Where in Europe can you earn the most for the same job?

Migrating for a better future often comes with a huge headache: finding out where the best offers are, such as who gives the best salaries, what the cost of living is like, and so on.

In 2021, half of the 3.7 million people who moved to the EU did so for financial and family reasons, both from within and outside the bloc.

When researching where is best to move, gross salary figures for job offers can often be misleading (unless you’re a fearless accountant with a knack for working out tax), especially if the destination is somewhere like Denmark where workers face one of the highest tax burdens in the EU.

According to Eurostat, the average annual wages (for a single person) ranged from €81,818 in Switzerland down to €15,335 in Greece in 2022.

To see how your take-home pay can vary significantly based on where you might choose to live, we analysed the competitiveness of salaries for five popular jobs in the Eurozone countries, UK, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, and Iceland.

How we worked it out

Due to the complexity and variety of the tax systems across Europe, we are focusing on the average single worker and examining the final figure when the average personal income tax and social security contributions are taken off the gross salary. The all-in rate, which includes these two deductions, is based on 2022 data provided by the OECD.

If you decide to crunch the numbers yourself, you will find two types of income tax rates: the effective and the marginal tax rate. The latter is often more than 40% in Europe, with hair-raising examples seen in Denmark (55.5%), France (55.2%), and Austria (55%).

This rate, also called the ‘top statutory personal income tax rate’, applies to the share of income that falls into the highest tax bracket in progressive taxation (the first few dozens of thousands typically fall under various categories from 10% to 25%).

In our calculation, we decided to use the effective tax figures (the average rate at which entire gross wages are taxed) to get the most accurate figure for each profession.

In the following examples, the gross salaries are the median figures provided by job recruiting site Glassdoor.

Project manager

According to data collected by Euronews Business, the median project manager salary is the highest in Denmark (across all levels of experience and all industries), but when personal income tax and social security contributions are deducted (counting for a combined 35.5%), you may find that companies in Switzerland give an almost equally good offer.

If you prefer strong workers’ rights, a wide range of social security support and fine wine, France may be an altogether better destination. Mainly depending on your seniority and level of education, gross project manager salaries fall between €45,000 and €75,000 in the EU’s second-biggest economy, where the take-home pay of an average single worker, after tax and benefits, was 72.3% of their gross wage in 2022 (the OECD average was 75.4%).

Data analyst

Data analysis is in increasing demand in Europe. Despite Denmark offering the highest gross salary, Switzerland has the best offer, where workers take home 81.5% of their gross salary – the highest rate across the continent. 

Among the countries in the mid-range of gross salaries, Belgium is among the highest, offering a gross salary of €68,424. However, its net offer translates to something below €41,000, whereas in Estonia the same job could pay net €48,030. Well, if you’re a data analyst, we can let you deal with the rest…

Software developer

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

Taking into consideration net income, software developers earn the most in Switzerland (€89,998), Denmark (€78,516), Iceland (€62,536) and Estonia (€56,451). But if you take a closer look at where the highest amount of vacancies in Europe are waiting, the Netherlands and Belgium may be better options.

Sales manager

Sales managers offer considerable salaries in Denmark, Finland, Switzerland and Belgium, with the highest average net salary reaching €171,781 in Denmark – that’s more than €14,000 a month. 

Engineer

Engineers in Switzerland can expect an annual net salary of more than €89,000, the highest in Europe, whereas the average annual net salary for this profession across the continent is a little more than €39,500. 

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According to the data selection, out of the five jobs and the numerous countries’ offers we examined, the title of highest net average annual salary goes to sales managers in Denmark (€171,781), whereas the lowest is a modest €15,503 for engineers in Croatia. 

The cost of living and rates of inflation also need to be taken into account when working out what the net salary is actually worth in a specific country. Meanwhile, take a look at the Eurostat chart above showing average price ranges across Europe. 

Switzerland, where prices are more than 174% of the European average, may not seem as attractive after all…