Cost of Living, Average Salaries and Job sites in Poland

Hi,

I am originally german/currently working in Ireland and I am considering moving to Poland. Giving that my mum is originally from Slupsk I always had Poland in mind even if it was for just a year or so. I've been to Poznan last week and finally made up my mind about the move but hope to be able to stay longer than just a year.

Last week I have been talking to a recruitment agency but unfortunately she couldnt give me much information about the cost of living and average salaries in Poland. Before I flew back last saturday I spoke to this girl working in a bar at Poznan Airport. She said that she was taking home about about 1000 PLN a month which was a little less than I expected the average in Poland would be.

My questions are. Could anyone please tell me what the average salaries and costs of living are? Also while we're at it :). Does anyone know of good job websites in english? I have had a job in Krakow in mind but would like to look around to see whats out there. Been thinking about Warsaw, Krakow, Wrozlaw or Poznan.

Thanks a lot in advance :)

Official average is about 2000 PLN, maybe even more.. although there are people who earn 1000 PLN or less, and people who earn 15 000 or more... maybe you should tell us what is your profession?

Costs of living in Warsaw for one person? I would say that it is about 1500 PLN.

poles are incredibly secretive about what they earn... or what their business earns... any figure they do let slip out will probably not be the truth...


but dont expect to eat or drink for this figure...

Yeah, maybe 1500 PLN in most cases wouldn't be enough... but my friend earns 1500 PLN and somehow live in Warsaw... he rents one room flat.

Ok, so 2000 PLN would be enough in most cases.

In Warsaw... ? Enough to survive...

yeah... but dont expect to eat or drink...

Why ? That's enough to buy water and potatoes.

Enough for food, paying all the bills.. even for public transport.

Hi all,
what i would like to konw is where i can find polish companys who have relations/work
with israeli high tech companys.
myself; i am a IT Manager for the last 10 years and have worked already in the US, Germany and Israel. now i am looking for a new advatutre which could be in Poland.

of cause the money has to be right.
regards,
Daniel

Hi, thanks for the replies. So if i would earn 2000 after tax would that be a good Salary in Warsaw? When I say good I dont mean enough to survive mind you though.

Thanks again

NO... havent you read what weve been saying...?

you will be able to survive, and yes afford a couple of beers but dont for one moment think that you are earning a good salary...

No. Especailly If you have to rent a flat. Anything below 5000 is not good.

TheKruk goes out on a limb.
I earn between 3000 and 5000 monthly before taxes and Zus got two kids and a wife and we jUUUUUst squeak by. We eat good I can afford toys from time to time but there ain't no nest egg.

Thanks again :) ..... one more question though. I think i somewhat understood the tax system but what exactly does ZUS mean and how much would I have to pay for that?

ZUS takes about 15% of your salary, but is capped at an earnings level of about 70.000 PLN.

Average take home pay in Poznan is approx 2000 (about 3000 gross). You could live frugally on that but to be comfy you would want a minimum 4000 gross - rent for a one bedroom place starts around 700.

Plenty of information available on average wages and costs is on the govt official statistics site gus.pl

Are you serious? ZUS is above 40%

Yes but not all of that is paid by the employee.

Employer pays over about 19,8% of gross salary to ZUS.

Employee pays about 14% of their gross salary which is deducted at source.

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Cost of Living in Poland

Hey all,

I'm really stuck with a few things. I am moving to Gdynia in a month time. I have a job that will give me 3300zl after taxes, and my partner is hopefully going to earn 2000zl. Now she has totaled the estimated costs of renting a flat while we build a house.

Now renting a flat at 1500zl per month, with bills, petrol for a month, shopping for a month etc, she thinks will come to 4200zl per month which i can't believe looking at the polish average wage. Surely cost of livign is less than this? Can people give me any idea of costs of food shopping, petrol, bills for 1 bed flat for a month?

Any help useful

Obviously it depends on lifestyle and where you live.

I pay 1600zl rent per month for a good, modern 1 bed apartment in the centre of town. I get paid approximately 3000zl per month and I can easily afford bills, food, internet and still have enough left over for beer, restuarants, cinema etc.

... I think you'll be alright somehow

The prices you listed are realistic.

The reason people can afford it here is because they don't live alone normally. Families live together with more people in a flat than is common in the west.

You could get by on less if you don't eat out, don't drink much and take public transport.

Poland is not "cheap" relative to what you get...not anymore.

prices are shooting up in poland i mean ffs i pay 7.90 for a pack of smokes and that aint right... that said, many people get by on f all, pay very little rent, never eat out and drink at home... it all depends on the life style you want to live

If Poland depended on only natives here the prices would not be able to stay so high for things like restaurants etc...they would go out of business. Expats and business travelers support the costs.

They are so cheapp compared to here, I rember getting a carton of smokes in PL for the same price I could get 3 packs in Canada.

How much it would cost you to buy a hose in Poland in an average neighborhood and how much would be your mortgage payments? What about a new or 1-2 year old car? How much for payments + insurance? How much does an average truck driver, teacher, nurse, engineer makes?

Just wondering.
THX

LOL! and thats all we need :)

Hi,

Can anybody what would be the average salary for an IT person in the city of Wroclaw; moreover what is the average cost of living involving a apartment and food.

Howz the life overall there.... I have read car jacking, thefts are a common practice in Wroclaw Poland

....
Cheers'

Depends of qualifications...between 2000 and 3000zl a month brut.

Food is cheap

Increase in crime in wroclaw especially on foreigners. Best not to have car as you need the garage, otherwise car will disappear. Public transport is good.

What kind of IT person? Depending on what you do, you can make from 1500 (if you are unlucky enough) to something like 10 000zl (good programmer for example).


The "neighborhood thing" is almost non existent in most towns/cities in Poland. Sure, there are some areas you wouldn't want to visit/live or very rich ones, but besides that there is very little planning involved. Mostly it's a mix, where all live together. So you would rather need to check what's the condition of the particular building and maybe what time will you need to get to the city center in case of the big cities. The costs of buying are comparable to renting, a bit higher but still worth to do it if you earn enough. You would probably want to pay it off for something in between 15 and 30 years, as the payments are quite high. It's hard to say how much, cause prices are very different in each place.

The cars are pretty expensive, considering average wages, let's say the avg is something like 2000zl (depending on place and job), a new car would be like 40 000-70 000zl (nothing great), most people are buying used cars as they cost much less. Let's say you can get a few years old, comparable car for 15 000zl and many buy quite old, cheap ones for prices like 5000-10 000zl. Insurance also depends on the type and age of the car and your insurance history too. Be ready to pay something like 1500-2500zl a year.

If it is of any help to you here is one of main food chain catalog with prices (.pdf)

carrefour.pl/img/handlowy/katalogi_h/20080310/katalog_h_12-22.03.2008. pdf


Also don't wear a watch when in public.

you know they are taking your advices serious ...

as to salaries here is the tool :

you can check how much you are going to earn in different occupations (site is on earnings of programmer you can check other occupations as well)

praca.gazeta.pl/gazetapraca/2,79052,,,,85882747,P_WYNAGRODZENIA.html