{
  "slug": "software-team-costs",
  "question": "What does a month of software work cost in each country?",
  "title": "Software Team Costs by Country 2026: Monthly ICT Wages in 54 Countries",
  "answer": {
    "headline": "A month of ICT work costs $11,254 in the United States, $6,294 in the UK, $3,709 in Poland, $1,047 in Brazil and $540 in India (ILOSTAT, 2025). In Central and Eastern Europe, the full employer cost of an ICT hour runs from €24 in Bulgaria to €38 in Estonia and Slovenia (Eurostat, 2025).",
    "sample": "ILOSTAT average monthly earnings in the ICT sector (ISIC Rev.4 J) for 54 countries, Eurostat labour cost levels for 12 CEE countries — 2021–2025 reference periods",
    "verifiedAsOf": "2026-09-23"
  },
  "sections": [
    {
      "id": "west",
      "title": "North America, Western Europe and Israel — monthly ICT wage (US$)",
      "note": "Average gross monthly earnings of employees in the information-and-communication sector at market exchange rates. Rows whose latest point is 2021–2022 are marked historical.",
      "rows": [
        {
          "label": "United States",
          "value": "$11,254",
          "segment": "highest in this group",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Switzerland",
          "value": "$11,018",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Luxembourg",
          "value": "$9,564",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Ireland",
          "value": "$9,562",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Belgium",
          "value": "$9,263",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Denmark",
          "value": "$8,365",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Norway",
          "value": "$7,895",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Netherlands",
          "value": "$7,684",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Austria",
          "value": "$7,422",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "France",
          "value": "$7,246",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Finland",
          "value": "$7,203",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Germany",
          "value": "$6,809",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2022",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1,
          "stale": true
        },
        {
          "label": "Israel",
          "value": "$6,765",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2021",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1,
          "stale": true
        },
        {
          "label": "Sweden",
          "value": "$6,559",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "United Kingdom",
          "value": "$6,294",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Italy",
          "value": "$5,752",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Spain",
          "value": "$4,506",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Greece",
          "value": "$2,754",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Portugal",
          "value": "$1,990",
          "segment": "lowest in this group",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        }
      ],
      "chart": "bars"
    },
    {
      "id": "cee",
      "title": "Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans — monthly ICT wage (US$)",
      "note": "Same series. The spread inside this group alone is fivefold, which is why a nearshore budget depends on the country more than on the region.",
      "rows": [
        {
          "label": "Estonia",
          "value": "$5,513",
          "segment": "highest in this group",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Slovenia",
          "value": "$5,164",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Czechia",
          "value": "$4,055",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Slovakia",
          "value": "$4,043",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Latvia",
          "value": "$4,023",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Poland",
          "value": "$3,709",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Croatia",
          "value": "$3,545",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Bulgaria",
          "value": "$3,206",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Lithuania",
          "value": "$2,801",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Romania",
          "value": "$2,671",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Serbia",
          "value": "$2,364",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Hungary",
          "value": "$1,988",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Montenegro",
          "value": "$1,181",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2022",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1,
          "stale": true
        },
        {
          "label": "Bosnia and Herzegovina",
          "value": "$1,129",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Moldova",
          "value": "$1,041",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Ukraine",
          "value": "$953",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2022",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1,
          "stale": true
        },
        {
          "label": "Albania",
          "value": "$875",
          "segment": "lowest in this group",
          "period": "2022",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1,
          "stale": true
        }
      ],
      "chart": "bars"
    },
    {
      "id": "rest",
      "title": "Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa — monthly ICT wage (US$)",
      "note": "Same series. Currency moves matter most here: a devaluation lowers the dollar figure without changing local pay.",
      "rows": [
        {
          "label": "Singapore",
          "value": "$4,534",
          "segment": "highest in this group",
          "period": "2021",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1,
          "stale": true
        },
        {
          "label": "South Korea",
          "value": "$3,797",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2022",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1,
          "stale": true
        },
        {
          "label": "Japan",
          "value": "$3,403",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2021",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1,
          "stale": true
        },
        {
          "label": "Saudi Arabia",
          "value": "$3,335",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2022",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1,
          "stale": true
        },
        {
          "label": "Türkiye",
          "value": "$1,632",
          "segment": "lira depreciation lowers the dollar figure",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "China",
          "value": "$1,533",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2022",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1,
          "stale": true
        },
        {
          "label": "Brazil",
          "value": "$1,047",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Kazakhstan",
          "value": "$950",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2022",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1,
