Country Profiles
Everything you need to know about visas, taxes, housing, and schools — organized by country so you're not hunting across ten tabs.
Moving abroad? Start here.
Know exactly what to expect before you pack a single box.
Real salaries, real costs, real timelines. Compare countries, run the numbers for your situation, and figure out the paperwork — all in one place.
Countries covered
100+
Interactive charts
12
Official sources
20+
Community reports
3
Getting started
Not sure where to begin? Start here.
Whether you're just exploring or ready to commit, these four tools will give you a clear picture in minutes.
Run the numbers
See your take-home pay, monthly expenses, and savings for any country. Pre-loaded with Germany so you can try it right away.
Open plannerCompare countries
Put up to 3 countries side by side — salary, tax, cost of living, immigration timelines, demographics, and more.
Start comparingBrowse countries
19 full profiles with visa routes, tax brackets, housing, schools, safety tips, and step-by-step checklists.
See all countriesExplore dashboards
12 interactive dashboards covering tax, salary, visa, healthcare, education, housing, happiness, and more.
Open exploreMade for you
What's your situation?
Whether you're chasing a career move, planning studies abroad, retiring somewhere warm, or relocating with kids — we've got the data that matters to you.
Tech Professional
You want to know where your skills pay the most, which countries have fast-track work permits, and how much you'll actually keep after taxes.
ExploreStudent
You're looking for affordable tuition, legit universities, and a heads-up on the scams that catch people off guard every year.
ExploreRetiree
You want to stretch your pension further, find good healthcare, and figure out where your money goes the longest.
ExploreFamily
You need to know about schools, childcare costs, housing, and how family reunification actually works in practice.
ExploreThe numbers
See how 19 countries actually stack up
Click any bar to jump into the full country profile. Everything's in local currencies with EUR equivalents so you can compare fairly.
New
Plan my budget Financial Planner
Build a real monthly budget for any destination. Set your family size, lifestyle, and neighborhood — then see your tax breakdown, expenses, savings rate, and where you'll be in five years. Try it with your actual numbers.
What's inside
Data, tools, and guides — everything connects
Country profiles, comparison dashboards, budget calculators, step-by-step checklists, and in-depth guides. Go from 'maybe' to 'booked' without switching between a dozen websites.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Put two countries next to each other and see exactly where the differences are — salary, tax, cost of living, PR timelines.
Planning Tools
Budget planners, salary estimators, and visa timelines that work with your actual numbers, not generic averages.
Community & Safety
Real experiences from people who've done the move. Student scam reports and moderated submissions you can actually trust.
Charts & Trends
Seven years of salary, cost, and immigration data — visualized so you can spot patterns instead of reading spreadsheets.
Destinations
Where people are actually moving
19 countries with full profiles — from salary and tax to visa timelines and citizenship paths. Plus origin support for 100+ countries worldwide.
Germany
Medium visa complexityStrong job market with clear skilled-worker routes and a practical path to long-term residence.
- Avg salary
- €55,000
- Monthly cost
- €1,900
- PR
- 21 to 33 months (Blue Card) or 5 years standard
- Citizenship
- 5 years (reduced from 8 in June 2024; 3-year fast-track rescinded Oct 2025)
Netherlands
Medium visa complexityInternational business hub with high English accessibility and straightforward residence administration.
- Avg salary
- €52,000
- Monthly cost
- €2,200
- PR
- 5 years
- Citizenship
- 5 years
Portugal
Low visa complexityPopular for lifestyle migration, digital nomad demand, and moderate entry complexity.
- Avg salary
- €30,000
- Monthly cost
- €1,500
- PR
- 5 years
- Citizenship
- 5 years
Spain
Medium visa complexityLarge economy with strong regional diversity, attractive for students and remote workers.
- Avg salary
- €32,000
- Monthly cost
- €1,700
- PR
- 5 years
- Citizenship
- 10 years in many standard cases
France
Medium visa complexityMajor European economy with diverse regional opportunities and robust public systems.
- Avg salary
- €45,000
- Monthly cost
- €2,100
- PR
- 5 years
- Citizenship
- 5 years in standard route
Ireland
Medium visa complexityEnglish-speaking EU base with strong multinational employer presence.
- Avg salary
- €52,000
- Monthly cost
- €2,400
- PR
- 5 years
- Citizenship
- 5 years in many cases
Step by step
When you're ready to actually do it
Practical tracks for the stuff that comes after the decision — enrolling kids, finding a place, avoiding scams, and getting set up in your first month.
Student Safety
How to spot fake universities, avoid deposit scams, and verify your admission before you fly.
Open trackSchool Admissions
A walkthrough for enrolling your kids — public schools, international options, and what paperwork you'll need.
Open trackHousing Setup
Renting or buying? Here's what to watch out for, step by step, including common fraud red flags.
Open trackAfter Arrival
Your first 30 days: city registration, bank account, utilities, health insurance — all in one checklist.
Open trackGuides
Practical reads that go deeper
Each guide links directly to the relevant country data and tools, so you're not just reading — you're doing.
- 14 min
Relocation
Move to Germany: Work, Housing, and First 30 Days
A practical sequence from visa prep to address registration, payroll setup, and housing stability.
