Net salaries in comparison: In which country in Europe do you get the best?

Many people think about moving to another country. However, such a decision should be carefully considered: where are the best salaries, what are the costs of living? These are just some of the questions to consider.

In 2021, 3.7 million people moved to an EU country, either from other EU countries or from outside the Union. Half of them changed their place of residence for financial or family reasons.

Anyone looking for a better paying job can easily be misled by gross salary information. It is particularly useful to take a closer look at countries such as Denmark, where tax duties are among the highest in the European Union.

According to Eurostat, single workers in the EU earned an average income of between €15,335 in Greece and €81,818 in Switzerland in 2022.

To see how much your actual income can vary depending on where you live, we compared average salaries for five popular professions in EU countries, as well as the UK, Norway, Switzerland and Iceland.

Thus, the net wage was calculated

Given the complexity of the different tax systems in Europe, the focus was on the average wage of single workers. Average income tax and social security contributions were deducted from total income. Values ​​are based on 2022 OECD data.

In the following examples, the average gross salary from recruitment site Glaasdoor has been used.

project manager

The gross salary for a project manager position is the highest in Denmark. After deducting income tax and all social security contributions (which together account for approximately 35.5% of wages), net wages in Switzerland are actually at a similar level.

In France, the gross salary for project managers is relatively low and ranges between 45,000 and 75,000 euros, but the country offers strong employee rights and a wide range of social benefits. Average net pay there still makes up 72.3 percent of gross salary (the OECD average was 75.4 percent in 2022).

Data analyst

Demand for data analysis is growing in Europe. Although Denmark offers the highest total salary, Switzerland has the best offer: employees here receive 81.5% of their total salary in their home country.

Among the countries with the middle range of total salaries, Belgium comes in at the top with a salary of €68,424. However, the net offer is less than 41,000 euros, while in Estonia the net pay for the same job is 48,030 euros.

programs developer

Among the jobs advertised online in the second quarter of 2023, software developers and sales assistants were most in demand in Europe.

Looking at net income, software developers earn the most money in Switzerland (€89,998), Denmark (€78,516), Iceland (€62,536), and Estonia (€56,451). When you look at Most of the vacancies are in Europe In the field of software development, the Netherlands and Belgium also appear to be attractive options.

sales manager

Sales manager salaries are great in Denmark, Finland, Switzerland and Belgium, with the highest average net salary in Denmark being €171,781 – that’s more than €14,000 per month.

Engineers

Engineers in Switzerland can expect to earn an annual net salary of over €89,000, the highest in Europe, while the average annual net salary for this profession across the continent is just over €39,500.

Of the five professions examined in different countries, the highest net salary can be obtained in Denmark as a sales manager at €171,781. Solo engineers earn the lowest salary in Croatia with an average of €15,503.

It’s not just the net salary that needs to be taken into consideration: the cost of living and inflation rates in the countries in question are equally important. The table shows the cost of living compared to the average in the Eurozone.

Switzerland, where prices are 174% of the European average, is quickly looking less attractive.