Being a Developer in Ireland, the Cost of Living

Every time I make a post or video about Ireland, the same questions always come up: how much do you earn in Ireland, or whether X or Y amount of money is enough to live on, usually in Dublin. 

Before we start, all this information comes either from referenced sources, my personal experience, or from people I know who I asked while making this post. 

1 - Seniority and Developer Salaries in Ireland

All information about salaries will be taken from a recruitment company called Ninedots, specifically from this PDF, which I think is quite accurate. 

In this post we’re only going to look at Software Engineering, but the PDF also contains design, Scrum Master, data analyst, etc. And the salaries are in euros. 

Before starting with the list, salaries are high, but once you’re here you realise they don’t go as far, because, as is always the case, it aligns with the cost of living. 

We’ll go through all the details in this post. 

• Note: All amounts are in euros and are per year unless otherwise indicated. 

1.1 - Graduate, Just Finished Studies

Although graduate is not included in the PDF, I can tell you, graduate salaries typically range from 25k to 30k. Personally, I don’t recommend coming to Ireland as a graduate. 

This is due to two factors:

1. You need a level of English that they call ‘Professional working proficiency’, which translates to an advanced B1 or almost a B2 along with knowing the profession’s vocabulary. Often, we think we have B1 or B2, but when you reach the country in question, it’s not enough; natives speak faster and the jargon is different than you might expect. Of course, you can learn English.
2. There is a lot of demand. For graduate positions, demand is extremely high, and people, just like everywhere else, apply to everything. Just as you wouldn’t hire someone who doesn’t live in your country, here they don’t hire people from abroad either – there are simply enough candidates already in Ireland. 

If you move to Ireland, you’re only competing with locals, and your English level, character, and skills will determine if you’re hired. But being unemployed in Ireland is expensive, as we’ll see later.

1.2 - Junior, 1 to 3 years

As the PDF says, 45k to 60k, in my opinion, maybe that's a little high, but the cost of living has changed since I was a junior, so it's probably accurate. 

It's easier to find a job from abroad at this level, and of course, English proficiency is key, as well as your area of specialisation. 

By the way, for entry-level, junior, and even some mid-level positions, they will ask for references from your previous employers, so don’t lie on your CV, please.

1.3 - Mid-level, 3 to 5 years

From 65k to 75k, this range is the most complicated to define, because it’s that moment when you’re clearly not junior anymore, but not yet senior. 

Looks correct to me. 

1.4 - Senior Engineer, 5 to 7 years.

Even though the PDF says 5 to 7, I see senior engineers as 5+; many developers never go past senior, either because they don’t want to (moving to principal or tech lead adds responsibilities), or because that’s simply their level and they’re happy there. 

And salaries start at 80k and upwards. As always, these salaries are for people living in Ireland. If you live in Spain or LATAM, they might offer you 40 or 50k, knowing that salaries in those countries are lower. 

• NOTE: Some people go from Senior to Staff Engineer, and salaries increase further – but this is mostly in multinationals, especially American ones. 

1.5 - Principal Engineer

This part is more or less the same as the previous (from 5+ years), but depending on the company, it can change – at one company, you could be a principal engineer with 3 or 4 years’ experience, in another you’d need 10 or 12. 

In most companies, this role also includes being the team lead, so you’ll have people reporting to you, more technical meetings, etc.

Salarywise, it varies: it starts at 80k (like a senior), but more commonly it’s 100k; the PDF says 120k, but I have doubts – yes, in multinationals, but most companies are not multinationals. 

2 - Taxes in Ireland

The idea that you don’t pay taxes in Ireland is an urban legend. Well, not exactly. Many companies pay taxes; what people mean is that some companies can afford tax engineering, but I won’t go into that here.

In Ireland, workers pay A LOT of taxes, and I’ll break them down for you here, and at the end, we’ll see a table with different salaries and what you actually take home. 

All this information comes from the official website of the Irish tax authority.  

2.1 - PAYE, you pay depending on what you earn

Similar to Spain’s IRPF, you have a salary and a % goes directly to the state. 

As of today (2023), the tax bands for single people are as follows (they’re slightly different for married couples):

• 0 euros to 40k pays 20%
• from 40k and up pays 40%

And this works in bands, meaning that if you earn 41k, you pay 40k at 20% and 1k at 40%, not all 41k at 40%.

As an extra note, everyone has ‘tax credits’ – this year, it’s 3,550€, which is tax-free. If you’re married, tax credits and bands are combined and you pay a slightly different amount.

2.2 - PRSI, social insurance

Similar to social security, the employee pays 4%, and depending on your salary your company pays an extra 8.5% or 10.75%.

2.3 - USC, universal social charge

This tax is basically a rip-off, as it was supposed to be temporary to ease the previous crisis, but here it is, still going. Anyway, you have to pay it, there’s nothing else. 

Like PAYE, it also works in bands.

• The first 12,012€ are taxed at 0.5%
• The next 10,908€ at 2%
• The next 47,124€ at 4.5%
• And from there, 8%

This means that if you have a senior salary like the 80,000€ per year we saw in section 1.4, all that you earn over 70,044€ will be taxed at 52% (40% PAYE + 4% PRSI + 8% USC). In other words, for every 100 euros you earn, 52 go to the state. 