- 12 min
Relocation
Move to the Netherlands: BSN, Housing, and Insurance
How to complete municipal registration, mandatory insurance, and expat housing checks.
- 11 min
Relocation
Move to Portugal: D7 and D8 Execution Guide
Document checklist and timeline approach for remote workers and passive-income routes.
- 10 min
Policy
EU Blue Card: Country-by-Country Decision Framework
What changes by country and how salary thresholds and recognition rules affect approval speed.
At a glance
Key numbers across 19 countries
Here are the headline figures from our data. Every number links to the full interactive dashboard where you can filter by your situation.
Germany
Average salary: €55,000/year. Monthly cost of living: €1,900. Income tax range: 14% to 45%. Permanent residency: 21 to 33 months (Blue Card) or 5 years standard. Citizenship: 5 years (reduced from 8 in June 2024; 3-year fast-track rescinded Oct 2025). Visa complexity: Medium.
Netherlands
Average salary: €52,000/year. Monthly cost of living: €2,200. Income tax range: 8% to 49.5%. Permanent residency: 5 years. Citizenship: 5 years. Visa complexity: Medium.
Portugal
Average salary: €30,000/year. Monthly cost of living: €1,500. Income tax range: 12.5% to 48%. Permanent residency: 5 years. Citizenship: 5 years. Visa complexity: Low.
Spain
Average salary: €32,000/year. Monthly cost of living: €1,700. Income tax range: 19% to 47%. Permanent residency: 5 years. Citizenship: 10 years in many standard cases. Visa complexity: Medium.
France
Average salary: €45,000/year. Monthly cost of living: €2,100. Income tax range: 0% to 45%. Permanent residency: 5 years. Citizenship: 5 years in standard route. Visa complexity: Medium.
Ireland
Average salary: €52,000/year. Monthly cost of living: €2,400. Income tax range: 20% to 40%. Permanent residency: 5 years. Citizenship: 5 years in many cases. Visa complexity: Medium.
Data sourced from official government statistics, OECD, Eurostat, and verified community reports. Last updated April 2026. See the full breakdown for all 20 countries on the explore dashboards.
The real picture
What nobody tells you about moving abroad
We've crunched the numbers across 19 countries. Here's what the data actually says — and why the answer is never as simple as a Google snippet.
The salary that shrinks when you cross a border
A software engineer earning €75,000 in Germany takes home roughly €45,000 after income tax, solidarity surcharge, and social contributions — health insurance, pension, unemployment, and long-term care. Move that same salary to Switzerland, and the take-home jumps to around €58,000. But rent in Zurich can eat €2,200 a month, while Munich might cost €1,400. The country with the highest salary isn't always the country where you keep the most money.
That's why we built the Financial Planner — plug in your actual gross salary, pick a country, set your family size, and see the full breakdown: income tax, social contributions, net pay, monthly expenses, and projected savings over five years. No guessing, no generic averages. Try it with Germany, the Netherlands, or Switzerland to see the difference yourself.
Five years to permanent residency — except when it's not
Most people assume permanent residency in Europe takes five years. And technically, that's the EU standard. But the real timelines vary wildly. Germany offers a fast track to PR in as little as 21 months if you pass an integration course and reach B1 German. The Netherlands sticks to the full five years of continuous residence. Canada's Express Entry can land you PR in under 12 months if your points are high enough. Australia's skilled visa pathway averages 12–18 months but depends heavily on your occupation list.
We track these timelines across every country with real processing data — not just the official estimates, but community-reported wait times from people who've actually been through the process. See the full immigration timeline comparison or dive into the Netherlands naturalization tracker with 100+ real cases.
Why “cheap” countries aren't always cheap
Portugal and Spain are often called the affordable corners of Western Europe. And on paper, they are — a single person in Porto can live on €1,300 a month, while Barcelona might cost €1,800. But the salary gap is just as big. Average tech salaries in Portugal hover around €28,000–€35,000, while Germany and the Netherlands offer €55,000–€70,000 for similar roles. The question isn't “where is it cheapest?” — it's “where do I save the most after everything is paid?”
That's exactly what the country comparison tool shows you. Pick any two or three countries and see salary, tax, cost of living, visa difficulty, and PR timelines side by side. Or start with the cost of living dashboard to see how all 19 countries rank.
The visa you need depends on more than your passport
A developer from India looking at Germany has at least four options: the EU Blue Card (for salaries above €45,300), a standard work visa with employer sponsorship, a Job Seeker Visa to arrive first and interview on the ground, or a Freelance Visa if they're self-employed. Each has different salary thresholds, processing times, and restrictions on switching employers. And that's just one country — the Netherlands has its own Highly Skilled Migrant scheme, Canada runs Express Entry on a points system, and Australia ties everything to occupation shortage lists.
We've mapped every major visa route for all 19 countries with salary thresholds, processing times, and eligibility requirements. Browse them on the visa comparison dashboard or jump straight to a country like Germany, Netherlands, or Canada.
All figures based on official government data, OECD statistics, and verified community reports. Last updated April 2026. Numbers are estimates — use the Financial Planner for calculations based on your actual situation.