Salary Level from Romania : Average Salary
The average net salary in Romania amounts to €850 in 2023, an increase of 25% since 2019, and even 100% compared to 2015 since this average salary was then around €425 net.
We can immediately note that the average salary practiced in Romania is significantly higher than the net minimum salary of €400.
However, this national average shows significant sectoral and regional disparities.
Sector variations
Net salaries in the civil service are, on average, significantly higher (on average 20% above average) than in the private sector (on average 15% below average).
Within the private sector itself, there is significant variability with high average salaries in IT for example (around €2,000 net per month) or in the finance/banking/insurance professions (around €1,700 per month) and low average wages in the textile sector (about EUR 500 net per month).
Regional variations
Bucharest and its agglomeration
The average net salary in Bucharest amounts to 920 EUR per month.
The high level of the average salary in Bucharest compared to the level of salaries in Romania as a whole is explained by the fact that it is in Bucharest that the best paid jobs are concentrated (with in particular the presence of numerous head offices companies and jobs in the field of high added value services such as IT, banking services, insurance for example) as well as many public jobs, which we have seen are, on average, better paid than private sector jobs.
Salaries also remain high around Bucharest, with an average net salary of 720 in the county of Ilfov (bordering Bucharest).
The Transylvania region
Salaries in the Transylvania region (counties of Cluj, Timis, Sibiu, Brasov, Mures, Prahova, Arad) are significantly higher than in the rest of the country with an average salary of 700 EUR net per month and even an average of 850 EUR net per month in the county of Cluj.
These high salary levels are explained by the existence of a dense industrial fabric which thrives thanks to the geographical proximity of Hungary (gateway to the EU) and the presence of major universities.
Pitesti and Constanta regions
Arges, the department where the city of Pitesti is located (where the Dacia factories are located, for example) and the department of Constanta both have a common characteristic: whereas these departments were, at the beginning of the 2010s, among the departments where salaries were the highest in the country (at the same level as in Transylvania), these departments are now in the middle of the ranking (with an average net salary of around EUR 620 per month), because salaries progressed more slowly there than in the rest of Romania.
The Moldavian region of Romania
While the Moldavian region of Romania was one of the poorest in Romania, wages rose in this region faster than in the rest of the country, so that the Moldavian region of Romania is now approaching national average (outside Bucharest) with an average net salary of around EUR 560 per month in the departments of Vaslui, Vrancea, Neamt and Suceava, and even more with the department of Botosani which is ahead with a net salary average which now reaches 600 EUR per month. The departments of Iasi and Galati are really doing well with an average net salary of EUR 650 per month in the department of Galati and even EUR 700 per month in that of Iasi, thanks to the industrial sector of these departments (for example in the steel industry) and their important universities.
Average salary in southern Romania
With the exception of the region of Bucharest, Prohova (department of the city of Ploiesti), Arges (department of the city of Pitesti) and Dolj (department of the charming city of Craiova) with average net salaries of around €620 per month, the southern arc of Romania records average salaries that are clearly below the national average. Thus, for example, the average net salary in the department of Teleorman is only 530 EUR per month, and around 560 EUR in the departments of Valcea, Braila, Iamolita, Dambovita, Buzau, or Caras- Severin, with very good progress in the department of Calarasi where the average net salary now reaches €600 per month
This weakness compared to the national average finds part of its explanation in the mainly agricultural character of these departments.
The average salary in the northern region of Romania
The same is true for the northern region of Romania, also essentially oriented towards agriculture, where we find some of the lowest wages in Romania: the average net wages in the departments of Maramures, Harghita, and Bistrita-Nasaud where the average net salary is only around 540 EUR per month, with however a good progression in the departments of Salaj and Bihor where the average net salary now reaches 580 € per month.
Source: INS (National Institute of Statistics) - Article written on the basis of statistical data from the beginning of January 2023 - The salaries described are understood as the average net salaries converted and rounded in EUR.