European Software Engineer Compensation Report 2026
What Europe's highest-paying tech roles actually pay, and where you keep the most after tax.
Across Europe's top-tier €100k+ roles (total comp incl. equity), what you actually keep depends less on headline pay than on tax, cost of living, and whether you can even get the job. So these are the numbers if you land one, not an average salary. Zurich keeps the most, ~€134k/yr, but lists just 139 open roles — a near-lottery. London nearly matches it (~€107k) across 2,432. Sweden is the trap: even at top-tier companies, you save about €17k a year. Chase high take-home where the jobs actually are, not the biggest headline number.
Methodology & what these numbers are
This report covers 8,737 curated European job listings. 8,619 carry a total-compensation estimate and 8,011 a modeled savings figure: the numbers behind every median below. All comp is total compensation including equity, from curated €100k+ roles, so these describe the top of the market, not average developer salaries. Supply also varies a lot by location, so every cut shows how many such roles are actually open (your odds of landing one).
“Savings” is modeled annual savings at a comfortable lifestyle, after national income tax and city cost-of-living: what a median earner there would actually keep. Figures are medians, not means, and appear only where a country or city has enough roles to be meaningful. Numbers refresh hourly from the live EuroTopTech jobs database; community figures (lens 3) come from 918 crowdsourced engineer self-reports. Updated June 2026.
The three lenses below (gross pay, take-home savings, and community self-reports) answer different questions over different populations, so we never blend them into one number.Lens 1: Highest-paying countries
Median total compensation including equity for curated top-tier roles, assuming you live where the job is. Pay tracks cost of living, so Switzerland and the UK top the list. “Open roles” shows how many are live right now (your odds of landing one); note that Switzerland's high pay sits on very few of them. Medians are taken over roles that carry a comp estimate.
| Country | Open roles | Median total comp |
|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 172 | €340,000 |
| United Kingdom | 2,808 | €235,000 |
| Ireland | 1,135 | €220,000 |
| Germany | 1,131 | €205,000 |
| Netherlands | 568 | €175,000 |
| Denmark | 99 | €170,000 |
| Sweden | 336 | €150,000 |
| Spain | 453 | €130,000 |
| Finland | 104 | €130,000 |
| Poland | 451 | €127,500 |
| Czechia | 43 | €120,000 |
| Italy | 179 | €120,000 |
| Romania | 183 | €120,000 |
| Estonia | 221 | €120,000 |
| Hungary | 63 | €120,000 |
| France | 467 | €115,000 |
| Serbia | 59 | €85,000 |
| Portugal | 88 | €85,000 |
Lens 2: Where you keep the most (the remote-arbitrage cut)
Now re-rank the same roles by modeled savings: what you keep after income tax and city cost-of-living. The order inverts — high-tax markets fall, lower-cost ones climb. If you can work remote, this is your map for picking a base: earn a top-tier package, live somewhere that lets you keep it.
Poland · €62k/yr
kept on a €128k median package
Sweden · €17k/yr
kept on a higher €150k median package
3.6×
more saved despite lower headline pay
What you keep vs. how gettable the job is
Up = you keep more. Right = more of these roles are open, so you're likelier to land one. Top-right is the sweet spot; top-left is a lottery (great pay, almost no openings); the bottom is low take-home regardless.
Median savings by country (same roles, re-ranked by what you keep)
Best cities to base yourself (median savings)
| City | Median kept / yr | Open roles | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zurich | €134,000 | 139 | Scarce |
| London | €107,000 | 2,432 | Deep |
| Manchester | €107,000 | 44 | Scarce |
| Amsterdam | €87,000 | 525 | Deep |
| Copenhagen | €78,000 | 67 | Scarce |
| Munich | €71,000 | 332 | Moderate |
| Berlin | €71,000 | 456 | Moderate |
| Frankfurt | €71,000 | 69 | Scarce |
| Hamburg | €71,000 | 48 | Scarce |
| Dublin | €68,000 | 1,062 | Deep |
| Tallinn | €64,000 | 211 | Moderate |
| Warsaw | €62,000 | 356 | Moderate |
| Krakow | €62,000 | 21 | Scarce |
| Barcelona | €56,000 | 109 | Scarce |
Lens 3: What the community actually reports
A different population, and a reality check on Lenses 1–2. Those were top-tier offers. This is what 918 engineers actually living across Europe report (a mix of big tech, high-paying remote, and ordinary employers), via the EuroTopTech community data project. Reported savings sit below the curated offers (Romania: ~€34k reported vs ~€55k offered); the difference is roughly what a top-tier role adds over a typical one. It also captures happiness and tax/infrastructure satisfaction, which levels.fyi doesn't.
Real reported savings (cost-of-living adjusted)
| Country | Reports | Saved / yr | Save rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Romania | 37 | €34,378 | 51% |
| Lithuania | 23 | €34,114 | 54% |
| Poland | 59 | €31,438 | 48% |
| Serbia | 29 | €29,998 | 45% |
| Finland | 15 | €29,559 | 50% |
| Spain | 63 | €22,037 | 43% |
| Hungary | 81 | €20,912 | 41% |
| United Kingdom | 56 | €20,680 | 43% |
| Denmark | 45 | €19,917 | 45% |
| Netherlands | 53 | €19,718 | 42% |
Happiness & tax/infrastructure satisfaction
| Country | Happiness /10 | Tax & infra /10 |
|---|---|---|
| France | 7.7 | 9.0 |
| Czechia | 8.3 | 7.7 |
| Netherlands | 8.0 | 7.7 |
| Austria | 8.3 | 7.3 |
| Switzerland | 7.4 | 8.0 |
| Poland | 7.8 | 6.8 |
| Bulgaria | 8.0 | 6.3 |
| Romania | 8.0 | 6.3 |
The €100k+ ladder: comp by seniority
Median total compensation across all curated European roles, by level. The jump from senior to staff is where total comp compounds fastest.
€105k
394 roles€145k
3,092 roles€205k
4,900 roles€275k
329 roles€430k
106 rolesFrequently asked
Which country pays software engineers the most in Europe?
By median total compensation including equity across curated top-tier roles, Switzerland leads at €340k, followed by United Kingdom (€235k), Ireland (€220k), Germany (€205k). These are top-tier, high-paying roles, not average developer salaries.
Where do European software engineers keep the most after tax?
Modeled after-tax, after-cost-of-living savings are highest in Switzerland (€134k/yr), United Kingdom (€107k/yr), Netherlands (€87k/yr). But the biggest savings often sit on the hardest roles to get: Zurich keeps the most yet lists the fewest openings. The realistic sweet spot is a high-take-home market with deep supply like London, or a low-cost base with decent supply like Warsaw (~€62k kept).
Does a higher salary mean more savings?
No. Sweden's median role keeps only ~€17k/yr after tax and living costs, while lower-paid Poland keeps ~€62k, about 3.6× more. Tax and cost of living move take-home more than headline pay does.
Why are these figures higher than levels.fyi or national salary surveys?
Because EuroTopTech curates €100k+ top-tier roles and counts total compensation including equity. These numbers describe the top of the European market, not the average developer salary.