Average Salary in Poland – 2018

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The economic situation in Poland has been improving over the years. Recently, we addressed topics such as the minimum wage in Poland and the unemployment rate in Poland. In this post, we add a new perspective to the analyses: what is the average salary in Poland?

The data used in this article comes from GUS (Główny Urząd Statystyczny) and it dates from May of 2018.

Let’s get down to the matter!

Highlights of the average salary in Poland

These are the main data highlights of this post:

The average salary in poland is 4695 zł

The average wage per hour in Poland is 27.09 zł/h

The average salary in Mazowieckie is 5621 zł , being the voivodeship with the highest average salary in Poland

, being the voivodeship with the highest average salary in Poland The average salary for the IT field is 8346 zł , being the professional area with the highest average salary in Poland

, being the professional area with the highest average salary in Poland From 2000 to 2018 the average salary in Poland increased a total of 140% , which gives an average increase of 4.99% per year

, which gives an average increase of per year Based on the average yearly increase of 4.99% , the average salary in Poland in 2028 was estimated to be 7392 zł

, the average salary in Poland in 2028 was estimated to be The real income growth in Poland for the period 2001-2017 was 54.16%.

The salary values are expressed in monthly gross values based on a 40-hour work week.

Colour scheme

As of May 2018, the average salary in Poland is 4695 zł. Considering a regular worker in Poland works for 2080 hours per year (40h x 52 weeks), the average wage per hour in Poland is 27.09 zł/h.

We have created a map to illustrate the average salaries per voivodeship.

The voivodeships have been segregated into different shades of red and green. Those with a salary below the national average were depicted in shades of red. Shades of green represent the voivodeships whose average salary is higher than the national average.

Average salary in Poland per voivodeship

On the map below, it’s shown the average salary in each voivodeship. There are two visible patterns on this map. First, Mazowieckie has an average salary of 5621 zł (wage per hour of 32.42 zł/h) and it’s the voivodeship with the highest average salary.

No other voivodeship has a value close to its. This shows how salaries in Poland are unevenly distributed across the country.

Second, the voivodeships of the eastern part of Poland (except for Mazowieckie) have lower average salaries than those from the western part.

The same information in the map above is also represented as a rank in the chart below. This time, net values were added so you can see how much an average employee receives in each voivodeship.

If you want to calculate net salaries in Poland, we have created a cool net salary calculator for Poland. Check it out! 😉

It’s incredible the difference between Mazowieckie and Dolnośląskie, the second voivodeship on the list. This shows that a great part of the economic power in Poland is concentrated on its capital, Warsaw.

A second interesting point is that despite the touristic power of Kraków, Małopolskie is only the 5th voivodeship with the highest average salary in Poland. Besides Mazowieckie (Warsaw), the voivodeships of Dolnośląskie (Wrocław), Pomorskie (Gdańsk) and Śląskie (Katowice) all have higher average salaries than Małopolskie.

On this rank, Warmińsko-mazurskie (Olsztyn) has the lowest average salary in Poland, with a gross value of 3841 zł (wage per hour of 22.16 zł/h).

Average salary in Poland per industry

Poland is well-known for its high-skilled programmers. Many companies have been migrating part of their IT operations to Poland and, usually, that happens for the following reasons:

Lower salaries when compared to western-Europe countries.

High-skilled IT professionals.

Geographically speaking, it’s an interesting country for companies that have operations both in Asia and America, since the working hours in Poland overlap both with working hours in Asia and America.

Because of that, Poland is on the way to become an important IT hub in Europe. This has leveraged the average salaries of IT in comparison to other industries in Poland.

In the bar chart below, we can see that the average salary in the IT area (8346 zł) is 70% bigger than for real state (4875 zł), the second industry with the highest average salary in Poland.

For people willing to relocate to Poland, we have recently written a guide on how to get an IT job in Poland. The job market for IT professionals is quite hot in Poland!

The last place of hour rank features Administrative support, with an average salary of 3388 zł.

Average salary in Poland over the years

The average salary in Poland has been increasing over the years. In the line chart below, we illustrate how it has been over the past 18 years.

After Poland joined the EU in 2004, its average salary growth has slightly accelerated. For the time-frame considered in the graph below, the average salary increased a total of 140%, which gives an average increase of 4.99% per year.

But what’s the value of salary increase if the consumer prices increase even more?

I guess a more valuable analysis is to compare the salary increases over the years with the inflation. In this manner, we can know whether or not the purchasing power of the average Pole has been increasing. So let’s move on to the next analysis.

Real income growth

In the graph below, we can see that, except for the year of 2012, the average salary growth was greater than the inflation for the period from 2001 to 2017. The inflation data is also provided by GUS.

Obs: In this graph, the year 2000 has been removed from the analysis because there was not an average salary value available for 1999, so calculating the salary growth was not possible. The year 2018 has been removed from the analysis because the annual inflation rate is still not available since we’re still in the middle of the year.

The difference between salary growth and inflation gives us the so-called real income growth. A positive real income growth means that the purchasing power is increasing (salaries are growing more than prices).

According to the graph below, the real income growth in Poland was higher in 2007 and 2008. As we have mentioned before, the only year with a negative real income growth was in 2012.

The total real income growth in Poland for the period 2001-2017 was 54.16%.

Forecasting the average salary in Poland

Based on the average yearly increase of 4.99% we have made a rough forecast for the average salary in Poland in 2028. Of course, there’s no guarantee that the economic situation will keep improving in the same manner, but this at least gives us a rough idea of it.

Under the current scenario, the average salary in Poland in 2028 would be equal to 7392 zł (gross monthly value).

Wrapping up

The overall average salary in Poland has been increasing. Some regions, such as Mazowieckie and Dolnośląskie, have way higher average salaries than others, such as Warmińsko-mazurskie and Podkarpacie. In the same manner, the IT industry has an average salary that is much higher than the other industries.

Based on the info from this article, if I could give a career recommendation for a young person in Poland, that would be: study IT and move to Warsaw. Of course, this not everything we must take into consideration. Life is way more complicated than simply looking for better salaries. But yeah, a good salary is already a good start 😉

In case you want to calculate net salaries, check out our salary calculator for Poland. So far it only includes umowa o pracę contracts, but slowly we’ll be adding more features.

In case you’re interested in learning more about the IT job market in Poland, it’s worth reading our other article on how to get an IT job in Poland.