          "stale": true
        },
        {
          "label": "Thailand",
          "value": "$937",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Azerbaijan",
          "value": "$793",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2022",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1,
          "stale": true
        },
        {
          "label": "Mexico",
          "value": "$779",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Uzbekistan",
          "value": "$684",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2022",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1,
          "stale": true
        },
        {
          "label": "Philippines",
          "value": "$546",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2024",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "India",
          "value": "$540",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Vietnam",
          "value": "$527",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2024",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Georgia",
          "value": "$515",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2023",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Indonesia",
          "value": "$307",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2023",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Egypt",
          "value": "$123",
          "segment": "lowest in this group · after the 2024 devaluation",
          "period": "2024",
          "source": "ILOSTAT",
          "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/",
          "tier": 1
        }
      ],
      "chart": "bars"
    },
    {
      "id": "employer-cost",
      "title": "Full employer cost of an ICT hour in Central and Eastern Europe (€, including social contributions)",
      "note": "Eurostat labour cost level for the information-and-communication sector: wages plus employer social contributions and other labour costs, per hour worked. This is the number to budget with, not the gross wage.",
      "rows": [
        {
          "label": "Estonia",
          "value": "€38.4",
          "segment": "highest in this set",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "Eurostat",
          "url": "https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/lc_lci_lev/default/table",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Slovenia",
          "value": "€38.3",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "Eurostat",
          "url": "https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/lc_lci_lev/default/table",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Czechia",
          "value": "€34.9",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "Eurostat",
          "url": "https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/lc_lci_lev/default/table",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Lithuania",
          "value": "€32.0",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "Eurostat",
          "url": "https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/lc_lci_lev/default/table",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Slovakia",
          "value": "€30.8",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "Eurostat",
          "url": "https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/lc_lci_lev/default/table",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Croatia",
          "value": "€30.1",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "Eurostat",
          "url": "https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/lc_lci_lev/default/table",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Poland",
          "value": "€29.3",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "Eurostat",
          "url": "https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/lc_lci_lev/default/table",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Serbia",
          "value": "€28.2",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "Eurostat",
          "url": "https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/lc_lci_lev/default/table",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Latvia",
          "value": "€27.8",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "Eurostat",
          "url": "https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/lc_lci_lev/default/table",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Romania",
          "value": "€26.0",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "Eurostat",
          "url": "https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/lc_lci_lev/default/table",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Hungary",
          "value": "€24.4",
          "segment": "",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "Eurostat",
          "url": "https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/lc_lci_lev/default/table",
          "tier": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Bulgaria",
          "value": "€24.0",
          "segment": "lowest in this set",
          "period": "2025",
          "source": "Eurostat",
          "url": "https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/lc_lci_lev/default/table",
          "tier": 1
        }
      ],
      "chart": "bars"
    }
  ],
  "reconciliation": {
    "title": "Why developer salary surveys, vendor rate cards and these numbers disagree",
    "body": "The ILOSTAT series is the average earnings of everyone employed in information-and-communication companies — developers, but also telecom, media and support staff — so it is a floor and a comparison line, not the salary of a senior engineer. Salary surveys of developers usually report higher numbers, and vendor rate cards add employer charges, bench time, management and margin on top. Dollar figures move with exchange rates: the 2024 devaluation is why Egypt shows about $123 a month, and the lira's slide lowers Türkiye's figure. Eurostat's hourly labour cost includes employer social contributions, which is why it is the closer proxy for a budget. Germany, Israel, Singapore, South Korea, Japan and several others last reported in 2021–2022 and are marked historical; Malaysia's latest point (2020) is too old and is left out.",
    "sources": [
      {
        "source": "ILOSTAT — mean monthly earnings of employees by economic activity",
        "url": "https://ilostat.ilo.org/"
      },
      {
        "source": "Eurostat — labour cost levels by NACE Rev. 2 activity (lc_lci_lev)",
        "url": "https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/lc_lci_lev/default/table"
      }
    ]
  },
  "methodology": "Every number on this page is a fact node in the God of Startups Atlas — a knowledge graph where each metric carries its source, reporting period and evidence tier. Tier 1 here means ILOSTAT and Eurostat. Values are the latest point of each official series, shown in the unit the source uses; nothing is converted, estimated or modelled.",
  "page": "https://godofstartups.com/atlas/software-team-costs",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "note": "Each row carries its primary source, period and evidence tier (1 = official/statutory, 2 = industry research with disclosed method)."
}