Developer Salaries in Europe in 2025: What Programmers Earn by Country

The East-West Pay Gap Is Still Wide

If you are a developer weighing a move or a remote arrangement, country matters more than almost any other variable. A WeAreDevelopers analysis of the European tech salary landscape shows a striking divide between Western and Eastern Europe that persists into 2025.

At the top, Switzerland leads by a wide margin. According to the analysis, 10% of developers in Switzerland earn above €337k. The UK follows, with 10% of developers earning above €214k. Luxembourg sits at €144k for that same threshold, and Germany at €133k.

The source attributes these figures to the concentration of large global tech companies in those countries, alongside strong financial and fintech sectors.

Where the Lowest Salaries Are Found

Eastern Europe tells a different story. In Bulgaria, entry-level developers - those at the 10th percentile - earn €22,500 per year. In Belarus, even the highest-paid developers earn approximately €65,000, a figure the source describes as competitive locally but significantly below Western European levels.

The gap reflects differences in cost of living, local demand for tech talent, and the maturity of each country's tech ecosystem.

What Drives Pay Differences Across the Region

The WeAreDevelopers source identifies several factors behind the salary spread:

Cost of living. High-paying countries like Switzerland and Luxembourg also carry some of the highest living costs in Europe. Salaries in those markets are partly calibrated to offset those costs.

Global tech company presence. Countries that host major international tech firms tend to see higher pay across the board, not just at those employers. Ireland is cited as an example where corporate tax policy drew in global companies, which then lifted local salary benchmarks more broadly.

Local talent supply. Countries with strong STEM education and dense developer communities tend to support higher pay. Bulgaria and Belarus are flagged for strong technical skills operating in lower-cost labor markets.

Economic and political stability. Stable economies attract more tech investment, which flows into higher salaries. Political uncertainty, the source notes, can deter some companies while drawing others seeking cost-effective talent.

How Remote Work Is Shifting the Picture

Remote work is allowing developers in lower-cost regions to access roles with companies based in higher-paying countries. The source notes this is beginning to push salaries upward in some Eastern European markets.

Bulgaria is highlighted as an unusual case: it has some of the lowest tech salaries in Europe alongside some of the highest, driven by its role as an IT outsourcing hub and its low-tax environment. A number of large global technology companies have moved software development work there as a result.

Whether this translates into meaningful convergence across the region over time remains an open question, but the source points to early signs of movement.

What Specialisation Could Mean for Your Pay

The source points to growing demand for specific skills - cloud computing, cybersecurity, and machine learning - as a rising factor in developer pay. Developers with expertise in these areas are likely to see stronger returns, regardless of location.

For job seekers, this suggests that upskilling in high-demand specialisations may offer significant leverage, particularly as remote arrangements make geography less of a hard constraint.

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Salary figures cited here are drawn from a WeAreDevelopers analysis of the European tech jobs market for 2025, using data from levels.fyi. The top-earning thresholds for Switzerland, the UK, Luxembourg, and Germany represent the level above which 10% of developers in each country earn - they are not averages. The Belarus figure is described by the source as approximate. Read all figures with those framings in mind.