Spain's Minimum Wage (SMI) 2026: The Salario Mínimo Interprofesional Explained

Spain's minimum wage does not sit still. Every year a new Real Decreto fixes it, and for 2026 that decree is Real Decreto 126/2026, de 18 de febrero. It sets a daily and a monthly figure, guarantees an annual floor no employer can undercut, and quietly anchors two things far outside the payslip: how much of a debtor's wages a court can garnish, and how much FOGASA pays when an employer cannot. This page sets out the 2026 figures and the mechanics behind them.

Information last verified on 23 July 2026. This page provides general legal information about Spanish law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case. Because the SMI resets every year, confirm the current year's Real Decreto in the BOE before relying on a specific figure.

The 2026 figures

Real Decreto 126/2026 fixes the salario mínimo para cualesquiera actividades en la agricultura, la industria y los servicios «en 40,70 euros/día o 1.221 euros/mes, según el salario esté fijado por días o por meses». Only cash retribution counts toward that figure. Salario en especie, pay in kind such as housing or a company car, cannot reduce the minimum cash amount below it. Full-time work is assumed; anyone working a jornada inferior is paid the SMI at prorata of the hours actually worked.

The decree was published in the BOE on 19 February 2026 and entered into force the following day, but its own disposición final tercera makes clear it governs the whole of 2026: it «surtirá efectos durante el período comprendido entre el 1 de enero y el 31 de diciembre de 2026». So the higher 2026 rate applies retroactively to wages paid from 1 January 2026, even though the decree itself was not published until February.

The rise from the prior year is modest in relative terms. The preámbulo describes it as a 3,1 percent increase over Real Decreto 87/2025, the decree that fixed the SMI for 2025.

14 pagas, and the annual floor that backstops them

Spanish payroll typically splits annual pay across 14 payments: the 12 ordinary monthly nóminas plus two pagas extraordinarias, usually paid in summer and December, unless a convenio colectivo prorates them into the monthly figure instead. At 1.221 euros/mes across 14 pagas, the SMI already implies an annual total, but the decree adds a separate backstop on top of it: however the payments are structured, the yearly amount «en ningún caso» may be considered lower than 17.094 euros. That guarantee exists precisely so an unusual payment structure cannot be used to pay less than the real annual minimum.

Beyond the payslip: two places the SMI quietly governs

The SMI is not only a wage floor. Two separate legal mechanisms are built directly on top of whatever figure the current year's decree sets.

The first is wage garnishment. Under art. 607.1 of the Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil, a salary, pension or equivalent income up to the SMI amount is inembargable outright, and only the portion above it is exposed to the escalating garnishment scale. Because that protected floor moves with the SMI, it changes every time a new Real Decreto is published. The wage garnishment page walks through the full scale above that floor.

The second is FOGASA, the Fondo de Garantía Salarial. When an employer is insolvent, art. 33 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores caps what FOGASA pays toward unpaid wages at twice the daily SMI (including prorated pagas extraordinarias) per day owed, up to a maximum of 120 days. A higher SMI therefore raises the FOGASA ceiling too, not only ordinary pay. See the FOGASA page for how that cap works in practice.

Domestic workers: a separate rate

Empleados de hogar are not paid on the daily or monthly SMI figures above. The same 2026 decree fixes their rate separately, in art. 4.2, at 9,55 euros por hora efectivamente trabajada. This applies to the special régimen for domestic service and should not be confused with the general SMI figures that apply to other workers.

A number that resets every year

Because the SMI is fixed by a new Real Decreto annually, and is increasingly not published until partway through the year it covers, treat any specific euro figure as tied to its decree, not as a permanent number. Real Decreto 126/2026 governs calendar year 2026 only; a different decree will set the 2027 figure. Before relying on a specific number for a garnishment calculation, a FOGASA claim, or a payroll question, confirm which year's Real Decreto is currently in force at boe.es.

This page is general legal information about Spanish law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case. The controlling text is always the current version of the Real Decreto fixing the SMI for the applicable year, in the BOE.