Take-home pay by country

How to read the take-home ranking

Each figure is the share of gross pay that a single employee keeps after income tax and employee social contributions, at one reference salary per country. The reference salary is the middle value of the list of amounts we publish pages for in that currency: 4,000 a month for euro, dollar and sterling countries, 45,000 DKK in Denmark, 10,000 RON in Romania, 20,000 AED in the Emirates. The calculator runs that salary through the same model as the country page and divides net by gross.

The top is the Gulf: the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman keep 100%, Bahrain 99%, then Azerbaijan at 94.5%. The United States keeps 84.9% and the United Kingdom 82.5%. Estonia sits at the midpoint of the whole list with 79%. The bottom is continental Europe with high social contributions: Romania keeps 58.5%, Denmark 61.6%, Slovenia 62.2%, Germany 65.6% and Belgium 66.1%.

The choice of reference salary matters more than it looks. In a progressive system the share kept falls as pay rises, so a country's position would shift at a different amount. The reference is also not the local average wage: 4,000 EUR is almost double Estonia's 2,092 EUR average but below Germany's 4,784 EUR, so the two are being measured at different points on their own scale. The model assumes one employee with no dependants, no regional or municipal surcharges beyond those built into the country rate, and no contribution ceilings, and the United States figure is federal tax only with no state tax. Countries whose calculator is marked as an estimate carry that uncertainty into this list.

For the arithmetic behind a net figure, read gross to net explained, and for why your own payslip may differ, see why your payslip differs.