Top 10 countries attracting international tech talent

Making an international move can be dauting — but moving for a new job can take some of the pressure off. Using your skills and expertise to land a job in another country can offer a unique opportunity to experience different cultures and travel, while maintaining your resume.

And with tech talent in high demand around the world, enterprises are increasing efforts to recruit international tech talent and open tech hubs in foreign countries. A survey from global talent marketplace Andela found that 88% of enterprise companies are looking for top tech talent in other countries.  

But some countries are attracting tech talent from abroad at higher rates than others — such as The Netherlands, Germany, and the UK. These countries offer competitive salaries, a lower cost of living compared to other major tech hubs, and better opportunities for quality of life and work-life balance.

The following 10 countries people are moving to for technology opportunities, according to data from Relocate.me, along with the estimated annual salary for a software engineer from PayScale, and monthly cost of living for a single person based off data from Expatistan.

The Netherlands

The Netherlands is home to a rapidly growing tech industry, in particular, in Amsterdam, which boasts several innovation hubs, according to EuroNews. The innovation hubs include Amsterdam Science Park’s Startup Village, VU Starthub, and LAB42, which is a digital innovation hub located at the University of Amsterdam. Booking.com and TomTom were founded in Amsterdam, and companies such as Google, Canon, IBM, and Cisco each have offices located in the city. Several tech events take place in Amsterdam, including GOTO Amsterdam, Tech Summit Europe, Codemotion, and Reach Live, bringing tech workers from all around the world to network and connect in Amsterdam. Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, and Eindhoven are other vibrant Dutch tech hubs.

Average annual salary (Amsterdam): US$62,783

Estimated monthly living costs (Amsterdam): US$3,376

Germany

Germany is another country that is boasting increasing tech talent imports. Capital Berlin, for one, has become a popular city for business relocation and international investments, with companies such as Volkswagen, Pfizer, and SAP having set up innovation labs there. Deutsche Bank launched its own tech hub in Berlin, pulling operations and staff from Russia amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The city is also a Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) and part of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIC), which partners with organizations such as SAP, Siemens, and Deutsche Telekom, with a focus on innovation and development of IT industries. Münich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Stuttgart are among several more cities in Germany with vibrant tech scenes.

Average annual salary (Berlin): US$63,767

Estimated monthly living costs (Berlin): US$3,085

Canada

Canada is increasingly becoming a draw for ex-pat tech talent, with Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal leading the way. But capital city Ottawa is also rising, reporting around 94,100 tech employees in 2023, up from 81,200 in 2022, according to the CBRE’s annual ranking of Canadian and US tech hubs. Tech talent makes up just over 15% of total tech employment in Ottawa, compared to 11.6% in the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s also home to Canada’s largest tech park, called Kanata North Technology Park, home to more than 540 companies and 23,000 employees. In total, the businesses operating in the technology park brought in $13 billion to Canada’s GPD in 2018, including QNX Blackberry, Amazon Web Services, Nokia, Cisco, and Mitel. Several tech companies got their start in Ottawa, including Nortel, Corel, Cognos, Halogen Software, Shopify, and JDS Uniphase. Additionally, