Obviously, gross and net salaries aren't the only factors to weigh up when deciding which country to move to in Northern Europe.
The tech industries in Germany and Sweden are more dynamic, with more jobs on offer and better opportunities than you can probably find in Denmark, and certainly Norway.
Cost of living is also a factor, as are the levels of family benefit, the quality of education, and the ease of getting a work permit.
Finally, differences in the four countries taxation and welfare systems means that when comparing salaries and tax rates, you are not always comparing like with like.
With that caveat made, here's how the average salaries compare.
Salaries
Generally Denmark and Norway pay the best, with Germany slightly behind. Sweden, which has seen the krona decline significantly in value over recent years, is the laggard.
In Denmark, people working in information and communications technology earn on average 44,521 kroner (€5,966) a month, with software developers and analysts earning 47,748 kroner (€6,399) a month, according to data from Statistics Denmark for 2022.
This is slightly ahead of Norway, where, according to Statistics Norway, the average salary for software and applications developers and analysts in 2023 was 72,320 kroner, or €6,059.
Payment rates in Germany are a little behind. According to data provided to The Local by the German Federal Statistics Office, the average salary for a software developer or programmer in Germany is €5,781 a month, with an ordinary programmer earning an average of €4,648, a specialist €6,025, an expert €5,881, and a manager €8,080.
Sweden, due to the falling value of the krona, has seen gross salaries slip behind some of its main competitors. According to Statistics Sweden, the average salary for system developers in the country is 50,700 Swedish kronor (€4,424) a month, although this rises to 52,700 kronor (€4,600) for software architects.
How much will you have after tax?
Denmark stops looking quite so attractive once the country's high income tax rates are factored in. According to the Danish Tax Agency's tax calculator, a person born in 1990 with no children who does not own a house, would pay about 17,431 kroner in tax, leaving them with 26,497 kroner, or €3,550 a month in take home pay.
This doesn't, however, account for deductions for things like trade union, a-kasse membership and charity contributions, which aren't taxable, or for commuting costs. If you use the tax calculator made by Danish architect Christoffer Kaalund, which includes some of these factors, you would be left with 30,612 kroner or €4,102.
This is more or less in line with the situation for workers in Norway. According to the tax calculator on the website of the Norwegian Tax Agency, someone earning the average software developer salary of 68,800 kroner, would pay 20,578 kroner in income taxes, leaving them with 48,222 kroner (€4,040) a month in take home pay.
Workers in Sweden, while they have lower gross salaries, look better off after tax. According to the tax calculator on the website of the Swedish Tax Agency, a person born in 1990, living in Stockholm and earning 50,700 kroner would pay about 11,600 kronor in tax. The means someone with the average software developer salary would be left with about 39,000 kronor (€3,412) to spend and save.
This is slightly worse than the roughly €3,562 a month a person on the average German programmer salary of €5,781 a month would be left with after about €2,219 is taken out for pension, health insurance, unemployment insurance and income tax, according to the tax calculator on the All About Berlin website. Tax alone would be about €1,078, meaning a tax rate of about 23.3 percent.
Comments (3)