Salary expectations in Poland

Whilst I agree with what you are saying in this instance Mr D, You need to point out that in smaller cities it is much less, if you deduct cost of living then you be left with little change. The problem with having a small business in a small town say less than 40,000 people is that you have little turnover and if you are doing well somebody else will open shop and compete against you, just look at the amount of pizza shops that are around in these small towns, most struggle during the winter months. This leads to the fact that having a wage of say 3000zl a month will not be enough to invest in a house.

I had offered 1200 Euro net salary per month in krakow in international company. how much i need salary for two people that allow me and my wife to pay rent nice 1 bedroom house, have holidays, run a decent car, eat well, dress well ??? also I have 7 years experience as a senior accountant all in multinational companies, should i ask for more?? also as i read the tax will increase after two years employment, so how much should i ask salary from now to protect myself from that increase?? please give me number in Euro as a net salary.''they need me basically for my language but i will use it in accounting work''

Thanks in advance for your help guys

Are you qualified ? If so then you are being offered about half the going rate.

If you are not qualified then I would say what they have offered is a fair salary for krakow. You will live ok but not luxury?

so that is just less than 5000 pln per month. don't take it.

Disagree pip, this looks like bog standard shared service centre work, bookkeeping and accounts preparation. 5000 net is about 7500 gross and that is not a bad salary for such work by polish standards. If the salaries get any higher than that then these companies will probably be moving their shared service centres to romania, turkey or the next place.

no , I am not qualified accountant( i do not have CPA<CA OR CMA), i need a good life, i mean excellent, but not to save, a salary that enable me to travel to near other European countries. can i reach with them 1500 EURO salary net, or they will refuse me. the language I have is a bit rare to find in poland.

I think 1500 euro is pretty good. Krakow is a beautiful city and you will have opportunities to travel- you will enjoy life in Poland with that salary.

do u think with my experience, and my language-arabic and they need it, i can ask for 1500 EURO net salary or it will be to much to ask in poland??

Dear all,i need your honest advise, as surfing internet make me confused and everyone say a number of salary so far from the number of the other. i offered a job in krakow, and i have 2 questions for you.

1- its an international company in krakow need arabic senior accountant,I think that there maximum offer will be 1200 Euro net salary after tax wich is 4939 PLN. when i asked people on internet how much i need salary to have clean nice 1 bedroom in the city center,also have money to travel to the neighbour countries in europ if i take vacation, eat well(i do not cook),dress well,and to have excellent life, with no need to save any money, also the salary that enable me if i think to get married,even if my woman do not work, to be comfortable and happy. The answer was 1500 Euro net, which is 6173 PLN net.

Is that salary(1500 Euro) enough? for what i needed as i mentioned before. and if not how much you think i should ask for?
2- I am a senior accountant with 7 years experience all in multinational companies,if you were an international expat with my experience whats the fair salary you will ask for? do you think with my experience i deserve to get 6173 PLN net in poland, should i ask more or less. because what they offer me tell now is max 4939 PLN net.

please answer me because that issue make me tired

Honestly- I don't think it is enough but perhaps I have different expectations than you might.

does arabic languge difficult to find in poland, what the salary do u think is fair for my experience in poland as international expact working in international company?

If you want some honest advice

- you speak Arabic but your English is quite weak compared to local graduates which will be an issue for your employer
- you are not qualified and after 7 years of accounting you should know that is what is required to earn good money
- if you turned up to get a job from me I would compare your demands with the combined cost of a polish bookkeeper and an Arabic school new graduate who could translate for them , and I reckon that would come in less than 7000 zloty.

But show some gumption, ask your employers for what you think will support your lifestyle and wait for them to say yes or no.

Cms, thanks for your comment. I just want you to know that I am native arabic and fluent english, and have university degree in finance,also 90% of my work will be dealing with arab people in middle east, because of that they want me, also not forget that all my 7 years exp. were in multi company.

answering to your question, i did and i negotiate in my first interview and i reached as max 1200 Euro net. but i feel i deserve more, at least 1500 Euro, even if people say that poland have law wages, actually they are wrong, poland achieved(sixth growth in economy in Europe.) may be competition is high, yes its true. but i think if the range of salaries 750 Euro, i should ask double as expat,another meaning i should ask 1500 EURO,as in middle east we pay 3 times more salary for expat that come from Europe. As I gain now 3000 Euro in middle east , even if i have a great desire to relocate to poland, it will be shame on me to accept less than 50% of my salary. i believe if this company need me, and its international as it says , it should pay me 1500 net. Thanks

Yes 6000 zl per monrth does no seem shockingly huge given your qualifications but avoid thinking in Euros just stick to Zlotys .

Apart from the accommodation which will be a maximum of 2500 zl per month for something really really nice in Krakow , your purchasing power will be high and you ll have enough to spend on nice clothes, good food, restaurants ,litle trips etc

If this company is offering you 4939 zl per month you can also accept for a few months just to try and then negociate with them if they are very satisfied with your work.

4939 zl is also ok since you are not married ,you can find a nice furnished studio in Krakow for 1600 zl all included.
Try to negociate so they provice you a budget for Polish lessons or organise corporate Polish lessons for you at the company, your life will be easier knowing Polihs( you ll be less ripped off as a foreigner).

in anycase you will adore Krakow ( exept in Winter maybe).

Believe and should are wishful thinking.

Hi Guys ...

I will be relocating to Wroclaw soon. I have been offered 11K PLN gross per month. My wife and a 2 year old kid will be joining with me. How good is this salary for the 3 of us ? Will I be able to spend, save and have an above average life style with this salary in Wroclaw ?

