address, not the town average.
- Visit local schools and confirm places for incoming families.
- Confirm health-centre registration and opening hours in person.
Nearby towns
Other places we profile within easy reach.