For a simple work issue, for decades Many pucelanos had no choice but to pack their bags and move to Madrid. The companies are there. And good job prospects. Today things are different, as suggested the data of the Valladolid City Council. The expansion of teleworking and the improved communications It has allowed quite a few people to return to the Castilian-Leonese city without giving up their jobs in the capital and even turn the tables: Valladolid is the one that grows at the expense of Madrid.
The data are certainly eloquent.
What do the figures say? That for years the Castilian-Leonese city endured a clearly negative migratory balance with the capital. Many more people from Pucelanos went to Madrid than people from Madrid arrived to Valladolid. If you follow the historical series The census shows that this imbalance favorable to Madrid dates back to at least 1997, with years in which the difference was brutal. In 2014, for example, Valladolid recorded 736 casualties of Pucelanos who packed their bags to move to Madrid; The reverse route (from Valladolid to Madrid) was done by 305 people.
And is it still like this? No. We know the change thanks to an analysis published in 2025 by The Confidentialwho has had access to the records of the Valladolid City Council. They show how between 2022 and 2023 the migratory balance between the cities of Valladolid and Madrid experienced a change: if in 2022 the Pucelana city registered 799 departures of residents bound for Madrid compared to 617 registrations in the opposite direction, in 2023 the “photo” was the opposite: 765 registrations and 566 cancellations. From the red numbers it went to a positive balance of 199 people.
The trend was confirmed in 2024 with a new positive migration balance. That year, the Pucelano City Council recorded 796 new arrivals from Madrid compared to 504 new arrivals from residents who moved to the state capital. Again a positive balance, 292 people. In a matter of two years, Valladolid therefore went from dragging a historic deficit in population exchange with Madrid to “gaining” 491 new registered residents at the expense of its southern neighbor.
This trend has coincided with the general growth of the Valladolid registry, which has been gaining population for several years and is now located at 303,843 inhabitants according to the municipal censusthat doesn’t always match with that of the INE.
Is there more recent data? The last ones indicators published by the Statistical Institute of the Community of Madrid and the Junta of Castilla y León They are from 2024, but a quick Google search comes to find articles with testimonials recent of people who live in Valladolid and work in the capital. Even from other parts of Castilla y León even further away from Madrid.
“Right now, whatever station you go to, Zamora, Salamanca, Segovia, Palencia or León, they are packed. Before you saw the train half empty,” explained a few weeks ago Carlos Perfecto, promoter of the Association of AVE Users in Castilla y León, told RTVE. “We are talking about the fact that between Valladolid and Segovia alone, 7,000 direct families go to work in Madrid every day.”
Does it only affect cities? The “picture” can be completed with more brushstrokes that help understand the change. The change in the migratory flow has also been observed in the entire Madrid region, not only in its capital. After decades in the “red numbers” (in demographic terms), in 2023 Valladolid registered more registrations of new residents arriving from the Madrid community than registrations of Pucelanos who had moved to municipalities such as Móstoles, Alcalá, Leganés, Fuenlabrada, Getafe or Madrid itself.
Between 2023 and 2024, in this sense, it accumulated a positive balance of 758 new registered. At the end of 2024 The North of Castile the change was already pointed out trend citing INE statistics, although in his article he handled data until 2023 and at the provincial level, not exclusively from the municipality of Valladolid.
What did they show? Something similar to what is reflected in the register of the Pucelano City Council. In 2023, 1,785 people arrived in Valladolid from the Community of Madrid, while 1,270 people left the province to settle somewhere in Madrid. Result: 515 more people for the Valladolid census. Not bad if you take into account that the previous year (2022) the province had lost 115 people to the Community of Madrid.
Last December The North of Castile updated analysis with provincial data from 2024 and verified that the trend continues. That year 1,744 people left the Community of Madrid to settle somewhere in Valladolid while 1,232 made the reverse move. Once again the figures favor the Castilian-Leonese demographic with a balance of 512 people.
And what is the reason? Rather, we should talk about reasons, in the plural. When analyzing the change in trend, there are those who talk about the expansion of teleworking after the pandemic or the attractiveness of the Valladolid real estate market compared to that of Madrid, which makes buying a home much more acceptable there than in Madrid. According to Idealista, the m2 costs in Valladolid €2,029 while in Madrid it is located in 5,960. Something similar happens in the rental market: in the city of Pucelana, the m2 is rented to €9.7 in front of the 23.2 from Madrid.
But… Why this abrupt change? Although it is true that COVID-19 marked a before and after in the implementation of teleworking in Spain and that the real estate market has not stopped tense In recent years, both trends do not fully explain why the population flow between Valladolid and Madrid has experienced such a sudden change in such a short time. Nor why it has become more pronounced in 2023. Hence, when looking for explanations, analyzes of the phenomenon add another determining factor: the improvement of transportation.
At the end of 2007 the line was launched Madrid-Segovia-Valladolid high-speed train, which made it possible to get from Valladolid to Madrid in less than 60 minutes, instead of the more than two hours that the same trip takes by car. Since then the service has improved on medium-distance routes to offer a large grill of frequencies on AVE, Avant, Alvia or Avlo capable of going from Valladolid to Chamartín in 54 minutes. The key in recent years, however, has been something else: the price.
What has changed? In 2019, taking the train daily to go to Madrid from Valladolid required paying hundreds of euros every month. In recent years this situation has changed thanks to measures such as free bonuses Medium Distance and 50% discounts for repeat Avant travelers. At the end of 2025, the Government extended bonuses and launched a single subscription which integrates buses, suburban and MD with a fare of 60 euros. Around the same time, the Board insisted on its “commitment” to maintain your 25% bonus.
The new 60 euro pass, however, is valid only for state-run buses and Renfe Cercanías, Rodalies and Media Distancia trains. The list also includes some AVANT services (A Coruña-Santiago-Ourense, Madrid-Salamanca, Murcia-Alicante and Barcelona-Tortosa except Barcelona-Tarragona). Among the services cited by the Ministry of Transport, the AVE does not appear.
Do many people use it? In 2024, the AVE Users Association calculated that 3,500 Valladolid residents They traveled every day by train from Valladolid to Madrid to work. The entity esteem that today the number of families that travel daily from Valladolid or Segovia is greater.
“The economic impact is tremendously positive for the Board, the City Council and the State, because the State is using an infrastructure that we have all paid for in a way of social profitability,” insist Perfect, which nevertheless detects “a very great disaffection between administrations.”
Are there more factors? Yes. In addition to the improvement in communications, the expansion of teleworking and the advantages of living in a medium-sized city like Valladolid, there are those who cite other factors that intervene in the equation. For example, the interest shown by Valladolid from companies like PwC.
The truth is that the city of Pisuerga is not the only one that has been favored by the new scenario and the improvement of rail transport. The Confidential appointment data from the Madrid City Council that reflect a loss of population also towards Segovia, Zamora, Palencia or Salamanca. There, an employee with the capacity to work (totally or partially) remotely for a Madrid company finds the possibility of buying or renting homes at prices that, as recognized a family vallisoletana to the newspaper, “we wouldn’t even smell it” in the capital.
Images | Jorge Franganillo (Flickr) and Andre Ribeirinho (Flickr)
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This article was originally published in 2025. We have updated with data from 2026.
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