Working and Hiring in Helsinki: Pay, Rent and What Employers Should Know

What it costs to employ someone in Helsinki

Finnish employer costs are national, so they are the same in Helsinki as in the rest of Finland. In 2026 the employer pays TyEL pension of 17.10% on average, health insurance of 1.91% and unemployment insurance of 0.31%, or 19.32% of pay for an employer with a payroll under €2,509,500 a year. Occupational accident insurance and group life insurance come on top, at rates set by line of business and insurer.

Take the average full-time earnings in the Uusimaa region, which includes Helsinki: €4,513 a month in 2024, or €54,156 a year. The employer adds €9,260.68 in TyEL pension, €1,034.38 in health insurance and €167.88 in unemployment insurance, for a total of €64,618.94 a year. Finland has no statutory minimum wage: pay floors come from collective agreements. Notice periods, holiday and income tax follow national law. Our guide to hiring in Finland covers them.

Pay in Helsinki

Statistics Finland publishes monthly earnings by region, not for Helsinki alone. In Uusimaa, full-time employees earned an average of €4,513 a month in 2024, 10.7% above the Finnish average of €4,075. The median was €3,967, the highest of any Finnish region. For Helsinki itself, the city reports a median taxable income of €34,331 a year in 2024. See average salary in Helsinki.

Rent and living costs in Helsinki

Non-subsidised rental homes in Helsinki cost an average of €21.37 per m² a month in the 3rd quarter of 2026, according to Statistics Finland, 0.2% less than a year earlier. The median rent was €730 a month for a one-room flat and €950 for a two-room flat. An adult HSL 30-day ticket for zones AB, which cover Helsinki, costs €73.90. See cost of living in Helsinki.

The Helsinki labor market

Helsinki had 694,392 residents on 31 December 2025, 12.3% of Finland's population, and passed 700,000 in August 2026 according to the city. The wider Helsinki Region had 1,623,283 residents. In 2024, 315,833 Helsinki residents were employed and the unemployment rate was 12.1%, against 11.7% for Finland in the same city statistics. Helsinki had 430,886 jobs in 2023.

How to hire in Helsinki

1. Find the person. Write the role, set the salary against Helsinki pay levels and the collective agreement for the sector, then source and interview candidates. You can run the search yourself with a job post, or use a placement service that delivers a shortlist.
2. Choose how to employ them. A Finnish entity running payroll, an employer of record or a contractor agreement.
3. Make the offer. The contract has to meet the Finnish Employment Contracts Act and at least the generally binding collective agreement that covers the work. Pay is usually quoted as a gross monthly salary in euros.

There are 3 ways to employ someone in Helsinki. With a Finnish entity, you register a company in Finland, register as an employer, run payroll and pay TyEL pension, health and unemployment insurance yourself. With an employer of record (EOR), a third-party provider becomes the legal employer and runs Finnish payroll for a monthly fee per employee, while your company directs the work. With a contractor agreement, the person invoices you through their own business, and the relationship has to be genuinely independent.

Euro Remote Talent does not employ people on your behalf. We handle the placement: we find and shortlist the candidate, and you employ them through the route that fits.

How Euro Remote Talent can help

We do placement. We source, screen and interview remote professionals across Europe, then deliver a shortlist of 3 candidates within 21 days for a flat $6,500, or your deposit back. Prefer to run the search yourself? Post a job for $299 and reach candidates who want to work remotely.

See how placement works, post a job or book a 30-minute call. Browse remote jobs in Finland to see who is hiring there now.