What would be a good salary for an MBA graduate in Poland?

Hi All,

My company (headquartered in America) has given me an opportunity to relocate to Katowice.

I am business consultant with 5 years of experience and an MBA.

The salary I'm being offered is about 12,000 PLNs per month, gross.

On reading up, I have found that I will be charged 32% income tax on my income above 85-odd thousand PLN per annum. Is my understanding correct?

Are there any other deductions like health insurance, social security etc that I should take into account, and how much would they run into? I would be relocating with my wife.

I have read up a fair bit on the cost of living in Poland, but I'm not able to come to a figure which would be an appropriate compensation for me, allowing me to maintain my current lifestyle, and save as well. For instance, currently we go for about 4-6 movies every month, eat out at least 6-10 times every month. We each have a car of our own. We also have a housing loan (but we rent a house currently), whose installment runs into about 25% of my take-home salary. On top of that, we're able to save about 50%-60% of our combined take-home salaries each month.

Can the members here let me know if this salary would be enough (if only I'm working, and if both of us are working at approximately the same salary) to maintain this kind of lifestyle and savings.

Would really appreciate the help..

Thanks in advance

no

it probably won't be

however it is worth considering that your HQ is sending you to Poland it may lead to other things

turning down international moves is often seen as career suicide in some firms and unless you have a plan B
job lined up stateside, you might not have a lot of choice

one of my Polish friends moved to Hamburg two years ago and her company have now promoted her to head of Thailand

you did not mention whether you have kids

I presume you do not

what line of work are you in?

Thanks Hythorn for the reply and perspective.

I appreciate your inputs, but I do have the option of not relocating if the offer is not attractive enough.

I am into business consulting (advising companies on how to do their business better!) :)

I do not have any kids yet, but might plan on starting a salary within a year or so.

Any inputs on what the netto would be on a gross salary of 12,000 PLN per month?

I guess I could rent a 2 bedroom apartment in Katowice with utilities, internet, satellite TV etc in about 4500 PLN right? I would be working somewhere in Kolodziejska 2 (don't know if that is the name of the area), so would look to rent a place somewhere nearby, provided of course it is safe and suitable for families.

How much does a meal for two in a decent restaurant cost in Katowice? How about, say, an Italian or Indian restaurant?

Thanks again for your inputs.

Cheers

You would have somewhat around 8000 PLN netto pr. month. +/- a few hundreds.

And you could rent a 2 bedroom apartment lets say 6-70 square meters all included in katowice for 3-3500 PLN pr. month.

Lets say you go to a nice Italian Restaurant, you would pay 100 PLN for a good meal which would include antipasta and a main meal + a glass of wine.

If you choose an indian restaurant instead, you could half that!

From my perspective, this is a good salary, but not with your experience and education!
On the other hand you can live a very good live in Katowice for 5000 PLN after everything is paid, but not if you also have to provide for your wife!

If i were you id really consider this offer, because Poland is an amazing place to live (coming from a guy from Ohio) but then again before you decided to relocate remember to take everything into account.

Best of luck though!

good comments above

also take into consideration what your wife will be doing whilst you are at work

if she is lonely and miserable, you are not going to be particularly happy either
furthermore, if she is going out for coffee everyday in the local shopping mall and
making sporadic purchases, then your salary is going to be further eroded

please do not think I am trying to be smart at your expense however I have seen this
happen to other couples in Poland - there is no offence intended

Some of my American friends do online proof reading whilst their husbands are at work
it brings in some cash and gives them something to do

Actually all my estimates are a bit high,

So you would probably have more like 6000 PLN pr month after all taxes apartment etc. is paid.
Which would be enough to support your wife also, and live a good life.

bullshit.

12000 gross is 8400 net

the 'trouble' is your wife - sitting at home is frustrating, esp that in US she does have job. If there is any possibility that she could work remotely - in this case you could be even happier in PL than US, otherwise relocating is not a good move.

And Katowice itself - ugly, dirty industrial city.

all in all, you'd probably regret relocating, unless you both want some adventure and are just curious of how's life outside US

oh, sorry, I thought you calculated this 6000 as net income, my bad.

No problem, coz that would have been bullshit ;-)

Hi Guys,

I have been recently selected in Investment Banking company and I need to quote my expected salary. My posting will be at Warsaw. Currently I am drawing 15 Lacs rupees in my company in India, Pune city. I am ale to save more than 50% of my salary currently. Can you please guide me how much to quote in PLN, I am married with 1 infant kid. Also my wife is an architect, can you please also guide me about the job prospect of Architects in Warsaw?

Just write 'negotiable'. The employer knows how much they can afford to pay, so let them make the first offer. If asked about it, you can explain that your salary expectations will vary according to the package they offer, e.g how much is the relocation allowance, do they pay for your rent, do they pay agency fees for finding a flat/house, how much is the schools allowance, what health-care package is included, etc, etc.


Close to zero for her: she won't have any recognised qualifications here and doesn't speak Polish, so she's unlikely to get a work permit.

