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

What it costs to employ someone in Tallinn

Estonian employer costs are national, so they are the same in Tallinn as in the rest of Estonia. On top of gross pay, the employer pays 33% social tax and 0.8% unemployment insurance, 33.8% in total, in 2026. The employee pays 1.6% unemployment insurance, a funded pension contribution of 2%, 4% or 6%, and 22% income tax, all withheld from gross pay.

On the Tallinn average of €2,611 a month in the 2nd quarter of 2026, or €31,332 a year, the employer adds €10,339.56 in social tax and €250.66 in unemployment insurance, for a total of €41,922.22 a year. The minimum wage is €946 a month from 1 April 2026. Notice periods, holiday and income tax follow national law. Our guide to hiring in Estonia covers them.

Pay in Tallinn

Statistics Estonia publishes wages for Tallinn itself. The average gross monthly wage in Tallinn was €2,611 in the 2nd quarter of 2026, 16.4% above the Estonian average of €2,243 and 5.3% more than a year earlier. Over the full year 2025, the Tallinn average was €2,451, the highest in Estonia. See average salary in Tallinn.

Rent and living costs in Tallinn

We found no official average rent for Tallinn, so we do not show one. What is published is what homes sell for. In the 3rd quarter of 2026, resale apartments in Tallinn sold for an average of €3,030 per m² and new apartments for €4,667 per m², according to the Land Board. Tallinn residents ride the city's buses, trams and trolleybuses free with a personalized travel card. For everyone else, a 1-hour ticket costs €2 and a 30-day ticket €30. See cost of living in Tallinn.

The Tallinn labor market

Tallinn had 452,563 residents on 1 January 2026, 33.3% of Estonia's population of 1,360,745. The unemployment rate of Tallinn residents was 8.1% in 2025, against 7.5% across Estonia. Pay in Tallinn is the highest in Estonia: €2,451 a month on average in 2025, against €1,957 in the rest of Harju county.

How to hire in Tallinn

1. Find the person. Write the role, set the salary against Tallinn pay levels, 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. An Estonian entity running payroll, an employer of record or a contractor agreement.
3. Make the offer. The contract has to meet the Estonian Employment Contracts Act, for example on working time, holiday and notice. Pay is usually quoted as a gross monthly salary in euros.

There are 3 ways to employ someone in Tallinn. With an Estonian entity, you register a company in Estonia, run payroll and pay social tax and unemployment insurance yourself. With an employer of record (EOR), a third-party provider becomes the legal employer and runs Estonian 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 Estonia to see who is hiring there now.