What Is the Minimum and Average Salary in Croatia in 2023? [Answered]

Over the past few years, both the minimum salary, as well as the average wage in Croatia have gone up slowly but steadily. Even though the quality of life is increasing, recent inflation data gives us reason to worry.

Today we’re going to find out just how good things are in terms of money received for your work: I’ll tell you the minimum wage, as well as the average salary in Croatia in 2023

We’ll start by saying that, despite the increases over the past years, Croatia still ranks towards the bottom in the European Union when it comes to money earned each month by the people working here.

The minimum wage in the country is defined by law, so it is the same in all cities, towns and villages.

But living on minimum wage is very difficult, even in a cheaper country like Croatia – so if you’re planning to relocate here and you’re looking to rent and live on your own, don’t consider the minimum wage enough for a decent life.

When it comes to the average salary in Croatia, the numbers are more or less the same in all the larger cities, with slightly lower amounts expected in the smaller cities and towns.

So large, popular cities like Zagreb, Split or Dubrovnik will be your best choices if you’re looking for the highest potential salaries in the country.

The data in today’s article will surely be extremely useful if you’re planning to relocate to Croatia, move here for a while or even just travel.

Knowing the minimum and average salaries will help you better estimate the cost of living in Croatia and if you will actually be able to afford the lifestyle you’re planning to live.

Because it theory, having an amount that is at least equal to the average earnings in the country would allow you to live a decent, mid-class life here.

I personally always look at the average wages in a country in order to decide how well I would live there based on my current income. I don’t take them as granted – neither should you – but they’re still a solid indicator of costs here.

Of course, other factors come into play here as most Croats don’t pay rent or even mortgage, they don’t live alone and so on… But overall, knowing the minimum and average wages in the country will help you a lot.

Please note: Croatia switched to using the Euro instead of the traditional Kuna starting January 2023, so from now on salaries and all costs will be listed directly in Euros.

What’s the Minimum Salary in Croatia in 2022?

In 2023, the minimum take home salary in Croatia is 560 Euros per month. In terms of gross income, this translates to 700 Euros per month. The minimum salary saw a nice increase of ~60 Euros compared to 2022.

This is a pretty massive increase, following two years of similarly massive increases. For future reference, I am leaving the data below, to easily compare numbers. All values represent the take home wage:

• Minimum Salary 2023: 560 Euros
• Minimum Salary 2022: 500 Euros
• Minimum Salary 2021: 450 Euros

Compared to last year, the increase was substantial, following trends set by 2019 and 2020 where the minimum wage also saw pretty solid boosts. So yes, things are looking good right now!

Just for comparison sake, in early 2013, the gross minimum salary here was around 370 Euros and in 2018 it was 462 Euros. Today, the gross salary is 700 Euros – showing how quickly the country’s economy and quality of living has grown.

This is really good, having in mind that the inflation hit Croatia hard last year (just like it did with most of the world and Europe in special), and probably it will still be pretty bad throughout 2023 also.

It’s interesting to know that the official numbers show that only around 40,000 Croatians are earning minimum wage – so this is definitely not an amount to aim for if you’re planning to move here!

Average salary in Croatia in 2022

The net (take home) average salary in Croatia in 2023 is estimated to be around 1,150 Euros per month, which is around 10% higher than the average wages last year.

However, judging from the fact that inflation is really high currently (at around 14%), the increased wages don’t seem to keep up with it. It’s going to be interesting to see if switching to Euros will positively affect inflation going forward.

The net average wages in the country have also grown a lot in the past several years, mainly thanks to the developments in the IT industry, as well as tourism.

However, with 2020 and 2021 being the crazy years that they were, following by the slower 2022, the fast growing trend of salaries wasn’t sustainable and Croatia recorded one of the lowest increases in the past few years when it comes to the amount of money an average Croat earns per month.

Add to that the growing inflation of 2022 (that leaks into 2023) and you can see that the increases in wages barely managed to keep up with it.

But, all things considered, as long as salaries went up, and they did manage to beat inflation, things are still good. I am sure that they will start growing at a faster pace from now on.

Of course, some jobs are better paid than others – like anywhere in the world, with Croatia recording the highest average wages in the IT department, healthcare system and banks.

Still, the averages are going up nicely over the years. For example, back in 2019, the amount was just 820 Euros, increasing to €865 in 2020, €905 in 2021 and €1,035 in 2022.

So this year’s average of 1,1150 Euros is pretty spectacular and nice to look at, no matter if you are already working here or if you plan to relocate.

Of course, if you compare the average wages in Croatia to those in the European Union, things don’t look that good, as Croatia is still towards the bottom, above 5 countries only.

But the important thing is that salaries have been growing steadily over the years and further growth is anticipated, while the quality of life has also grown constantly.

Also have in mind that the prices in Croatia are also much lower than in the higher earning EU countries, so everything kind of evens up in the end, resulting in a good quality of life being lived on an average salary in any of the country’s cities.

It’s still best if you move here and don’t depend on local employment, though: this way, you will probably earn a lot more than the average and have a chance at living a much better life.

But if you can find employment here that pays at least the average amount listed in this article, things would still be pretty good!

What is a good salary in Croatia?

If your take-home pay is anything over 1,1150 Euros each month, you can say that you have a good salary by Croatian standards. This should allow you to live a decent life in the country. For a single person, €1,500 per month can be considered a really good amount.

It’s even better if you have a partner to share some costs with (so both of you would have 2,000 Euros per month to spend) as you would reduce rental costs and some of the food costs as well.

Have in mind that inflation this year was really high (around 10% at the moment of writing this article), so costs are increasing throughout the country.

But, at the same time, they are also increasing at a similar rate throughout Europe and the World, so no place is safe from inflation right now.

Conclusion

Hopefully our article about the minimum and average salary in Croatia helps you paint a better picture of both the cost of living here as well as what to expect to make if you plan to relocate to this beautiful country or search for a job.

And if you have questions, I will happily answer them if I can, so don’t hesitate to post them below!