Work in Italy: Salaries
- João
- May 19, 2023
- 2 min read
Italy is not known as a European destination with high salaries; quite the opposite. According to Eurostat (the European Union's statistical office), Italy ranks 11th, behind Germany, France, and the EU average. Based on this data, the average income for an Italian is €30,000 per year, approximately €2,500 per month.
While a direct Euro to Real (or any other weak currency) conversion might give the impression of a high salary, it's important to consider the cost of living and individual lifestyle when making comparisons. Categorizing a salary as high or low should be done within each person's own context.
Additionally, Europe is known for its high taxes, which are used to support the welfare state (free or subsidized healthcare and education, high quality of life, etc.). We will discuss these taxes further in future posts.
If you plan to move from abroad to Italy, research local costs to understand how much purchasing power an Italian salary will provide compared to your current income. However, it's important to note that the number mentioned above is an average, and there will be significant variation depending on the type of work and qualifications, both higher or lower.
HOW TO DETERMINE IF A SALARY IN ITALY IS COMPETITIVE?
Research annual salary guides from reputable recruitment consulting firms.
Specialized recruitment companies such as Hays and PageGroup often publish annual salary surveys. Explore these studies on their websites to understand how much the market pays for your profession and level of position.
Below, we share three freely available and recently extracted salary surveys.
Download here recent salary reports
Search for cost of living comparators or comparative indices.
A classic way to measure the cost of living between countries is the Big Mac Index. With this data, you can find out how much a Big Mac costs in your country and in Italy, and determine how many sandwiches you can buy with each salary.
In reality, the difference in cost of living takes into account various factors, many of which are individual in nature. Each family or individual has their own lifestyle, preferences regarding food, transportation, and leisure activities, for example. In this sense, there is no magic number.
Here on the blog, we sometimes use Expatistan for comparative salary research. For instance, this site indicates that living in Milan is 44% more expensive than in São Paulo. Roughly speaking, this means that if you want to move to Milan, you should have a salary that is at least 44% higher to maintain the same standard of living. In Rome, this difference drops to 34%.
In the upcoming posts, we will talk more about taxes and the components of Italian compensation.
This article provides useful context for understanding Italian salaries, but to truly know how much you'll earn after taxes, it’s essential to calculate your net salary (stipendio netto). You can easily do this using Italian net salary simulators like Calcola Stipendio Netto 2025, which shows your real monthly income after IRPEF, INPS, and regional taxes giving you a clearer picture of your actual purchasing power in Italy.
There are several online tools which help in estimating the net salary after taxation and social benefits. They take into account the total yearly income, no of salaries in a year, region of your residence, number of dependents and type of contract. and based on these parameters, they help you calculate total take home salary which is your actual income. I use this tool to calculate mine, you can also give it a try. https://localcolostipendionetto.it/