Software Engineer Salary in the Netherlands: Pay Ranges and Employer Cost
The median software and application developer in the Netherlands earned €34.60 gross an hour in 2025, according to provisional CBS figures, 29% more than the €26.90 median for all employees. That is about €71,968 a year on a 40-hour week, before the 8% holiday allowance (our calculation).
A software developer in the Netherlands earns a median of €34.60 gross an hour, according to 2025 figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS). This page is for developers deciding what to ask for and for companies, often in the US or the UK, budgeting a Dutch hire. It covers pay ranges by occupation, how Dutch pay compares with the rest of Europe, what an employer pays on top of salary in 2026 and the routes to hire.
Gross hourly wages in Dutch ICT occupations, 2025
Pay of ICT sector professionals: the Netherlands and Europe
What software engineers earn in the Netherlands
CBS publishes gross hourly wages by occupation. The closest class to software engineer is software and application developers (BRC 2014 class 0814), which had 176,000 employees in 2025. Their median gross hourly wage was €34.60, against €26.90 for all employees, or 29% more. A quarter of developers earned €26.90 or less and a quarter earned €42.60 or more. These 2025 figures are provisional.
Developer pay rose 7.8% from 2024, when the median was €32.10, against 6.3% for all employees. On a 40-hour week for 52 weeks, our calculation, the median comes to about €71,968 a year, the 25th percentile to €55,952 and the 75th percentile to €88,608. The CBS hourly wage leaves out holiday allowance, bonuses and overtime. Dutch employees are entitled to at least 8% holiday allowance, which lifts the median to about €77,725 a year. On a 36-hour week the annual figures are 10% lower.
Related ICT roles pay in the same range. ICT specialists as a whole had a median of €36.00 an hour, system administrators and network specialists €34.90 and ICT managers €48.40. CBS does not split developers by seniority or city, so individual offers vary around these figures.
How the Netherlands compares in Europe
The latest Europe-wide comparison is Eurostat's Structure of Earnings Survey for 2022. Professionals in the information and communication sector in the Netherlands earned a mean of €69,120 gross a year, 20% above the EU 27 mean of €57,522. Pay was 7% lower than in Belgium (€74,098) and 12% lower than in Germany (€78,189), and 2.3 times the level in Poland (€29,721). This measure covers all professionals in the sector, not developers only, and includes annual bonuses, so it is not directly comparable with the CBS hourly figures.
The Netherlands had 708,800 ICT specialists in employment in 2025, according to Eurostat, or 7.2% of everyone in work. The EU 27 share is 5.0%. The number is up from 620,600 in 2021, the first year of the current series.
What an employer pays on top of salary
Dutch employers pay employee insurance premiums and the Zvw health insurance levy on pay up to €79,409 a year in 2026. The main rates are:
- Unemployment (AWf): 2.74% at the low rate or 7.74% at the high rate; which rate applies depends on the type of contract.
- Disability (Aof): 7.63%, or 6.27% for small employers, plus a 0.50% childcare surcharge.
- Health insurance levy (Zvw): 6.10%.
- Whk: a further premium for sickness and partial disability that differs per employer.
At the low AWf rate and the standard Aof rate, that is 16.97% before Whk, our sum. For a developer on the median, €71,968 plus 8% holiday allowance gives €77,725 in gross pay, €13,190 in these premiums and a total of €90,915 a year, our calculation. Pension contributions, the Whk premium and any sector fund come on top and depend on the employer. The full breakdown is in our guide to hiring in the Netherlands.
Hiring a software engineer remotely
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Prefer to run the search yourself? Post a job for $299, live for 60 days.
Euro Remote Talent is not an employer of record. We find and shortlist the candidate; you employ them through your own Dutch entity, an employer of record or a genuine contractor agreement.
If you bring someone to work in the Netherlands from abroad, the expat scheme, known as the 30% ruling, lets the employer pay up to 30% of salary as an untaxed allowance in 2026, for up to 5 years. The employee must earn at least €48,013 a year in 2026 (€36,497 if under 30 with a master's degree), must have lived more than 150 km from the Dutch border for at least 16 of the 24 months before starting, and applies together with the employer. For people who started after 1 January 2024, the maximum falls to 27% from 1 January 2027.
Looking for a role yourself? Browse remote jobs in the Netherlands or see how we help you land a great remote job.
How we built these figures
Pay figures come from CBS table 86355NED: gross hourly wages of employees aged 15 to 75 in their main job, by occupation, excluding holiday allowance, bonuses and overtime. Self-employed developers are not included. Annual figures are our calculation at 2,080 hours a year (40 hours a week for 52 weeks) and are an indication, not a CBS figure. The European comparison uses Eurostat's 2022 Structure of Earnings Survey, the most recent edition. Employer premium rates are the 2026 rates set by the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Tax Administration. All figures were checked on 7 Nov 2026.
More on the Netherlands
- Hiring in the Netherlands: employer costs and labor laws
- Average salary in the Netherlands
- Minimum wage in the Netherlands
- Remote jobs in the Netherlands
More guides
This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and collective agreements can set different terms. Confirm with a local accountant or lawyer before you hire.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average software engineer salary in the Netherlands?
The median gross hourly wage of software and application developers was €34.60 in 2025, according to provisional CBS figures. On a 40-hour week that is about €71,968 a year before the 8% holiday allowance, our calculation.
What salary range should a software developer ask for in the Netherlands?
In 2025, half of Dutch software developers earned between €26.90 and €42.60 gross an hour, according to CBS. That is about €55,952 to €88,608 a year on a 40-hour week before holiday allowance, our calculation. CBS does not split the figures by seniority or city.
How much does it cost an employer to hire a developer in the Netherlands?
On top of gross pay, the main employer premiums in 2026 add 16.97% on pay up to €79,409 a year, at the low unemployment rate and before the Whk premium and pension. For a developer on the median with holiday allowance, that is about €90,915 a year in total, our calculation.
How do Dutch developer salaries compare with Germany and Belgium?
In Eurostat's 2022 earnings survey, professionals in the Dutch information and communication sector earned a mean of €69,120 a year. That is 20% above the EU 27 mean, 7% below Belgium and 12% below Germany.
What is the 30% ruling for software engineers moving to the Netherlands?
It lets an employer pay up to 30% of salary as an untaxed allowance for up to 5 years to an employee recruited from abroad who meets the conditions, including a 2026 salary of at least €48,013. For people who started after 1 January 2024, the maximum falls to 27% from 1 January 2027.
Sources
- CBS StatLine, Werknemers; uurloon en beroep, table 86355NED (2025 provisional). Checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Eurostat, Employed ICT specialists, isoc_sks_itspt, updated 17 Apr 2026. Checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Eurostat, Structure of Earnings Survey 2022, earn_ses22_49, updated 9 Feb 2026. Checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Staatscourant 2025, 42324, Regeling premiepercentages werknemersverzekeringen 2026, 5 Dec 2025. Checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Belastingdienst, Percentages bijdrage Zvw. Checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Business.gov.nl, Paying holiday allowance to your staff. Checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Belastingdienst, Expat Scheme (30% facility). Checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Business.gov.nl, 30% ruling: compensation for expats down to 27%. Checked 7 Nov 2026.