2.4 - Pensions in Ireland

As an important point, pensions in Ireland are mixed, meaning the government gives a base amount and then you can have a private pension if you want.

As of now, the maximum public pension is 12,000€ per year, and these 12k also get taxed. 

What you do is pay into a private pension — you can set aside a percentage of your salary, and that percentage is NOT taxed. Plus, companies usually match the amount you contribute (up to a limit, usually 5% of your salary, increasing for executives).

For example, suppose you earn a salary of 50,000 per year.

Out of those 50k, you put 5% into a private pension, which is 2,500€, the company matches another 2,500€, and you don’t pay tax on that money. Well, technically, you defer the tax until you retire, but in general, unless you’re in the lowest tax band, it’s worth getting a private pension. 

Note: Private pensions are investment funds, stocks, etc. That means they can tank or grow a lot. Plus, they charge a 2% ANNUAL fee. If you think about compound interest, 60% of everything invested goes on fees, but that’s another story. 

2.5 - How much do you take home at the end of the month?

For this section I’ll use the site ‘thesalarycalculator’ in the Ireland version, because for me, it’s the simplest. 

As you can see, the amount of tax you pay is very similar to Spain. You pay a bit more in Ireland, but not by much. Also, salaries are higher — 3,000 euros a month for a junior is a very high salary, the problem is those salaries are because of the cost of living. 

3 - Cost of Living in Ireland

The cost of living in Ireland is extremely high, especially when it comes to housing. It’s gotten to the point where many companies are starting to build houses for their employees, because rents are either sky-high or there’s simply nothing available.

For example, I live in a county in the middle of the country, and in August 2023 there were 16 houses and apartments for sale. While I’m writing this, there are 1,196 apartments/houses for rent in the whole country (on daft). 

To put this in perspective, the province of Barcelona has 5.5 million people, about 10% more than Ireland, but has 8,098 apartments or houses for rent (on Idealista) — 700% more than in Ireland. 

Of course, as happens in Barcelona, the problem is even bigger in Dublin. 

3.1 - Housing in Ireland

All this information and screenshots are from daft.ie. And since these questions are asked mostly by people NOT living in Ireland, I’m also going to assume you’ll be moving to Dublin, as that's where most companies are. Galway and Cork also have quite a few, and prices are a bit cheaper, but they're much smaller cities. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: NEVER send money from your country, or even from inside Ireland, to reserve an apartment if you haven’t seen it in person or if a company doesn’t handle it. I know several people who found ‘bargains’ that turned out to be scams, so be very careful. 

A - One-bedroom Apartments in Ireland

Very sought after by those who want to live alone, prices start at 1,400€ per month and go up from there. It’s going to be very hard to find anything cheaper, and usually, if it's walking distance (30/45 minutes) from the centre or where offices are, it’ll be 1,800€ per month.

The one you see at 740€, that’s weekly, not monthly. 

Dublin has two tram lines, and prices near those lines are also expensive. But in those areas, there are barely any apartments — most homes are houses. 

If you combine this with the earlier salary info, you realise that on a 45k salary, about 3,000€ a month, you CAN’T live alone — or you can, but you'll probably have to eat pasta every day to afford the rent. 

Also, these tend to be one-bedroom flats with just enough space— in many you can’t even put a sofa bed. 

B - Family Apartments or Houses in Ireland

Now, for apartments or houses with 2 or more bedrooms — which is what most people ask about — you’ll need to look at starting from 2,500€ up in areas 30/40 minutes from the centre, or go further out where you’ll need a car or bus, and it’ll take 45 minutes to an hour to reach the centre. Right now, there are 129 homes that fit these characteristics.

You can figure that for each bedroom in the house/apartment, it’ll cost between 900 and 1,000€ per room if it’s a bit far out, and between 1,200 and 1,500 if it’s closer in.

Many people end up moving to commuter towns that are cheaper because there’s usually a bus in the morning to Dublin city centre – but that only works if your job is downtown, if you work in a tech park, you’ll need a car, which is unthinkable when you first arrive. Plus, those bus or train tickets run 10/15€ per day, since for most people they’re not regular buses but private companies. 

And as you can imagine, you need a good salary to afford a place like this.

In more rural areas or towns of 20-30 thousand people, prices are much lower, with the average room price around 500€. Then, if you live up north in places like Sligo and Donegal, it’s even cheaper, but it’s rare to find companies there, and there are far fewer rentals. 

C - Bidding Wars

Something you don’t hear much about, but it happens not just in rentals, but in house buying too: bidding wars. When you go to see a place, say 2,000 euros for two bedrooms and it’s a great spot. Many times you have to bid more than they ask, because you’re basically going into a bidding war with others to get it. 

It’s what they call a ‘Bidding war’ in English, and unfortunately it's totally common, legal, and I’ve been in many :(. 

D - Sharing Accommodation in Ireland

In the end, this is the most common, especially for everyone coming with less than senior level — with those salaries, it’s impossible to live alone, so what’s left is to look for a room and share.

