The largest city in the United Arab Emirates, Dubai is home to expats from all over the world. While everyone has their unique reasons for relocating, two big motivators for moving to Dubai are the competitive salaries and tax-free benefits.
If these have piqued your interest and you’re considering moving, you’re probably wondering “what is a good salary in Dubai?”. This can be subjective, as different lifestyles require different levels of funding, but we’ll give you a breakdown of the average income in Dubai, and how much it might cost to live here.
We can provide insight on everything from salaries to the cost of living, along with an expat guide to international relocation.
Salaries in Dubai
As with any country, the average income in Dubai depends greatly on the industry. Your monthly salary will also be based on how much experience you have in the role, and how good you are at negotiating salary packages.
Average income
The more experience you have, the higher you can expect your salary to be. Across the board, the average expat salary in Dubai is around 190,000 AED, which equals roughly 52,000 USD.
Salary packages
Some expat employers may be open to arranging packages for their employees, which can include additional funding for accommodation, and transportation, and will sometimes cover relocation costs, too.
Working in Dubai
Along with the average income and salary expectations, here are some other important bits of information to know if you’re planning on working in Dubai.
Leading industries
Approximately 75% of Dubai’s population is made up of expats. Some of the biggest sectors that expatriates work in here are IT, accounting and finance, marketing, real estate, HR, and recruitment.
Tax-free haven
Aside from the good weather, one of the main reasons that expats move to Dubai for work is to take advantage of the tax-free income that employees here earn. This goes for everything - there’s no income tax, capital gains tax, federal tax, corporate tax, sales tax, or income withholding. That means that whatever you earn is yours to keep, and it’s up to you whether you save your Dubai earnings, or spend them on tax-free shopping!
An undeniably attractive perk of living and working in Dubai, you’ll still need to research and consider any tax implications or liabilities this may incur in your home country. As these requirements vary greatly, we suggest speaking with a financial advisor who can offer you guidance in this regard.
Pay rights
Dubai differs greatly from many Western countries in that there is no minimum wage here. For this reason, it’s important to ensure that you negotiate a fair and reasonable salary for yourself at the outset, and bear future cost of living increases in mind, too.
Along with the rest of the UAE, Dubai is known for having a more conservative culture, and in the past, this has been seen to flow into the workplace. As of 2018, however, the UAE Cabinet has approved a law on equal wages for men and women.
Expatriate Cost of Living in Dubai
As mentioned above, the amount of money required to live in Dubai is different for everyone and depends largely on lifestyle. Generally speaking though, here is a guide to the average expenses of an expat in Dubai:
Rent
If your employer does not provide accommodation, then you can expect to pay, on average, around 5,400 AED per month for a one-bedroom apartment in the city. If renting, you’ll also be required to pay a rental fee of 5% of the annual rental cost. This is broken down and charged with the utility bill.
Transport
When living in Dubai, you have multiple options when it comes to transportation. It isn’t uncommon for people here to have their own driver, as the cost of this is significantly lower than in other parts of the world. You may choose to buy a car and drive yourself, or, if you want to save as much money as you can while living in Dubai, you can opt to use public transport. A monthly pass for this costs around 350 AED.
General expenses
Aside from rent, the average cost of living for an expat in Dubai is approximately 4,000AED per month. This includes everything from groceries to eating out, entertainment, and day-to-day needs. Drinking alcohol is not common in the UAE, and, as such, alcoholic drinks can be costly when compared with other food and beverage pricing.
Allied’s Expert Movers
When you’ve added up the numbers and decided to try out life as an expat in Dubai, Allied will be ready to help you make the move.
We have expert teams based around the globe, offering tailored moving services to suit your needs, whatever they may be.
Get in touch with Allied UAE today to speak with a member of our moving team.