Country guide · Austria
Moving to Austria: cost of living, salaries, taxes, visas
EU member with the Red-White-Red points card; Vienna anchors a high quality-of-life relocator scene; tax burden similar to Germany.
Austria sits inside the EU and Schengen, with the Red-White-Red card serving as the country's signature points-based skilled-migrant route for non-EU candidates. Vienna's quality of life, central location, and mid-range cost make it one of the most popular EU-internal destinations.
There is no broad special expat tax regime — standard progressive income tax applies, with effective rates among the higher end of the EU once social-security contributions are included. Austrian bureaucracy is famously paperwork-heavy but well-documented.
At a glance
Austria relocation profile
Mundevo coverage in Austria
Vienna is the anchor city for cost-of-living and corridor calculations involving Austria.
| City | Cost index | Rent index | Safety | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vienna | 65 | 55 | 78 | 1,931,000 |
Tax and visa landscape
Headline tax model + entry-point visa overview for relocators.
- Effective income tax: 24.0%
- Social security (employee): 18.0%
- Total payroll deduction: 42.0%
- VAT: 20.0%
- Currency: EUR
Effective rates assume a single salaried filer at country median wage. Special regimes (e.g. expat-favoring schemes) are not applied here — see the visa guide for those.
Visa categories, residency routes, and tax-regime context for relocators are detailed in the dedicated visa guide.
Austria visa guide →Salary bands at Vienna — by role
Illustrative gross-salary bands for 6 senior IC roles in Vienna. Derived from NYC anchor × Austria pay-tier multiplier. Cross-check Levels.fyi, Glassdoor before negotiating.
| Role | P25 | P50 | P75 | NYC anchor (P50) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software engineer | €67,130 | €83,333 | €106,481 | $180,000 |
| Product manager | €69,444 | €90,278 | €120,370 | $195,000 |
| UX / product designer | €50,926 | €67,130 | €90,278 | $145,000 |
| Marketing manager | €43,981 | €60,185 | €81,019 | $130,000 |
| Data scientist | €62,500 | €81,019 | €106,481 | $175,000 |
| Finance analyst | €56,019 | €78,935 | €112,037 | $155,000 |
Top relocation corridors
Closest peers by cost-of-living index — the moves most commonly considered alongside Austria.