Salary and cost of living information - Krakow

They certainly are, but if they offer you only 2000zl you will struggle to live a good existence in Poland. Sure you'll survive on pasta and tuna, but you won't enjoy a good standard of living. If I was you and they only offered me that much I wouldn't be bothered moving.

Internships are OK, as long as it's just for few months. The amount which I mentioned is bare minimum. Perhaps some students can survive with 1000zł net. But it doesn't mean that 2000zł net is decent salary - perhaps for intern. There was once an article in a newspaper that French woman came working in Kraków for 3000pln net, because she read that it's more than double minimum salary. Later she was surprised how many things she cannot afford, which she thought are basic, when living in France. She felt poor.

I am also getting gross salary of around 2800 euro ( 12000 PLN) evry month. However, after the tax,zus, insurance, I receive approximately 6,500 PLN. All hail to the tax, zus system!!!!!

A 12000 gross (to employee) salary will work out as around 8400 net.
money.pl/podatki/kalkulatory/plac

Maybe he means gross gross, meaning total employer cost.

He may mean this.
He uses the sentence - 'I'm getting ..' which caused me to believe he means gross to employee salary. Any employer taxes would not be generally attributed as being received by an employee as it doesn't register on any of their tax returns etc. so should be of no concern to them.

i wanna come to Poland for studies... what international student can allow to do part time work in Poland ???

Why do you ask about it in this topic?
Are full-time students studying in Poland on the basis if a visa - In his case they are entitled to work without a permit only in the following months: July, August and September.

But the pay is very low and it's unlikely to get any job without fluency in Polish.

Merged: Info about moving to Kraków required ( cost of living, accommodation etc )

Hello everyone:

I recently accepted a job offer, working as costumer service to a multinational enterprise in Kraków.

I'm using this thread to ask you guys some info concerning the cost of living, the search for an accommodation, bureaucratic procedures, and other stuff.

Starting with the cost of living, is 4500 PLN Gros enough for a single person? Can I find a relatively affordable flat for myself near Jasnogórska?

Do you use Sodexo vouchers for meals or similar in you company's?

What do you find to be the best Polish bank to open a job account, and offers the best advantages?

If you wish to give any other useful advices about the city and living there, I would be very grateful :)

Thanks!

Try using the forum's search function. There is already plenty of information available e.g:

polishforums.com/work-study-43/cost-living-krakow-pln-gross-job-salary-enough-60881 (Merged)
https://polishforums.com/law/poland-opening-bank-account-foreigner-15329/3/

Why oh why do people feel the need to accept job offers and then decide to do the research on where the job is located. I mean really, shouldn't this research be done before you accept the offer?!

Tamarisk, I haven't signed the contract yet, so at any moment I am free do decline. Of course, I did my own research previously about the cost of living (including on this forum), but some threads dated from 2010/ 11. Much could have changed since then.

And also, I'm more concerned now about the starting procedures for me to move there, like legalizing my permanent residence (I'm a EU citizen), opening a job account in a bank (I'm considering Milenium SA), taking care of my PESEL registration, and finding a decent flat for around 1000 PLN near Jasnogórska.

For instance, I've consulted some Polish real-estate websites (dom.gratka.pl) and I have found interesting flats for that amount like one in Ul. Belwederczyków (ofertygratka-PLD-MW-4719-3).

The monthly rent is 1000 PLN, but I have to pay another monthly 300 PLN plus expenses? Would you be so kind to explain to me what are the extra 300 for, because I can't read polish and google translator is pretty much useless...

One of my other questions is concerned about the sodexo meal vouchers, on how they work and where can I use them, in order to determine how much I can save from food expenses from my monthly paycheck.

If any of you could help me with these questions, I would be very grateful!

Best regards to all :)

For sure they can be used in any supermarket. Where I come from they can however only be used for food, I am not sure what's the rule in Poland on this one.

The advertised price is only the money that the owner of the apartment gets.

On top of that, the association that administers the building that the apartment is in gets an additional fee of anywhere from 300 to 600 PLN (not included in the rental price you see advertised). This covers things like building and grounds maintenance and improvement, as well as garbage pickup).

Then you generally have to pay separately for utilities: heat, electricity, gas, cold water, hot water, telephone, internet and cable TV. The one that can greatly affect you budget is heat. An older apartment may be cheaper in terms of the advertised rent price, but turn out to be a lot more expensive if the windows are not in good shape and you have to pay more for heat.

Therefore, expect to spend anywhere from 600 to 1200 PLN more than the advertised price for the apartment overall, including all fees and utilities with heat.

So the apartment you see advertised is going to cost you 1600 to 2200 in total. Maybe a little less if your lucky, or more if you're not. Make you plans taking this into account.

That's true, on top of that, because you are using a real estate agency there will be their fee too. I think you should be confident on paying close to 2000PLN for that.


Take out 30% of that to take into account the tax. You should look at about 3150PLN take home pay and so after rent and bills you should look at having 1150PLN in your pocket for a month. This is perfectly manageable however it's not a huge amount and if you are thinking of going out every other night and shopping exclusively in Alma/Kuchnia Swiata you will be out of cash in about a week or two.


There are quite a few different types of sodexo vouchers. I know the most common is the Podarunkowy Pass which is accepted in all major supermarkets and a large number of other shops. It would be worth checking the exact type of voucher you are getting from them. If it is Podarunkowy Pass then you can pretty much add the value of your vouchers to your wages and get a pretty good idea of what you will have in your pocket for the month.

