Truck driver salary in Spain 2026: convenio pay, dietas and international routes

A full-time truck driver in Spain is paid under a provincial or regional collective agreement (convenio colectivo), so no single national monthly figure exists, but the legal floor in 2026 is the minimum wage (SMI) of 1,221 EUR per month in 14 payments. The four convenios checked for this guide print monthly figures for a standard driver (conductor mecanico) between 1,200.76 and 1,579.31 EUR, and those figures do not all include the same items. International drivers add dietas (daily travel allowances) of up to 67.00 EUR per day on top. All figures were checked on 2026-10-31, and this guide shows where each one comes from so you can compare an offer line by line.

How much does a truck driver earn per month in Spain in 2026?

A Spanish driver's monthly pay has three layers, and most online figures blur them. A realistic international month in the illustration later in this guide comes to about 3,030 to 3,330 EUR in cash before deductions, but only about 1,700 to 2,000 EUR of that is wage. The rest is dietas.

The three layers work differently for tax and Social Security:

1. Convenio salary: the base pay and fixed pluses in the agreement for your province. It is taxable and counts towards Social Security.
2. Kilometre and other pluses: extra pay tied to distance, night work or similar conditions, set by each convenio.
3. Dietas: the daily allowance for meals and lodging. The Murcia agreement calls it an extra-salary, compensatory payment, and it is tax-exempt only up to legal limits.

One international driver told El Espanol in a 2026-06-10 interview that international work pays from about 3,000 EUR a month and that the figure depends on how the driver is paid, for example per kilometre. That is one person's account, not a survey, but it sits close to the structured example below.

For how Spain compares with other markets, see our European truck driver salary guide . The neighbouring market is covered in Portugal truck driver salary per month .

Why does the convenio matter more than the minimum wage?

The convenio sets the pay you can actually claim, and in 2026 every convenio annual figure checked sits well above the SMI. Real Decreto 126/2026 of 2026-02-18 (published in the BOE, Spain's official gazette, no. 44 on 2026-02-19, in force from 2026-02-20 with effect from 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31) fixes the SMI at 40.70 EUR per day and 1,221 EUR per month . Its annual comparison figure is 17,094 EUR.

The arithmetic shows how the payments are counted: 1,221 EUR multiplied by 14 gives 17,094 EUR. Spread over 12 payments, the same annual amount is 1,424.50 EUR per month. The decree itself does not say how many payments a worker receives, so always ask whether a quoted monthly figure assumes 12, 14 or 15 payments.

The convenio annual totals are higher. The Murcia agreement prints 20,378.21 EUR for a conductor mecanico and 19,717.98 EUR for a plain conductor, and Guadalajara prints 20,740.45 EUR for a conductor mecanico. That puts them 2,600 to 3,700 EUR above the SMI annual figure, before kilometre pluses and dietas. An offer that sits close to the SMI deserves a direct question about which convenio applies and why.

How much do convenio salaries differ between provinces?

Base pay for the same role differs by about 379 EUR per month between the lowest and highest base figures checked, and the printed figures are not directly comparable. The table shows what each published text says for a conductor mecanico in 2026.

Table sources: BORM, 2026-05-16 ; BOP, 2026-02-05 ; Cadena de Suministro, 2026-02-27 ; Cadena de Suministro, 2026 .

All amounts are in EUR. Do not rank the provinces from this table. Murcia prints its base without the 197.23 EUR attendance plus, Guadalajara includes two pluses in its monthly column, and the Valencia and Alicante articles do not say what their figures contain. The Murcia and Guadalajara annual totals both assume 15 payments of base pay (12 monthly payments and three extras) plus 12 payments of the pluses.

Three points on timing. The Valencia article reports a 2.5% rise agreed for 2026, retroactive to 2026-01-01. Alicante rose from 1,503.05 EUR in 2025 to 1,533.11 EUR in 2026, about 2.0% by our calculation. Guadalajara and Valencia tables run to the end of 2026, so 2027 tables are due. The Murcia agreement runs from 2026-01-01 to 2028-12-31 (signed 2026-01-16).

