# Salaries in the Netherlands



## s22026 (Jun 6, 2016)

Hi,
I received a job offer from a company in Amsterdam for a specialized position in compute system engineering. Salary seems very low to me and I am wondering if it is the norm there. With the 30% ruling, I would be left with about 50K euros after taxes. 
I have 3 children and considering the cost of a 3 bedroom apartment in Amsterdam, I am wondering if it is enough to live comfortably or if the company is trying to get me on the cheap ;-)
Does anyone have insight?


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## cschrd2 (Oct 31, 2011)

Median gross income in the Netherlands would be about 35K€/ year so you should have nothing to complain about as long as you don't live in the old downtown.


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## expat16 (Jun 11, 2016)

Does that include the holiday allowance? It's required by law and it's 8% of your annual income. Also some companies give a 13th month in December.

Anyway, I would say that is around what I make and I am a single person living alone. Taxes here don't stop with your income taxes, you also have to pay health insurance ( I pay around 80 eur a month), water taxes, gemeente taxes (council tax). I have found it difficult to save money but I also have student loans ~530 usd/month.

That said children are heavily subsidized here, afaik they don't have to pay for health care/dentist. You do have to pay if your children stays at school during lunch time. (Yes, it is expected here that a parent comes to pick up their kid to take them home for lunch!). I've also heard there are quarterly child care payments.

Public transport is expensive and so is parking. Apartments are small, unless you go to the suburbs.

I think it could be done in your situation but with careful monitoring (which is how the Dutch live anyway). Situation would be better if your spouse also works, particularly because there are special tax arrangements for second family income.

Feel free to pm if you have other questions, I have been here for about 5 years.


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