Software Engineer Salary in Austria: Official Pay Data 2022

What software engineers earn in Austria

Statistik Austria does not publish pay for software developers as a separate occupation. The closest official figure is the information and communication sector (section J of the ÖNACE 2008 classification), which covers software and IT services along with telecoms, publishing and media. Full-time employees in the sector earned a median of €63,223 gross in 2022, including annual special payments, according to the Structure of Earnings Survey (Verdienststrukturerhebung). The median for all full-time employees was €44,992, so the sector sits about 1.41 times the national midpoint (our calculation).

Per month, the full-time median in the sector was €4,258 gross in October 2022, without overtime, and €25.89 an hour. Including part-time staff, the sector median was €56,920 a year. The sector had the second highest median hourly pay in Austria, after energy supply, and its median hourly pay rose 1.5% in real terms between 2018 and 2022.

In Austria the special payments, the Christmas bonus (Weihnachtsremuneration) and the holiday bonus (Urlaubszuschuss), are usually called the 13th and 14th salary. Their amount and timing are set by collective agreements, works agreements or individual contracts. The annual figures on this page include annual special payments; compare monthly figures with care.

Pay by occupation group

By occupation, the survey only publishes major groups. Full-time professionals across all sectors (ÖISCO-08 group 2, which includes software developers but also doctors, engineers and lawyers) had a median of €64,061 a year and €4,300 a month. Full-time managers had a median of €91,840 a year. Eurostat's version of the same survey narrows this to professionals working in the information and communication sector: in Austria they earned a mean of €71,668 a year in 2022, of which €11,544 came as annual bonuses. A mean is pulled up by the highest earners, so it sits above a median.

How Austria compares in Europe

In Eurostat's Structure of Earnings Survey for 2022, professionals in the information and communication sector in Austria earned a mean of €71,668 a year, 1.25 times the EU average of €57,522 (our calculation). Germany (€78,189) was higher and Switzerland (€126,024) much higher, while Italy (€49,625) and Czechia (€43,077) were lower. Austria had 242,100 ICT specialists in work in 2025, 5.4% of total employment, against 5.0% across the EU.

What an employer pays on top of salary

In 2026 Austrian employers pay these social insurance contributions for employees: 12.55% for pension insurance, 3.78% for health insurance, 2.95% for unemployment insurance, 1.10% for accident insurance and 0.10% for the insolvency fund (IESG), plus 1.53% to the employee's severance fund (betriebliche Vorsorge). Contributions stop at a maximum base of €6,930 a month plus €13,860 a year of special payments. On top come the employer contribution to the family fund (Dienstgeberbeitrag) of 3.7% and the municipal tax (Kommunalsteuer) of 3%.

For a software engineer on the 2022 sector median of €63,223, that comes to €7,934.49 for pension, €2,389.83 for health, €1,865.08 for unemployment, €695.45 for accident insurance, €63.22 for IESG, €967.31 for the severance fund, €2,339.25 for the family fund and €1,896.69 in municipal tax: €18,151.32 a year, or 28.7% on top of salary, for a total of €81,374.32 (our calculation, 2026 rates applied to 2022 pay). Left out: the surcharge to the family fund contribution (Zuschlag zum Dienstgeberbeitrag, 0.31% to 0.40% depending on the state), the housing contribution of 0.5% (0.75% in Vienna) on regular pay, levies that apply only to some workers, and any company pension or insurance.

Hiring a software engineer in Austria remotely

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Once you have chosen someone, there are 3 common ways to employ them in Austria:

• Austrian entity: you register a company in Austria, run payroll and pay the employer's contributions yourself.
• Employer of record (EOR): a third-party provider becomes the legal employer and runs Austrian payroll for a monthly fee. Your company directs the work.
• Contractor: the person invoices you as a freelancer. The relationship has to be genuinely independent, or it can count as employment.

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

Looking for a role yourself? Browse remote jobs in Austria or see how our Land a Great Remote Job program helps.

How we built these figures

Statistik Austria figures come from the Structure of Earnings Survey 2022, which runs every 4 years and covers employees in private sector enterprises with 10 or more employees, without apprentices. Annual figures include annual special payments and severance pay; monthly figures refer to October 2022 and, like hourly figures, exclude overtime. The survey publishes sectors and major occupation groups, not software developers alone, and nothing by job title, years of experience or remote status. The Eurostat comparison uses the same 2022 survey and covers all professionals in the information and communication sector. Employer costs apply 2026 rates to 2022 pay, so they show the structure of costs, not a current salary. Where we multiply or divide, we say so.

More guides

• Hiring in Austria: employer costs and labor laws
• Average salary in Austria
• Cost of living in Austria
• Software engineer salaries in Europe, compared by country
• Remote engineering jobs open to people in Europe