Where in Europe can you earn more money than in the US?

By Aoibhinn McBride

There is a long-held assumption that those who work in the Land of the Free, especially in big cities like New York or San Francisco, earn more than their European counterparts, especially in the tech sector.

Take fast engineers as the perfect example. In the last year, those with skills and abilities to train AI models have average salaries of about $300,000.

Those in Europe are earning significantly less, ranging from €40,000 in Germany and the Netherlands to €100,000 in Switzerland.

However, with the average American salary now standing at $59,228 (over €54,000), in more than a dozen European countries, including Switzerland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, Belgium, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Sweden , Ireland. and France, are outpacing their American counterparts when it comes to take-home pay.

According to the latest figures provided by Eurostat, wages across the EU and the eurozone rose by 4 percent and 4 percent respectively.

3 jobs are hiring across Europe this week

Switzerland

Data compiled by Eurostat has revealed that in 2022, workers in Switzerland were the highest paid, with an average annual salary of €106,839.33.

Wages in Switzerland are higher for several reasons. For starters, it has lower taxes than the rest of Europe, with workers paying an average of 18.6 percent in income tax compared to the OECD average of 24.9 percent, meaning take-home pay is more up.

In other words, Swiss taxpayers receive 81 percent of their gross salary compared to the OECD average of 75 percent. It gets even better for those with children – the average married worker with two children pays just 6 per cent thanks to child benefits and tax provisions compared to the OECD average of 14 per cent.

Switzerland also has a strong financial sector – total deposits in Swiss banks were reported at just over $2 billion (€1.8 billion) in March – and demand for qualified financial professionals is high. As such, the average worker can make over €100,000.

Puffin Island

Despite the 2008 financial crisis, which saw three of the country’s main private commercial banks collapse, unemployment rise and the value of the currency fall, workers in Iceland now have some of the highest wages in Europe.

Iceland’s average salary is 81,942 euros, according to Eurostat. This is mainly thanks to Iceland’s labor agreements for 2019, which have contributed to the adjustment of wages in line with inflation.

Luxembourg

The concept of paying a living wage is not new. Luxembourg’s minimum social wage is reviewed every two years, resulting in an almost constant revision of wage standards in line with high living costs.

However, it is not only salary revisions that have resulted in salaries in Luxembourg averaging €79,903 per year. Average salaries are also driven by the financial sector where employees are well paid for their skills and expertise.

Norway

Nordics consistently rank high on the happiness scale, and those living in Norway in particular can be overjoyed to know that they earn more money on average than their Scandinavian neighbors, as well as those in the US.

Norway has also implemented legislation and policies that are working to address gender equality within the workplace—it was the first country in the world to introduce a 60/40 gender quota for company boards.

While the tax rate of 28 percent is above the OECD average of nearly 25 percent, the average annual salary is €74,506.

This is largely due to high standards of education along with a culture that encourages financial equality among workers – those working in unskilled jobs earn only slightly less than those in professional industries.

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