Whether you want to move to Europe or travel around the European Union as a tourist, it's worth knowing the average salaries in Europe.
Why? Foremost of all, the average income in a country can be used as a clear indicator of the prices there: the lower it is, the lower the prices should be and the less money you have to carry with you when traveling. Many tourists enjoy visiting countries with lower average salaries because to an outsider, "everything is so cheap here!"
Cost of living and average salaries in Europe
Even if you are not an EU citizen, you should know what the average salary is in the countries you are interested in. You can estimate the cost of living in a country by knowing the average income: in theory, if you had access to this money every month, you could live a middle-class life there. In practice, however, it's not always the case, and in Europe most of the population is working poor – people who have a job, but it can't always cover their expenses.
Higher wages do not always mean a significantly higher cost of living, but rather a higher quality of life. After a certain threshold (dependent on the average salary by age, gender and location), the cost of living stops rising—a person can only eat so much caviar every day. In Europe, well-off people develop their interests and invest.
Therefore, in our article, we outline the average salary by country in European Union countries in 2022. You may want to familiarize yourself with this data on average salaries, whether for education, to help you plan your travels, or to move permanently to one of these countries.
Average salary by country
The table presents the net (after taxes) average income per month, already calculated into Euros, based on the available data collected by Eurostat and OECD.
| Country | Net income in Euros |
| Austria | 3,053 |
| Belgium | 2,425 |
| Bulgaria | 686 |
| Croatia | 1,024 |
| Cyprus | 1,658 |
| Czechia | 1,308 |
| Denmark | 3,900 |
| Estonia | 1,419 |
| Finland | 2,509 |
| France | 2,355 |
| Germany | 2,641 |
| Greece | 1,050 |
| Hungary | 885 |
| Ireland | 2,923 |
| Italy | 1,740 |
| Latvia | 1,012 |
| Lithuania | 1,116 |
| Luxembourg | 3,573 |
| Malta | 1,335 |
| Netherlands | 2,834 |
| Poland | 1,014 |
| Portugal | 1,212 |
| Romania | 806 |
| Slovakia | 978 |
| Slovenia | 1,304 |
| Spain | 1,868 |
| Sweden | 2,847 |
As you can see, the more developed Western Countries are still a couple of times more well-off than Eastern European countries — except Portugal, Greece, and Spain, which all were also dictatorships. For comparison, here are some more countries that are not in the EU and their average salaries. The UK has left the EU, and as a result the average wages dropped due to Brexit, and it is not known whether they’ll rise soon.
| Country | Net income in Euros |
| Belarus | 572 |
| Cameroon | 200 |
| Israel | 3,371 |
| Japan | 4,841 |
| Moldova | 443 |
| Norway | 3,721 |
| Russia | 806 |
| Switzerland | 5,493 |
| Türkiye | 326 |
| Ukraine | 329 |
| United Kingdom | 2,793 |
| United States | 4,549 |
Note that this article only explains the average salary—the sum of all income divided by the number of all working people in the country. The median wage is more representative of typical wages (half of employees earn above this number, and half earn below), while the mean wage is the most common wage in the country. If you’re interested in a country’s economy, look beyond the average income and familiarize yourself with more data!
Summary
Keep in mind that the global economy is constantly changing. In 2022, all of Europe is experiencing galloping inflation, so these numbers are subject to change. The actual average salary by country may differ from the numbers shown above, as it varies from city to city and is affected by other variables.
It is difficult to predict how much inflation, COVID-19 and the conflict in Ukraine will impact wages. The current times seem very unstable. But only time will tell… we can only hope that monthly average income in Europe will be able to keep up with rising inflation.