This guide did not verify the convenios for Madrid, Barcelona, Andalusia or the Basque Country, so the table is a set of examples and not a national average.

How much are dietas for national and international routes, and are they taxed?

Dietas range from 45.84 EUR to 67.00 EUR per day in the three convenios that publish them, and they are tax-exempt only up to the limits in the personal income tax regulation. Murcia pays 50.19 EUR per day nationally and 67.00 EUR abroad to long-distance drivers. Guadalajara pays 46.20 EUR and 65.21 EUR, and Alicante 45.84 EUR and 61.44 EUR.

Murcia is the only one of the three that prints the components. Its international long-distance day adds up from breakfast, lunch, dinner and a bed: 12.8263 + 24.9445 + 21.2292 + 8.00 = 67.00 EUR. Other staff in Murcia receive 34.98 EUR nationally and 39.23 EUR abroad, so always check which staff category a quoted dieta applies to.

The exempt limits sit in art. 9.A.3.a of the personal income tax regulation, IRPF (Real Decreto 439/2007) , as read in its consolidated text on 2026-10-31:

Tested against these limits, the Murcia dietas fit. The international meals component is 59.00 EUR, below 91.35 EUR, and the national meals component is 45.19 EUR, below 53.34 EUR. A day without an overnight stay is capped at 26.67 EUR in Spain or 48.08 EUR abroad for meals, so a convenio day rate above that on such a day would be taxable for the excess. The Guadalajara and Alicante figures cannot be tested, because they publish one daily total without the meal and lodging split.

Do dietas count for Social Security, and what must a company prove?

Dietas stay outside the Social Security contribution base only if the employer can prove the trip happened and the amounts stay within the exempt limits. The tax regulation already requires the employer to show the day and place of the trip and the reason for the allowance. The Supreme Court (Sala Tercera) ruled in STS 1067/2025 of 2025-07-21 that the company must prove the trip took place, meaning origin, destination, return, vehicle, driver and days, according to a summary of the judgment .

Receipts for each meal or hotel are not required under that reading. Amounts above the IRPF limits must still be justified and count towards the contribution base. The summary comes from a legal portal that reproduces the judgment, so treat the court database (CENDOJ) as the primary text. If you are the driver, the practical point is simple: dietas paid against documented trips are safer for both sides than a flat sum with no trip records.

What do kilometre bonuses and time away from home add to the payslip?

At the Murcia convenio rates, a long-distance driver of a vehicle above 26 t adds 292.60 EUR a month by driving 10,000 km. The kilometre plus (art. 45) applies to drivers whose daily route exceeds a 100 km radius from the work centre and who drive more than 7,000 km per month. It is paid from the first kilometre, and the convenio intends it to cover overtime (40%), presence hours (50%) and night work (10%).

Double crewing earns 0.049 EUR per km in 2026. A km plus that replaces separate overtime and night pay means hours worked beyond the agreed week are already priced in, so ask which items the plus covers before comparing it with a rival offer. The hours behind that pay follow the EU driving and rest rules, which our guide to the EU weekly working hours limit for truck drivers explains.

Time away from home is regulated too. The Murcia agreement sets a 40-hour week and 1,826 hours 27 minutes per year, with 31 calendar days of annual leave. International drivers have the right to spend at least five of every 12 weekly rests at home, and national drivers at least seven of 12. Time away beyond 15 continuous days earns one extra rest day for each full 15 days. Those rights limit how many days abroad a driver can be asked for, which in turn caps the dietas they collect.

Route planning also shapes days away. Spain restricts HGV movement at certain times, and those windows change how long a trip takes, as covered in our Spain truck driving ban times guide .

What does a realistic monthly pay example look like for an international driver?

