Planning to scale your development team across Europe? The salary figure you put down on the contract is only just the starting point.
That €60,000 developer salary you've budgeted for? In some European countries, this could actually end up costing you more than €95,000 once all the mandatory contributions have been accounted for. Meanwhile, your new hire might only see as little as €29,000 hit their bank account after taxes.
Understanding this disconnect is crucial for teams hiring internationally as it affects not just your budgeting and financial planning, but also plays a big role in the employee experience and even talent retention.
That’s why we created our comprehensive 2025 European Employment Costs eBook, analysing multiple salary levels across 36 countries. In this blog, we're diving into one specific focus area: what it actually costs to hire software developers at real market rates across Europe.
For the software developer salaries used in this analysis, we partnered with TalentUp, which provides AI-driven salary data for over 650 roles across 190+ cities in 70 countries. Their platform delivers real-time, trustworthy salary benchmarks that reflect current market conditions rather than relying on outdated survey data.
We focused specifically on mid-level software developers with 5+ years of experience, since we believe this represents one of the most commonly hired remote roles for companies expanding internationally.
Here's what it actually costs to hire a software developer at median market rates across Europe:
As you can see, the difference between hiring a software developer in Norway versus Romania comes to €60,000 annually for the same level of experience and skills.
Now let’s take a look at the costs in some of the other major talent markets across Europe:
While employers quite rightly focus on the total costs, another important factor to consider is employee net pay. Here's a look at the countries with both the highest and lowest take home pay for mid-level software developers (median local market rates):
This data only scratches the surface of European employment costs analysis. Our comprehensive 2025 European Employment Costs eBook covers all 36 countries in detail, including:
[Download the full eBook here] to access the complete data set and make informed decisions about your European hiring strategy.
Analysis based on 2025 salary and employment cost data across 36 European countries. Individual circumstances may vary based on company size, specific roles, and personal tax situations.
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