The World’s Highest Paying Cities for Talent in 2023 

Whether you’re considering a career change, or looking to start your own business, a top priority at the forefront of our minds regards the kind of remuneration we can expect to receive, and, for those looking to start their own enterprise, how much talent will cost. 

But have you ever wondered just how much salaries can differ across the globe? For those daring enough to consider starting a new chapter abroad, Business Name Generator has revealed how much 28 cities around the world pay their employees in four popular employment sectors – Marketing, HR, Creative, as well as the ever growing Tech industry. 

To do this, we’ve analysed five of the most popular jobs in each of the sectors to determine the average salaries per industry. Looking at this across 28 cities, the study analyses a total of 560 salaries to determine the best and worst paying cities for every industry. On top of this, we’ve also revealed how much it costs to live in each of these cities to help determine affordability.

Doha Pays Highest For Tech

The global tech industry is estimated to be worth a whopping £4.3 trillion, so it’s no surprise cities around the world are willing to pay the price for the right talent. 

Analysing annual salaries for five job roles in the tech industry in 28 cities across the globe, Doha comes out on top as the highest paying location for tech heads. The capital city of Qatar, Doha is considered to be a leading location for technological transformation, with Microsoft, Oracle and Amazon all having offices in the prosperous city. 

In Doha, employees in the tech field receive an average annual salary of £127,888, with the highest earning salary analysed in the study being that of a Data Scientist, in which workers earn an average of £361,877 per year. 

With a respectable annual cost of living in the city being reported as £26,382 (including rent and utilities), it might not be surprising that Doha also offers the highest disposable income for workers in the tech field (£101,506 per year, or £8,459 per month).

The top 10 paying cities for tech professionals:

Whilst six U.S cities make the top 10 list of best paying locations for tech professionals, it might not come as a surprise that San Francisco takes the crown for the U.S, coming in second place overall with an average annual tech salary of £108,634. Home to Silicon Valley, one of the world’s most famous centres for technological innovation, this U.S city is known for attracting tech talent from around the world. However, with a high annual cost of living of £46,317, tech employees have a significantly lower disposable income than those in Doha.

Abu Dhabi comes in third place as the highest paying city for tech employees, paying an average salary of £97,232. However with an affordable cost of living in comparison of just £24,094, residents working in tech in the city of Abu Dhabi can expect to enjoy a healthy disposable income of £73,137 on average. 

Rome is the Lowest Paying City For Tech Talent

When it comes to which cities pay the least for tech talent, Rome comes in first place with an average salary of £28,989. A second Italian city also tops the list as the lowest paying location for tech employees, with Milan coming in second place.

Meanwhile, Madrid comes in third with an average annual salary of £32,110 for tech employees.

The 10 lowest paying cities for tech professionals:

Hong Kong is Highest Paying for HR

The HR industry is incredibly important for helping shape how we work, recruit, train, develop and look after ourselves, as well as our employees. With ways of working constantly changing, especially post-pandemic, it might not come as a surprise that the HR industry grew four times faster than the UK workforce in the past decade.

Hong Kong is revealed to be the location paying their HR professionals the most, with an average salary of £83,818. The highest paying job role analysed in the study is for a Recruitment Manager where workers can expect to earn £163,568 per year on average.

The top 10 paying cities for HR professionals:

Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi comes in second place where HR professionals enjoy an 

average salary of £80,923 per year. Despite missing out on the top spot, due to its cheaper cost of living than Hong Kong, employees working in HR in Abu Dhabi enjoy the highest amount of disposable income per year (£56,829).

San Francisco comes in third place where those working in the HR industry take home an average of £67,032 every year according to our research.

In terms of which cities offer the highest disposable income for HR professionals, Hong Kong and Beijing come in second and third place behind Abu Dhabi, followed by Dubai and Doha in fourth and fifth. 

Rome, Seoul and Barcelona Are the Lowest Paying for HR 

Rome comes in first place as the lowest paying city for HR professionals, earning £26,715 on average. HR employees in Rome also have the second lowest disposable income of £6,301 per year.

Rome is followed by Seoul in second place as the lowest paying city for HR professionals where they can expect to take home £28,793 per year on average. Barcelona comes in third place with £30,300 on average.

The 10 lowest paying cities for HR professionals

Dubai is Highest Paying for Marketers

Showing no signs of slowing down in its growth, the marketing industry is expected to be worth a whopping £1.2 trillion by 2030. From public relations to traditional marketing, the industry is ideal for those with strong creative, analytical and communication skills. 

Establishing itself as a prominent digital and tech hub, there is a wealth of opportunity for marketing professionals to make their mark in the city of Dubai. For those looking to grow their marketing career, Dubai could be the ideal location with marketing salaries reaching £107,352 on average according to our research. A reason for incredibly high salaries in this sector could be to try and attract international talent to the city to help fulfil the fast growing sector.

The highest paying salary for marketers in Dubai recorded in our research is for Product Marketing Managers, reaching £224,200 on average. With incredibly high salaries, marketers in Dubai can expect a high disposable income of £77,930 per year on average. 

The top 10 paying cities for marketing professionals:

Hong Kong comes in second place with an average salary of £79,155 for marketers. Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi comes in third place, the second UAE city to feature in the top three highest paying locations for marketers. 

Madrid is the Lowest Paying City for Marketers 

Madrid comes in first place as the lowest paying city for marketers where marketing professionals take home £32,193 per year on average. Despite this, Madrid has a fairly low cost of living meaning marketers can enjoy a healthy disposable annual income of £14,049. 