An international long-distance driver covering 10,000 km with 20 days abroad receives about 3,330 EUR in cash before deductions under the Murcia rates. This is an illustration built only from the published Murcia 2026 convenio rates, not a payslip and not a survey. The profile is a conductor mecanico on a vehicle above 26 t, driving 10,000 km per month, with 20 days abroad in the month. The 20 days and 10,000 km are assumptions chosen to show the structure.

The same profile with Guadalajara rates gives 1,728.37 EUR of averaged convenio pay plus 20 days at 65.21 EUR (1,304.20 EUR), a total of 3,032.57 EUR. The published Guadalajara table has no km plus, so that line is zero. Both totals land near the 3,000 EUR the El Espanol driver quotes, which is a consistency check and nothing stronger.

Deductions are not computed. Worker Social Security contributions and income tax withholding depend on rates this guide did not verify against the BOE or the tax authority, so it does not publish a take-home figure. A driver with fewer days away, or a vehicle up to 26 t, would see a lower total.

What should you check in a job offer before you accept it?

Check the structure of the offer, not the headline number. Before accepting, ask for these items in writing:

• The convenio. Which agreement applies, and for which year? Guadalajara and Valencia tables expire at the end of 2026.
• The payment count. Does the monthly figure assume 12, 14 or 15 payments? Murcia and Guadalajara tables use 15 payments of base pay.
• What the monthly figure contains. Base only, or base plus attendance and transport pluses?
• The km plus. The threshold (Murcia sets 7,000 km per month and a 100 km radius), the rate per km, and which overtime and night hours it replaces.
• The dieta rate. National and international rates, whether the meal and lodging components are split, and how trips are recorded.
• Home time. Rest-at-home rights and what happens after 15 continuous days away.

Posting and return rules also apply on international work. Our guide to EU Mobility Package cabotage, posting and return rules covers them. Cabotage is the right of a foreign carrier to run domestic transport inside another EU member state.

Frequently asked questions

What is the minimum wage for a truck driver in Spain in 2026?

The SMI is 1,221 EUR per month in 14 payments, or 40.70 EUR per day, under Real Decreto 126/2026. No separate minimum exists for drivers. The convenio table for the province sets the driver grade pay, and every annual figure checked here sits above the SMI annual figure of 17,094 EUR.

How much does an international truck driver earn per month in Spain?

One driver quoted by El Espanol on 2026-06-10 says from about 3,000 EUR a month, depending on how the driver is paid. The illustration in this guide gives 3,030 to 3,330 EUR in cash before deductions, of which 1,700 to 2,000 EUR is wage. Take-home pay was not verified, so it is not stated.

Are dietas part of the salary?

The Murcia convenio calls the dieta an extra-salary, compensatory payment, so it is separate from the taxable wage. It stays exempt from income tax only within the IRPF limits, and it stays outside the Social Security base only if the company proves the trip. Amounts above the limits count as pay.

Is the 15 EUR and 25 EUR figure a meal allowance?

No. Those amounts are the lodging threshold for goods vehicle drivers, 15 EUR in Spain and 25 EUR abroad, below which the amount needs no proof. Meal allowances have separate limits of 26.67 to 53.34 EUR in Spain and 48.08 to 91.35 EUR abroad, depending on whether the driver stays overnight.

How often must an international driver be at home under the Murcia convenio?

International drivers have the right to spend at least five of every 12 weekly rests at home, and national drivers at least seven of 12. Time away beyond 15 continuous days earns one extra rest day for each full 15 days. Other provinces set their own rules, so check the convenio that applies to you.

Will 2027 convenio tables change the figures?

Probably for some provinces, since the Guadalajara and Valencia agreements run to the end of 2026. The Murcia agreement runs to 2028 and already fixes higher km plus rates for 2027 (0.0302 and 0.0336 EUR per km) and 2028. Check the official bulletin for your province once new tables are published.

Drivers comparing offers can browse open driver roles on our careers page .