How do take-home salaries compare across Europe for some of the most sought-after roles? Euronews Business takes a closer look at what you can expect if you move.
Migrating for a better future often comes with a huge headache: finding the best deals, e.g. best salaries, cost of living, etc.
In 2021, half of the 3.7 million people who moved to the EU did so for financial and family reasons, whether from the Union or from third countries.
When looking at the best place to move, gross salary figures from job postings can often be misleading, especially if the destination is a country like Denmark, where workers are subject to a of the highest tax burdens in the European Union.
According to Eurostat, the average annual salary (for a single person) ranged from 81,818 euros in Switzerland to 15,335 euros in Greece, in 2022.
To see how your take-home pay can vary significantly depending on where you choose to live, we analyzed the competitiveness of salaries for five popular jobs in the UK, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland and Iceland .
How we did it
Due to the complexity and diversity of tax systems in Europe, we focus on the average single earner and look at the final figure, when personal income tax and social security contributions are deducted from gross salary . The overall rate, which includes these two deductions, is based on 2022 data provided by the OECD.
If you decide to do your own calculations, you’ll find two types of income tax rates: the effective rate and the marginal tax rate. The latter is often above 40% in Europe, with striking examples in Denmark (55.5%), France (55.2%) and Austria (55%).
This rate, also called the “legal maximum personal income tax rate”, applies to the portion of income that falls in the highest tax bracket of the progressive tax (the first tens of Thousands of people generally fall into various categories ranging from 10% to 25%).
In our calculation, we decided to use effective tax figures (the average rate at which the entire gross salary is taxed) in order to obtain the most accurate figure for each profession.
In the following examples, gross salaries are the median figures provided by the recruiting site Glassdoor.
Project managers
According to data collected by Euronews Business, the median salary for a project manager is the highest in Denmark (across all experience levels and sectors), but when personal income tax is deducted and social security contributions (35.5% in total), you may find that Swiss companies offer almost as good a deal.
If you prefer strong workers’ rights, a wide range of social supports and good wine, France may be a much better destination. Depending on your seniority and level of education, gross salaries for project managers are between 45,000 and 75,000 euros in the EU’s second-largest economy, where the net salary of an average single worker, after taxes and social benefits, represented 72.3% of his gross salary in 2022 (the OECD average was 75.4%).
Data analysts
A data analyst is a position that is increasingly in demand in Europe. Although Denmark offers the highest gross salary, Switzerland offers the best deal: workers there receive 81.5% of their gross salary, the highest rate on the continent.
Among the countries with average gross salaries, Belgium is one of the highest, with a gross salary of 68,424 euros. However, its net offer results in a salary of less than 41,000 euros, while in Estonia the same job could be paid up to 48,030 euros net.
Software developers
Among vacancies posted online, in the second quarter of 2023, software developers and sales assistants were the most in demand in Europe.
Looking at net income, software developers earn the most in Switzerland (€89,998), Denmark (€78,516), Iceland (€62,536) and Estonia (€56,451). But if you look closer where are the largest number of job offers in Europethe Netherlands and Belgium might be better options.
Sales Directors
Sales managers offer considerable salaries in Denmark, Finland, Switzerland and Belgium, with the highest average net salary reaching 171,781 euros in Denmark, or more than 14,000 euros per month.
Engineers
Engineers in Switzerland can expect an annual net salary of over 89,000 euros, the highest in Europe, while the average annual net salary for this profession across the continent is just over 39,500 euros. .
Based on data selection, out of the five jobs and numerous country offerings we looked at, the title of highest average net annual salary goes to sales managers in Denmark (171,781 euros), while the salary the lowest is 15,503 euros for engineers in Croatia.
Cost of living and inflation rates should also be taken into account to determine the real value of take-home pay in a given country. In the meantime, look at the Eurostat chart above which shows average price ranges across Europe.
Switzerland, where prices are more than 174% of the European average, may seem less attractive after all…