The cost of living for your family will be about 5000 to 6000 PLN a month in Warsaw, and that is without any savings. That means 7500 to 9000 PLN a month gross, before taxes. If you want to be able to put away half of your paycheck in savings, that means that you will have to earn between 15000 and 18000 PLN a month. That is very unlikely unless you have super-duper qualifications and experience.


Zero chance. The job market is over-saturated, and unless she is extremely highly qualified and experienced, no one will go through the trouble of obtaining work permission for her. Her only chance is to get hired by an international company BEFORE she comes to Poland and get transferred.

Can somebody give an idea what salary should expect an IT Project Manager with PMP certification, experience in managing 50+ people international projects for Fortune 500 companies, relocating from USA? Originally from Eastern Europe (not Poland) but currently works in US. Speaks fluent Polish.

About 5000 to 10000 PLN a month, gross, depending on skill-set, qualifications and experience.

salaryexplorer.com/salary-survey.php?loc=173&loctype=1&job=326&jobtype=3

Perhaps a little more if you have an exotic skill-set, and a bit less if you are working in gaming or graphics. PMP means at least five years experience, so you can expect more toward the upper part of that range, which works out to about $34,000 a year at the current rate. Perhaps a little more if you have more experience.

I have a lot of friends in Warsaw who are earning anything between 12 and 17k gross being software developers with various amount of years of experience. None of them is in managerial position. So does that mean that project managers earn a lot less than developers in Poland?

Look up "fallacy of small numbers" and "observational selection". Your post is a classic example of both.

Knowing language would be a big advantage but experience is important and you mention nothing about it.


Yes, we know that Poland is not in Eastern Europe.

Hi, I m news anchor at Gujarat in India . I get 1500 pln (convert ruppes in pln )in Gujarat . nd I think about to sift polan I m married having one kid. Nd I think to move Poland . so may know what is the good salry for a news anchor in Poland nd what they are providing salry as news reader. Nd I want to know that to live very happyly with family nd go for dinner like for four times in month nd also purches car what should salry be. Nd what is average salry of news anchor.in Poland

There is no demand for "news anchors" in either Gujarati or in Indian English in Poland so your average salary would be ... .nothing.

Hi,
I have been offered as a Senior IT Analyst in IBM and they have offered me 12000 PLN.
Can you confirm how good is this package for me. I am currently in Bank of America and is drawing INR 20000

Hey experts,
I am from India and I presently earn around 100000 INR net a month. Have an overall experience of 8 years with 6 in SAP.
I have been offered a role of Senior SAP Analyst with one of the fortune 500s in Wroclaw. Salary offered is around 14000 pln gross. Is that a good deal to live comfortably and save around 6000 pln a month ?

I am single.

Considering that most Poles earn around 2,500, for sure 14,000 is a "fortune" but I don't think you'll save 6,000 unless you live like a monk or a rat.

I suppose you'll be in higher tax rates, so net you will have much less than 10,000 and if you want to save 6,000, you'll have less than 4,000 left to get by and as a foreigner and as a young single male, it'll be very rough. Why do you want to save 6,000? Why crossing half of the world to end up counting each coin? Besides, I'm not sure you'll feel comfortable in Poland.

Thank you InPolska.
Location wise I am quite flexible and comfortable. Well if I am shifting half way through the world for work, money obviously becomes a priority. 6000 is just a figure that I have kept as a threshold to make sure it's worth moving out for this opportunity. Plus there are ample opportunities in my field in the rest of EUROPE so this move may just open new doors.

So in your opinion what should I be quoting as a final offer had not been made yet ?

@App: employers offer salaries based upon jobs to be performed and not upon staff's needs ;). Be aware that if so many western companies come to Poland or similar countries, it is so only in order to offer lower salaries. If your concern is money, you need to look for a job in the West. Since you speak English and are from India, why not England? Believe me, Poland is very difficult as it is not a open society and not being white and not being catholic, you won't feel comfortable and will have to stick to other Indians only. Besides salary, it is crucial to also move to a country where you'll feel comfortable, where you won't be stimagtized, where you won't be stared at/insulted because you look and are different. Sorry, but Poland is among the least tolerant countries in Europe (check ;)....

okay I get the point. My skillset in SAP consulting is on the higher paying side in most parts of the world. I will revisit this offer with them.

Regarding other social aspects, now that you have given me a good idea, I will try and research more on that part.
Thank you for helping out.

Hi KatowiceRelocat,
12K PLN per month is not much, that is around 8.5K PLN per month, as a single person you would be able to maintain a good life in Poland but with your other half it would be hard. I don't know your exact situation, do your employer is going to find accommodation for you? Would that be paid for as well? I believe renting itself will easily swallow about 2.5-3.5k per month, that should be with all house bills paid off, you have mentioned cars, here it will depends on what you want to do, renting won't be cheap, buying brand new car- depends of your taste but this can easily be 3-5K per month, you are better off buying a car for cash(if you are planning to be here 3-5years, with saving from that amount, no it won't be possible unfortunately, is your second half is also planning to have some job here?

If you have read my old posts from 2016, I must say that Poland is treating me really and I continue to enjoy my stay here.

Good to hear that.


Have you changed your status? Is your partner Polish or Indian? How many new little Poles have you made??? I hope 2 at least.
Diversity rulez!!!