Milan comes in second place as the lowest paying city for marketers where residents take home £32,482 on average per year. With a fairly high cost of living at £25,143, marketers can expect to have an average annual disposable income of around £7,338 per year. Budapest comes in third with the lowest average annual income for marketers of £32,732 per year.

The 10 lowest paying cities for marketing professionals:

San Francisco is Highest Paying for Creatives

The creative industry is perhaps known as being one of the more difficult industries to crack, however opportunities for creative individuals have certainly grown in recent years with the industry predicted by Forbes to account for 10% of the global GDP by 2030.

The U.S dominates the top 10 ranking of highest paying cities for creatives with San Francisco, New York City and Washington DC all featuring in the top 3. Creatives in sunny San Francisco can expect to take home £67,322 on average per year. The highest paying role analysed in the study is revealed to be an Architect where residents take home £103,926 annually on average. 

The top 10 paying cities for creatives:

In New York City, creatives earn an average of £62,525 per year, however with notoriously high costs of living, average disposable incomes for New Yorkers is estimated to be around £9,444. 

Washington, DC comes in third place where creatives earn £61,586 on average, enjoying an average disposable income of £23,494 per year.

Despite coming in eleventh place overall with an average creative salary of £46,027, Beijing is revealed to be the city where creatives can expect to enjoy the highest disposable income. Beijing has a fairly affordable cost of living of £15,306 per year, meaning creatives can enjoy a disposable income of £30,721 on average.

Las Vegas comes in second place as the city where creatives can expect to take home the highest disposable income (£28,648), followed by Tokyo in third (£26,773) where yearly cost of living is estimated to be £17,485.

Bangkok is the Lowest Paying City for Creatives

Bangkok comes in first place as the lowest paying city for creatives where residents take home just £17,531 on average per year. However, with a fairly low cost of living of just £13,110 a year, including rent and utilities, creatives in Bangkok can expect to earn an average disposable income of £4,420.

Meanwhile, Budapest comes in second place as the lowest paying city for creatives with an average annual income of £22,563. Rome comes in third place where creatives earn an average yearly salary of £23,152.

The 10 lowest paying cities for creatives:

Getting Started With Your New Business Abroad

Are you a budding entrepreneur or digital nomad considering moving abroad to start  your own business in one of these four industries? If so, we’ve put together some quick tips to help you get started on a list of priorities: 

1. Do your research

There’s lots of things to consider when setting up your own business, especially if you’ll be doing so in another country. Every country will have its own rules and regulations around things like business tax, import and export costs, and visa requirements, so it’s important to do your research to determine what is possible for you and your business before jumping straight in.

2. Consider the demand for your business

As part of your research, you also need to figure out whether there is actually demand for your business in this new location. Make sure to look at the competitiveness of your target market, and undertake a feasibility study to understand if this is the right place for your company and whether it makes commercial sense to set up here. 

3. Expand your network

Once you’ve established the right location for your business, it could be beneficial to meet with other UK businesses who have already set up in the market. They may be able to provide you with some practical advice, and it’s always good to have a support network around you. 

4. Hire the right experts

Before setting up the business, you’ll need to work with local lawyers, accountants, and banks to understand the legal and financial regulations in your chosen country.

If you plan on expanding the company, you’ll also need to think about what kind of staff you’ll need. Surrounding yourself with a local team of specialists is going to be really important for the success of your business, but just remember that when it comes to the hiring process, it’s important to be aware of any cultural differences that might be in play.

5. Start ticking off items on your to do list

Starting your own business can be overwhelming, and doing so abroad can be even more stressful. To prevent your to do list piling up, start ticking off easier items that will help reduce the amount you have on your plate. For example, thinking of your new business name.

This is an exciting part of the journey to starting your own business will give you a focus for what you want to achieve. If you’re struggling, use our AI-powered business name generator to help you come up with ideas.

6. Believe in yourself and be patient 

Success doesn’t happen overnight, but believing in yourself and your business is the first step in achieving it. By researching, planning, networking, and persevering, you’ll be able to lay a solid foundation on which your business can grow, no matter where in the world you are. 

Sources and methodology:

A seedlist of the world’s top 28 cities was taken from World’s Best Cities index: https://www.worldsbestcities.com/rankings/worlds-best-cities/ 

Please note Istanbul and Osaka were removed from the study due to a lack of salary data.

A seedlist of five jobs was taken for each of the four industries looked at in this study

• Tech: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/101315/10-best-tech-jobs.asp
  • Data scientist, Software developer, Information security analyst, Computer systems analyst, Web developer
• HR: https://uk.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/types-of-human-resources-jobs
  • Recruiter, Recruitment manager, HR assistant, HR coordinator, HR specialist 
• Marketing: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/marketing-job-titles
  • Marketing assistant, Brand ambassador, Marketing manager, Product marketing manager, PR specialist 
• Creative: https://uk.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/creative-careers
  • Illustrator, Architect, Copywriter, Graphic designer, Web designer 

Average salary per role was found using Glassdoor. Relevant job title and location searched for in the search bar, the average gross annual salary displayed in local currency was then taken. These figures are then converted to £ at the relevant conversion rate for each country on 18/09/2023. In some instances, salaries are displayed per month. In these cases, the figure is multiplied by 12 to get the annual salary.

To find the average disposable income per city, cost of living for one single person and average rent prices for one bedroom city centre apartment was taken from Numbeo on 18/09/2023. This was then added together and multiplied by 12 to find the yearly cost of living. To calculate the disposable income, this was minused from the average salary for each industry in each of the 28 cities.