For sharing, the prices are similar to the family unit range — about 900 - 1,000€ per room, or more in better areas. And of course, you need to add electricity, heating, internet costs, etc. 

Personally, I think there’s an age when sharing is great, but if you’re used to living alone back in Spain or your country, going back to sharing will be tough, and even more so for adults with families. Still, that’s just my personal opinion. 

3.2 - Healthcare in Ireland

I’ve always heard that healthcare in Spain is the best around. In my opinion, it is. Here in Ireland, there’s public and private healthcare. Personally, my experience with private was VERY BAD. 

The only time I needed to see a doctor with private insurance was when I broke my ankle playing football — I called the insurance company, they told me to go to X hospital, so I went, and after waiting two hours they told me the radiologist wouldn't be in until the next day (it was just after midday when I arrived), and they couldn’t do anything until then. I had to go to a specialised injury clinic where they confirmed the break and bandaged it, etc. Of course, I had to pay and the insurance washed their hands of it.

That day, I said never again, and after paying insurance for two years, I stopped paying. 

Healthcare in Ireland is different from Spain (no idea about how it works in LATAM), here there are no walk-in health centres or GPs as in Spain. Instead, there’s a GP, which is basically a doctor with a private clinic — you pay and that’s it, and they attend to you as if they were your family doctor. The price is usually 50€, and a follow-up is 30€. 

Then if you have to get blood drawn or whatever, they give you a paper and the hospital does it. The only time this happened to me they sent me to a private hospital and they charged me a fortune just to take blood (I don’t remember what they checked – it was 250€).

If you need to go to A&E, you should know there’s a co-pay, which means when you go to A&E, you pay regardless of whether you go with a cold or a broken leg. The price is 50€, and it usually includes follow-up visits. Be prepared to wait 6 to 8 hours.

• Note: if you go with a small child or baby, the wait is shorter, but you still pay.

I haven’t had to go to a specialist, so I can’t comment on that. 

3.3 - Other Added Expenses

Now I’m going to list normal living expenses. I won’t cover groceries since they cost the same as in Spain, so it’s not really newsworthy.

A - The Cost of a Car in Ireland

Car insurance in Ireland is like a mafia — in fact, the European Union investigated whether insurers acted as a cartel, and after 5 years, they decided they didn’t. But anyway, I’ll tell you what you can expect. 

If you’re Spanish with a Spanish license, they’ll give you insurance, but it’ll cost 4,000 euros for the most basic car. What you have to do is switch your license to an Irish one— it’s just 50€ and a few weeks’ wait. 

If you come from LATAM, you have to do the driving exams again. 

• NOTE: previous experience doesn’t count unless it’s from the UK.

My first car was a 2002 Toyota Yaris 1.0; for this, I paid 2,600€ for insurance my first year, because I registered it at my mother-in-law’s house — in Dublin it would have been 350€ more, plus I had a garage; if you don’t or you live in a ‘troubled’ area, you pay more. 

Each year the price drops a bit, for example, I now pay about 1,500€ a year for a Prius 1.6.

Road tax depends on your car's CO2 emissions. An electric that emits nothing pays 120€ a year, and it goes up from there — I think I pay 170 now. List of prices.

B - Cost of Daycare in Ireland

Having a child in Ireland is what really puts a strain on people. Of course, in Dublin/Cork/Galway they’re much more expensive than in the rest of the country. 

For example, I live in a village and here there’s a daycare which costs 5€ per hour, and if you take the child all day it’s 40€ per day, about 800€ a month. In Dublin it’s more expensive — a colleague, five years ago, paid 2,500€ for two kids in daycare (if you send more than one they cut you a deal). 

Note: the image shows the average, there are cheaper and more expensive options. 

That said, there are government supports for daycare in some cases. If you move with your family you might want to look into it, but if you earn more than 75k, you get nothing, I can tell you that.

C - Work VISA from LATAM

For Spaniards — generally Europeans — this doesn’t matter, since we don’t need any extra documents, just to get the PPS Number (everyone needs this to work, even Irish people).

But if you’re from LATAM you need to apply for a work VISA, which costs 2,000 euros, and it usually ties you to your employer for two years; if you leave, you have to apply again. 

After those two years, you can change jobs as often as you want. 

Conclusion

As you can see, not everything that glitters is gold, and it’s not all sunshine and rainbows — the salaries are high but they’re matched by an extremely high cost of living. 

For example, if you come alone and share an apartment, it’s likely you’ll live relatively well and save, not worrying too much about expenses. But if you come with a family, it’s a different story, especially if your partner doesn’t have an IT or similar job. 

I recommend you do your homework and the math before moving, to see if it really makes sense for you to move.

A normal admin person with years of experience earns about 30,000 euros a year, and currently there’s a very serious issue in the country with the cost of living and salaries outside IT and related sectors. Of course, if one member of a couple earns 80k, things are easier, and if you get married, taxes are split and you pay a bit less than you would as two single people. 

Despite the expenses, I live well and have never had liquidity problems — like everyone, I’ve had months where I saved more and months when I saved nothing, but in the end, those are just normal living costs.