I can see there are several questions like mine in this thread. As I am unable to relate my family size and salary to those, I am posting mine here. It will be great if one of you can reply to this and help me !

Thanks in advance for you time ! Have a great day !

That converts to 3543.1330 USD as of this moment.

Personally, I could live quite well on that in Wroclaw or anywhere and have plenty of extra money. With 2 kids. But I don't know your lifestyle.


What is your definition of above average? Given that unless you make $300,000USD/year in the US, you are considered to be making average or below average. Average versus above average are vague terms.

That is a good salary. USD is floating around 3.1 today so that is about 42 K before taxes. Preschool will be about 1000 pln, rent? car? groceries will probably be close to 1500 per month. see if you can figure out your spending.

I think 1500 euro is cheap for the skills and experience you have.. After all, your employer will be billing in Dollars most probably.

I get the impresion that you are only trying to spread the idea that everyone in Poland should work for extremely low salaries. Because of people like you, who spread this BS, some people get their expectations lower. This shouldn't be, I am sure if the people in Poland with a degree (let's say an engineer) wouldn't accept a salary in the range of 1500zl-2500zl, soon the companies will be forced to rise the salaries.

I agree totally, BS falls out of this man's mouth.

Thats also BS, im a danish speaker working for an outsourcing companies in Poland, also im 20 years old with no university degree and no polish language skills, and im making 4900ZL net. montly

So if you are a language speaker you can easily get 4000 net.

I don't think that it is bs. I think some points are accurate, however, it is not reflective of the entire country. In Warsaw a starting salary in a white collar job is probably about 5 to 7,000 a month- before taxes. I am not talking about office managers or secretaries either. All of our friends are Polish and all of them make more than 10,000 per month. My husbands cousin just got a job for 10 k in the tricity area. The jobs are there but it is a matter of looking for them and knowing what the going rate for that job is.

Pip of that were the case then why is the average salary for Warsaw 5500 gross ?

There are probably less than 200.000 people in the whole of Poland earning more than 10k a month.

sorry, not for a second do I believe that. It is an average number you are giving me- which is not an accurate representation- it is an average. There are many people here that make less but there are also that make more. How is it possible for people to be able to afford apartments that are close to 7,000 per square metre, and they are still selling. Why is Miasteczko Wilanow still selling and why are they still building there? They are soon starting construction on a mall that will be bigger than galeria Mokotow in this local. Why are houses being built just past Wilanow--people are buying them and these houses start at 2.5 million. Something doesn't add up. The banks are not lending their money as freely yet people are still buying.

It doesn't make sense.

Jeg kan også dansk men det er meget tid jeg øver det ikker mere

By the way, delphiandomine seems to be focusing in spreading only BS and negativity that everyone should get a very low salary. I don't know what are his intentions, The mentality of people like him is what stop this country to develop. I know one polish guy who got a degree from Cambridge University, who for some reasons he wanted to look for a job in Poland. He told me about that in an interview, the human resources guy told him with an authoritarian tone '' what? a degree from cambridge university? this is useless, in Poland your degree is useless!!! '' Seriously, that is a retarded mentality, practically he was saying '' since your degree is useless, you should work for a very low salary '' . Wihtout doubt, the human resources guy suffers from a post-communist syndrome

I don't think so. But the numbers are not accurate anymore. I know in my husbands office the support staff--meaning secretaries and office managers make about 3800 starting salary- which for somebody straight out of school is pretty good.

As I said previously my husbands cousin just got hired at 10K per month. He also has been working for about 12 years and has taken various training courses.

Developers, restaurant and cafes owners,private clinics owners in Krakow or any crowded city in Poland, those people are making loads....and of course have a luxurious lifestyle.

I have the impression that successful entrepreneurs are quite numerous and i believe the taxation -fiscal policy for small businesses or starts ups is better in Poland than in most European countries.

What i like in Poland is that people who are making good money are also spending it and enjoying an excellent lifestyle and i also find people to be very generous.

I have not personally met many penny pinchers in Poland ...It seems that the people who manage after so many years of poverty to reach a wealthier social class are not hiding it and are on the opposite enjoying every bit of their success in Business.

Of course it is an average but the median would of course be even lower.

What is the most reliable source - the Polish statistics office or your cousin in Gdansk ?

that is a bit of a stretch. It is an example. Perhaps I just run in different circles. All of our Polish friends make over 10k a month. Easily. Even my carpenter makes more than that and he only has a high school education, yet he owns a single family home, two cars and takes about 5 vacations a year. How many people live in Wilanow and Konstancin. Loads of them make a crap load of money- what about all the Poles that send their kids to private elementary and high schools? The American school is over 50% Polish and the fees are 60k a year. And then there is the big money in Gdynia and Sopot.

The numbers are not an accurate representation of how much money is actually flowing into Poland nor does it reflect actual incomes.

I think we probably move in similar circles actually, although I'm maybe less fixated about school fees and what kind of car I drive.

In Wilanow there are 20.000 people and in Konstancin 16.000. The whole population of Warsaw is 1,7m so those rich people in whose circles you move actually make up 2% of the population. By contrast there are more than 100.000 people in each of Wola, Targowek, Ochota and you may have noticed they mostly live in commie blocks, shop at Biedronka and go to work by tram not by 4x4.

The 5.500 average is a correct figure.

I'm not surprized carpenters make decent money, its quite a skilled job, he can take on as much work as he can handle and it cant be outsourced to China.