Salaries across Europe vary more dramatically than most people realise. A software engineer in London earns roughly twice what their counterpart in Warsaw takes home in gross terms. A data analyst in Amsterdam earns 40% more than one doing the same work in Barcelona. And within any single city, the gap between a well-funded scale-up and an early-stage startup can be 30–50% for the same role and seniority level.
This guide covers average and median salary ranges for the most common professional roles across major European cities in 2026 — with context on why the gaps exist, which way they're moving, and how to use the data to benchmark your own situation.
All figures are gross annual base salary. Bonus and equity are noted where they materially affect typical total compensation, but not included in the base ranges.
Why European salaries vary so much by city
Four factors explain most of the variation:
- Company density and type. London has the highest concentration of US-headquartered tech and finance firms in Europe. These companies pay to near-US compensation standards — dragging the entire market upward. Cities with fewer high-paying employers (Warsaw, Lisbon, Barcelona) have lower medians because the demand side of the labour market is weaker.
- Local labour market maturity. The longer a city has had a developed tech ecosystem, the higher the median salary — because employers have had to compete for talent over time. Amsterdam and Dublin have two decades of serious tech investment; their medians reflect it.
- Cost of living and purchasing power. High-cost cities push salaries up because employees need to be able to afford to live there. But the relationship isn't perfectly correlated — some cities (particularly in Southern and Eastern Europe) have seen salary growth lag behind housing cost increases.
- Tax and take-home differences. Gross salary comparisons can be misleading. French and Belgian social contributions reduce take-home pay significantly. The Dutch 30% tax ruling for qualifying internationals makes Amsterdam meaningfully more attractive in net terms. Understanding the net picture matters more than the gross headline.
Software engineers
Software engineers are the most consistently well-compensated professional role in European tech. Demand has remained strong despite the broader sector correction of 2023–24, particularly for experienced engineers with specialised skills.
Mid-level software engineers (3–6 years experience) — gross annual base salary:
- London: £75,000–£105,000 (median ~£90,000)
- Amsterdam: €72,000–€100,000 (median ~€85,000)
- Dublin: €68,000–€95,000 (median ~€80,000)
- Paris: €60,000–€85,000 (median ~€72,000)
- Berlin: €62,000–€88,000 (median ~€74,000)
- Barcelona / Madrid: €42,000–€65,000 (median ~€52,000)
- Warsaw / Kraków: PLN 130,000–190,000 (median ~PLN 158,000 / ~€37,000)
Senior software engineers (7+ years) command a significant premium above these ranges. London and Amsterdam senior engineers regularly earn £110,000–£145,000 and €95,000–€130,000 respectively. Specialisations that consistently command premiums across all markets: machine learning engineering and applied AI, security engineering, and distributed systems/infrastructure at scale.
See the full software engineer salary guide →
Product managers
Product management is the highest-compensated non-engineering role in most European tech companies. The demand for experienced PMs has continued to grow, though the bar for hiring has risen significantly as the pool of trained PMs has expanded.
Mid-level product managers (4–6 years experience) — gross annual base salary:
- London: £75,000–£100,000 (median ~£88,000)
- Amsterdam: €70,000–€92,000 (median ~€80,000)
- Dublin: €67,000–€90,000 (median ~€77,000)
- Paris: €62,000–€84,000 (median ~€72,000)
- Berlin: €58,000–€80,000 (median ~€68,000)
- Barcelona / Madrid: €40,000–€60,000 (median ~€48,000)
Equity is more commonly a material part of PM compensation than for most other roles, particularly at growth-stage companies. A senior PM with meaningful unvested equity at a well-funded scale-up often has total compensation 20–40% above their base salary.
See the full product manager salary guide →
Data scientists
Data science has become one of the fastest-growing compensation segments in European tech. Demand for ML engineers and applied AI specialists has pushed the upper end of the range significantly higher over the past two years. There's a meaningful bifurcation within the title: classical data scientists (analytics-focused) earn toward the lower end; ML engineers working on production systems earn considerably more.
Mid-level data scientists (4–6 years experience) — gross annual base salary:
- London: £75,000–£100,000 (median ~£87,000)
- Amsterdam: €68,000–€90,000 (median ~€78,000)
- Dublin: €65,000–€85,000 (median ~€74,000)
- Paris: €58,000–€80,000 (median ~€68,000)
- Berlin: €60,000–€80,000 (median ~€69,000)
- Barcelona / Madrid: €38,000–€58,000 (median ~€46,000)
See the full data scientist salary guide →
Data analysts
Data analysts earn consistently below data scientists, but the skills premium for those with strong Python, experimentation design, or ML exposure is significant — often worth 15–25% above generalist peers in the same city.
