Hello all,
I'm being offered a job in Aarhus and wanted to get some opinions on the salary offer and cost of living in Aarhus (or around Aarhus).
Some background:
I'm an electrical engineer with 12+ years of experience, specializing in power systems/power generation. My wife will be doing career upgrading studies and learning danish first couple of years (that's the plan at least), so she'll have no income for 1-2 years. We have 2 kids - the youngest will go to kindergarten, the oldest will have to go to international school till she learns enough Danish (am I correct assuming that?) We have a dog who will of course come with us to Denmark.
I'm being offered a salary of 60,000 dkk/month plus a decent pension scheme, thus the questions:
- Based on online calculators it appears that the take-home amount will be around 34,000dkk. Is this good enough for a family of 4? What sort of life comfort level can be expected with such a salary?
- What to expect for monthly expenses for a family such as ours?
- How easy/difficult is it to find rental accomodations, especially given that we have a dog? Is buying an option?
- Any recommendations or things to consider before accepting my job offer?
Thanks in advance!
Salary & family of 4 cost of living
Hi,
I saw your post, and although I'm not a native Danish for the past few months I have been studying life and culture there. Thinking of moving too in the near future. One thing struck me 60,000 dkk with taxes? Because Denmark although a nordic paradise, has a high income tax. About 45% if I'm not mistaken. Also food and groceries are expensive comparing to other countries in Europe. For example, if you in Canada got bread for 3 dollars (aka 15dkk) in Denmark it's 20dkk the basic loaf. A little more but when you add more to everything you get quite a sum. Rent in a city is from 7500-11000 dkk per month, depending on how many bedrooms, and location. To buy from what I could find, you must have a lot of conditions met as an immigrant.
Last thing & I hope I'm wrong, read it on another forum, is that owners can charge you extra rent if you have a pet. To me it was shocking and I hope not all Danish people are like that.
Hope this helps 
Hi Canuck_KP,
By Danish standard, it's definitely a fine pay as you can also see from former posts on this forum. Search salary in the search box Search the Denmark forum
Income 720,000 kroner, spouse doesn't work, Aarhus municipality: tax 447,095 kroner, net income 447,095monthly = 37,257 kroner monthly.
I haven't added the value of the pension scheme before calculating your tax (as it's normal for native citizens), but expats have other possibilities as they will possibly leave this country before retirement. It's all about getting the money sooner or later.
Do ask the company for advice regarding taxation of your pension scheme.
Your net income will increase many Danes gross salary. You ask what kind of life you can live on your pay? It depends, it depends all on your expectations, habits and needs.
Don't expect to find a flat in downtown Aarhus, but with two kids and a dog, I would also go for the suburbs, e. g. Lystrup with good connections to Aarhus.
Example:
https://findboliger.dk/lejebolig/lystruphttps://www.lejebolig.dk/
I shalln't say whether a dog is permitted here or not. A dog will limit the possibilities, but if pets are allowed, it's illegal to charge extra.
Do ask the company for help regarding your housing search.
Expect the lease to be 11-14,000 kroner, utilities to be 6,000 kroner, it may be cheaper, but better be positively surprised than the opposite. Another 6,000 kroner for the household.
You don't have to find an international school. Your kid can attend the state school from day one.
https://www.justlanded.com/english/Denmark
I take that this will do as a first answer. You're very welcome back.
/Nellie
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