Same salary, 31 European countries: what you keep in 2026
What is left of the same gross salary depends a lot on where you work. We ran €36,000 a year (€3,000 a month) through the 2026 rules of 31 European countries for a single employee aged 35 without children. In Switzerland you keep 87.3% of it, in Romania only 58.5%.
Net pay from €36,000 a year
After income tax and the employee’s social-security contributions, net pay ranges from €31,425 a year in Switzerland to €21,061 in Romania. Switzerland, the Netherlands and Ireland take the least; Romania, Lithuania and Slovenia take the most, mainly through high social-security contributions. In the United Kingdom net pay is €30,072, 83.5% of the gross (rank 4 of 31).
Show the data as a table
| Country | Net / year | Kept | Income tax | Social security | Employer cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | €31,425 | 87.3% | €1,531 | €3,043 | €38,683 |
| Netherlands | €31,342 | 87.1% | €1,055 | €3,602 | €42,167 |
| Ireland | €30,122 | 83.7% | €3,813 | €2,066 | €40,604 |
| United Kingdom | €30,072 | 83.5% | €4,234 | €1,694 | €40,515 |
| Luxembourg | €30,048 | 83.5% | €1,406 | €4,546 | €40,525 |
| Cyprus | €29,902 | 83.1% | €1,976 | €4,122 | €41,544 |
| Iceland | €29,543 | 82.1% | €4,297 | €2,160 | €43,182 |
| Norway | €29,262 | 81.3% | €4,002 | €2,736 | €41,607 |
| Bulgaria | €28,977 | 80.5% | €3,220 | €3,803 | €41,250 |
| Estonia | €28,917 | 80.3% | €5,787 | €1,296 | €48,168 |
| Sweden | €28,915 | 80.3% | €4,568 | €2,516 | €47,311 |
| Finland | €28,546 | 79.3% | €4,189 | €3,265 | €43,380 |
| Belgium | €28,109 | 78.1% | €5,062 | €2,829 | €45,000 |
| Czechia | €27,690 | 76.9% | €4,135 | €4,176 | €48,168 |
| Malta | €27,492 | 76.4% | €5,600 | €2,908 | €39,016 |
| Austria | €27,437 | 76.2% | €2,451 | €6,112 | €46,735 |
| Spain | €27,051 | 75.1% | €6,609 | €2,340 | €47,574 |
| France | €26,742 | 74.3% | €1,493 | €7,766 | €48,085 |
| Italy | €26,358 | 73.2% | €6,334 | €3,308 | €49,467 |
| Slovakia | €25,795 | 71.7% | €5,021 | €5,184 | €49,032 |
| Latvia | €25,687 | 71.4% | €6,533 | €3,780 | €44,497 |
| Greece | €25,677 | 71.3% | €5,510 | €4,813 | €43,844 |
| Portugal | €25,537 | 70.9% | €6,503 | €3,960 | €44,550 |
| Poland | €24,843 | 69.0% | €3,425 | €7,731 | €43,373 |
| Germany | €24,648 | 68.5% | €3,522 | €7,830 | €44,190 |
| Denmark | €24,630 | 68.4% | €8,344 | €3,026 | €36,534 |
| Hungary | €23,940 | 66.5% | €5,400 | €6,660 | €40,680 |
| Croatia | €23,832 | 66.2% | €4,968 | €7,200 | €41,940 |
| Slovenia | €22,429 | 62.3% | €4,782 | €8,788 | €42,156 |
| Lithuania | €21,780 | 60.5% | €7,200 | €7,020 | €36,637 |
| Romania | €21,061 | 58.5% | €2,339 | €12,600 | €36,810 |
What the net pay buys
Prices differ as much as taxes. Valued at average EU prices, the same net pay is worth the most in Bulgaria, Romania and Poland, where prices are low, and the least in Switzerland and Iceland. Switzerland, which leaves the largest share of the gross, comes 31 of 31 once prices are counted.