Mid-level data analysts (3–6 years experience) — gross annual base salary:
- London: £42,000–£65,000 (median ~£52,000)
- Amsterdam: €42,000–€62,000 (median ~€51,000)
- Dublin: €40,000–€62,000 (median ~€50,000)
- Paris: €38,000–€57,000 (median ~€46,000)
- Berlin: €38,000–€58,000 (median ~€47,000)
- Barcelona / Madrid: €28,000–€42,000 (median ~€34,000)
Marketing managers
Marketing salaries in Europe sit below engineering and product roles for equivalent seniority, but there's meaningful variation by specialisation. Growth and performance marketing specialists — particularly those with experience scaling paid acquisition at B2C companies — consistently earn above generalist marketing managers.
Mid-level marketing managers (3–6 years experience) — gross annual base salary:
- London: £50,000–£75,000 (median ~£62,000)
- Amsterdam: €48,000–€68,000 (median ~€57,000)
- Dublin: €46,000–€66,000 (median ~€54,000)
- Paris: €44,000–€64,000 (median ~€52,000)
- Berlin: €45,000–€62,000 (median ~€52,000)
- Barcelona / Madrid: €28,000–€44,000 (median ~€35,000)
Operations and finance roles
Operations managers and finance professionals occupy a wide range depending on company stage, sector, and scope. Chief-of-staff and senior operations roles at well-funded scale-ups command premiums approaching product management; generalist operations at smaller companies sit closer to the marketing manager range.
Mid-level operations/finance managers (4–6 years experience) — gross annual base salary:
- London: £55,000–£80,000 (median ~£65,000)
- Amsterdam: €50,000–€72,000 (median ~€60,000)
- Dublin: €48,000–€68,000 (median ~€57,000)
- Berlin: €48,000–€65,000 (median ~€55,000)
- Barcelona / Madrid: €30,000–€48,000 (median ~€38,000)
The London premium — and when it's worth it
London pays the highest gross salaries in Europe across almost every professional category. But London also has the highest cost of living — rent, transport, and general expenses that reduce the real value of that premium significantly.
A useful approximation: £80,000 gross in London has broadly similar purchasing power to €75,000 in Amsterdam or €68,000 in Berlin, once rent, tax, and daily living costs are factored in. The gap narrows considerably on a net basis. For lifestyle factors — space, quality of life, work-life balance — many professionals find that lower-salary European cities compare favourably.
The calculus shifts at the very top of the market. Engineers earning £120,000–£140,000 at London's major tech firms, or finance professionals earning similar, are genuinely ahead in absolute purchasing power — the volume of the salary premium outweighs the cost premium. Below £80,000, the picture is more nuanced.
Eastern Europe: the value case
Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania offer significantly lower gross salaries but also substantially lower costs of living — and in some cases, strong purchasing power relative to Western European peers in real terms.
The dynamic that's changed significantly since 2020: remote work. A software engineer in Warsaw working for a London or Amsterdam employer can often earn in the €60,000–€80,000 range — at or above local senior-level market rates — while living at Warsaw costs. This has become a meaningful segment of the market and has pushed local Warsaw salaries upward as employers compete against remote compensation benchmarks.
Which direction are European salaries moving in 2026?
The overall picture in 2026: salary growth has moderated from the 2021–2022 peak, but remains positive in most markets, particularly for technical roles.
- Engineering and data roles: Continued growth, particularly at the senior and specialist end. AI/ML skills continue to command the strongest premiums.
- Product management: Growth has moderated. The market has more mid-level PMs than a few years ago, which is reducing the supply constraint that drove rapid salary growth from 2019–2022.
- Marketing: Broadly flat in most markets. Growth marketing and performance marketing specialists remain an exception.
- Data analysis: Steady growth, driven by continued expansion of data functions into mid-sized companies. Strong Python and experimentation skills command significant premiums.
The EU Pay Transparency Directive is increasingly affecting salary disclosures in job postings across EU member states, making the market more transparent for candidates. If you're benchmarking actively, job postings are an increasingly direct and reliable data source.
How to benchmark your specific salary
The ranges above provide a useful framework, but your actual market rate depends on your specific role, seniority, technical skills, industry, and the type of company you work for. Two software engineers in Berlin with the same years of experience can earn €30,000 apart depending on their stack, specialisation, and company stage.
Use our free salary checker to see where your salary sits relative to the specific market for your role, location, and experience level. The result is a percentile — which tells you not just whether you're below the median, but by how much. That gradient matters: being at the 42nd percentile is a different situation to being at the 24th percentile, and warrants a different response.
If you're below the 40th percentile for your role and city, there's a reasonable case for either negotiating internally or testing the external market. Below the 30th percentile is a significant gap worth acting on.