If it is a different type of voucher then it would be worth checking to see where that type will be accepted. On
dlaciebie.sodexo.pl/kupony
you can enter the type of voucher in the section RODZAJ KUPONÓW and then Kraków in the MIASTO and search to see what kind of shops/restaurants are there.

Merged: Need advice - offered a job in Krakow - is it worth it? What's the cost of living?

Hello everyone,

I am being offered a Supervisor's position in my current employer's office in Krakow. It is a global investment bank. I have been working for them for 8 years in New York. I am a single mom - my son is 15 months old. My mother would probably move with me as well to look after the baby.

I haven't seen the details of the offer yet - it hasn't been approved yet. Apparently, the firm would offer relocation package to me, i.e. moving expenses, one-way airfare to Krakow, etc. I want to be prepared when the offer arrives - could you please help with the cost of living including rent, groceries, etc? I love to travel. Would I be able to travel at least twice a year?

I will keep you posted once I know the numbers.

Thank you in advance.

Samira

Look at this website for prices comparison. Here you have prices comparison New York vs Kraków:

Consumer Prices Including Rent in Krakow (Cracow) are 65.62% lower than in New York, NY

So if you were living in New York, you could move to Kraków, get 66% lower salary and live on similar level. Other way to look at it is that if you were moving from New York to Kraków you could spend 66% less money and still live on similar level. It doesn't take into account your lack of knowledge of the country, so probably you would have to spend more. This estimation takes into account buying mostly local products rather than imported. This website is rather correct about renting prices.

No doubt that New York is the most expensive city to live in in the United States.
If you moved from New York to Detroit you could live on 66% less salary yet still make only 25% less than New York City wages.
New York City has a population of 8.5 million people or 8,500,000 in an area of 469 square miles with a major port.
Krakow has a population of 760,000 people in an area of 126 square miles.
Detroit Michigan has a population of 680,000 people in 144 square miles. (Comparable to Krakow.)
Hamtramck is the Polish section of Detroit.
In Hamtramck you will pay roughly half of what you will pay in New York.
Wages per month in New York City, $4300, Krakow $900, Hamtramck $3200.
In Hamtramack Marlboro cigarettes are $6.50 a pack, local Budweiser beer is $5.50 a six pack and you can get a decent bottle of wine for $10. (Same as Krakow)

Rent in New York is $2500 a month, Krakow $450 a month and Detroit $800 a month.
Gas in the entire U.S. averages about $3.50 v.s. $6.00 a gallon in Krakow.
Coke/Pepsi for a liter is $1 at any shopping center in the U.S..
New York is the highest taxed city in the U.S. with 10 times the population of Krakow in an area only three times as big as Krakow.

(Hardly similar)
Yes, you make big money in New York City but it costs big money to live in that rat race too.
You can live in just about any major city in the U.S. for half of what it costs to live in New York.
New York is a far cry from my cup of tea.
If you want to run with the big dogs however, you have to learn to pee high.

Hi Guys,

How is Herbalife to work for as an Oracle Applications Analyst. What could be the decent salary offer for this role, I'm an MBA with 5 years of experience. What do you think how much I need to ask as my net take home salary per month. Just a note - I want to save something as well on a monthly basis.

Thanks.

here you have some opinions about work in this company: gowork.pl/opinie_czytaj,903856

Thank You Monitor with the quick reply and the URL, however could you guide on the other aspects of my question - how much to ask as my net take home salary per month ( I'm a single person, though want ro save something as well).

Thanks

OK, here you have more links concerning general salaries in Poland:

tiny.cc/hays-pdf
tiny.cc/outsourcing-pdf

I think that you should ask somewhere between 3000 - 10 000 PLN NET.

I guess they're in Warsaw:
Herbalife Polska Sp. z o.o.
ul. Falencka 1B, Janki
05-090 Raszyn

Then, to save something without living in shared apartment and saving on food you should be getting min. 5000 PLN net.

Thank you Monitor, lets see how it turns out.

Hello everyone,

I have an update - they are offering me 8000PLN gross a month. I went to the Polish tax calculator website and see that it will be about 5600PLN net. I am not sure if it is enough for 3 people to live comfortably... I want to keep my standard of living as much as possible, travel. I would need to rent a 3-room apartment, the groceries would be at least 1500PLN a month. I want to try and negotiate the salary... Would 6500-7000PLN be enough?

Thanks!

Thx for the update. It's good to know what are current rates. If it's Warsaw, then you can negotiate a little bit more I think. The 5000 which I mentioned was for 1 person. 5600 for 3 people will be ok, but no (or very little) savings.

Thank you, Monitor. It's a US Investment Bank in Krakow. I have over 10 years of experience in the US and abroad, have MBA in Business Administration, speak several languages. I have worked for this company for over 8 years.

A sorry, I mixed you up with user @miracle. I have no Idea about salaries in banking, but most of jobs here are mostly outsourcing. So the most important is low cost, not international experience from the best institutions.

Which of these positions are you applying for: ?


According to Hayes in Małopolskei median salaries for these jobs in 2011 varied from 4500 PLN to 21 000 PLN. I guess now it's 10% more.

The position's name is in English as it is a US company - Supervisor of Mutual Fund Services.

So I think that I cannot help you. In [hays.pl/cs/groups/hays_common/documents/digitalasset/hays_465124.pdf] independent accountant earns median 5000 pln gross in 2011. Maximum for such position is 7000 pln gross. Comparing to that 8000 pln seems reasonable. But I have no idea how much they need you and how easily they can find other good enough candidate.

Hey did you got any offer from them. I was also interviewed for this position and had my second round this thursday. Any idea how much salary can be expected for this position. I am an MBA with 5.4 yrs experience