Show the data as a table
| Country | Price level (EU = 100) | Net at EU prices |
|---|---|---|
| Bulgaria | 56.9 | €50,926 |
| Romania | 57.4 | €36,692 |
| Poland | 70.2 | €35,389 |
| Hungary | 68.3 | €35,051 |
| Czechia | 80.2 | €34,526 |
| Latvia | 77.2 | €33,273 |
| Croatia | 73.3 | €32,513 |
| Slovakia | 81.1 | €31,806 |
| Cyprus | 95.1 | €31,443 |
| Greece | 83.0 | €30,936 |
| Portugal | 85.0 | €30,044 |
| Estonia | 96.5 | €29,966 |
| Spain | 90.7 | €29,825 |
| Malta | 93.1 | €29,530 |
| Lithuania | 78.2 | €27,852 |
| Italy | 98.1 | €26,869 |
| Netherlands | 121.0 | €25,902 |
| France | 107.9 | €24,784 |
| Slovenia | 91.0 | €24,647 |
| Belgium | 118.7 | €23,681 |
| Sweden | 123.0 | €23,508 |
| United Kingdom | 129.1 | €23,294 |
| Austria | 119.7 | €22,921 |
| Germany | 109.1 | €22,592 |
| Finland | 127.2 | €22,442 |
| Norway | 134.1 | €21,821 |
| Ireland | 141.2 | €21,333 |
| Luxembourg | 150.7 | €19,939 |
| Denmark | 142.8 | €17,248 |
| Iceland | 172.7 | €17,107 |
| Switzerland | 184.3 | €17,051 |
Higher salaries, bigger differences
Progressive income tax widens the gap as pay rises. On €24,000 a year the share you keep runs from 58.5% to 98.3%; on €60,000 it runs from 58.5% in Romania to 84.3% in Bulgaria. In some countries €24,000 is close to or below the minimum wage, and work bonuses and tax credits then cancel most deductions.
Show the data as a table
| Country | €24,000 | €36,000 | €60,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bulgaria | 77.6% | 80.5% | 84.3% |
| Switzerland | 90.6% | 87.3% | 82.9% |
| United Kingdom | 89.3% | 83.5% | 78.8% |
| Estonia | 82.9% | 80.3% | 78.3% |
| Malta | 79.2% | 76.4% | 75.8% |
| Sweden | 82.7% | 80.3% | 75.8% |
| Czechia | 78.7% | 76.9% | 75.5% |
| Cyprus | 88.5% | 83.1% | 75.5% |
| Norway | 88.2% | 81.3% | 75.3% |
| Luxembourg | 88.2% | 83.5% | 74.0% |
| Iceland | 90.9% | 82.1% | 73.6% |
| Netherlands | 96.9% | 87.1% | 73.5% |
| Ireland | 89.7% | 83.7% | 73.4% |
| Latvia | 73.7% | 71.4% | 69.5% |
| Spain | 80.0% | 75.1% | 69.1% |
| Slovakia | 74.1% | 71.7% | 68.6% |
| Finland | 86.3% | 79.3% | 68.6% |
| Austria | 83.4% | 76.2% | 68.5% |
| France | 77.7% | 74.3% | 68.2% |
| Hungary | 66.5% | 66.5% | 66.5% |
| Denmark | 71.9% | 68.4% | 65.6% |
| Croatia | 68.5% | 66.2% | 64.4% |
| Greece | 76.2% | 71.3% | 64.0% |
| Portugal | 76.7% | 70.9% | 63.8% |
| Germany | 73.8% | 68.5% | 62.6% |
| Italy | 82.1% | 73.2% | 62.4% |
| Poland | 71.9% | 69.0% | 61.8% |
| Belgium | 98.3% | 78.1% | 61.3% |
| Lithuania | 63.8% | 60.5% | 60.5% |
| Slovenia | 65.0% | 62.3% | 58.7% |
| Romania | 58.5% | 58.5% | 58.5% |
What it means
A job offer from another country is best compared in net pay and at local prices. What employers pay on top also differs: the same €36,000 costs an employer from €36,534 to €49,467 a year, which shapes the salaries they can offer.
Sources and method
- Net pay, income tax and contributions: PayAbacus salary calculators with each country’s 2026 rules (the official sources are listed on each calculator page). Amounts in other currencies are converted to euros at the calculator’s exchange rates.
- Single employee aged 35, no children, no bonus; where taxes depend on the place of residence the calculator’s default is used (Zürich in Switzerland).
- Price levels: Eurostat price level indices for household consumption (EU = 100), as used by the PayAbacus purchasing-power comparison.