Amsterdam job offers usually come with one gross monthly figure, plus a holiday allowance line that confuses almost everyone new to it.
Knowing where that number sits against the national average, and what actually lands in a bank account each month, matters more than the headline salary itself.
The national median for 2026
The Centraal Planbureau (CPB), the government’s economic planning agency, puts the median Dutch salary for 2026 at about €48,000 gross per year, including holiday allowance.
That works out to roughly €3,800 gross per month.
Other estimates put the average lower, closer to €41,000 gross per year, or about €3,417 a month, since averages and medians are pulled around differently by very high earners.
Salary by age
Median pay rises steadily through a career and then drops after retirement age.
- 25 and younger: about €37,500 a year
- 25 to 45 years old: about €37,900 a year
- 45 to 65 years old: about €42,700 a year, the highest bracket
- 65 and older: about €32,700 a year
The statutory retirement age is 67 as of 2024, and it rises to 67 years and 3 months from 2028.
Salary by education level
A degree still makes the biggest single difference to Dutch pay.
- No diploma: around €28,500 a year
- Secondary school diploma: around €36,500 a year
- Vocational course certificate: around €32,700 a year
- University degree or higher: around €46,700 a year
Holders of an academic university (WO) diploma specifically report annual pay between roughly €30,500 and €41,500, a wide range that reflects field and experience rather than the degree alone.
Why gross numbers mislead
None of the figures above are what actually reaches a bank account.
Dutch payslips run gross pay through income tax brackets, the 8% holiday allowance, and (for many employees) a pension contribution before net pay appears.
The Dutch Salary and Payslip Guide for Employees breaks down what each payslip line actually means, and the Dutch Tax System Guide for Expats and Workers covers the income tax brackets and the 30% ruling that changes take-home pay for some incoming workers.
For a plain answer on what a given gross figure becomes after tax, see What Is Take-Home Pay in Amsterdam? Dutch Minimum Wage and Net Salary Explained.
Where these numbers come from
The median and age figures come from CPB, the government’s own economic forecasting body; the education breakdown is compiled from Statista analysis of Dutch labor data.
Neither source publishes a reliable breakdown by job title or Amsterdam-specific industry, so treat any site that claims exact salary figures by profession or by city with caution unless it names its source.
Checking pay against the legal minimum
Workers under 18 in the Netherlands can take part-time jobs under specific conditions, and statutory minimum wage rates apply from age 15 upward.
The current minimum wage and related unemployment benefit rules are set out in Netherlands Minimum Wage and Unemployment Benefits 2026: What to Know.
Job hunting with these numbers in hand
A salary figure only means something next to the job market it sits in.
The Amsterdam Employment Market Guide for Job Seekers covers where English-language roles concentrate and how local hiring actually works, which is the context these averages are missing on their own.
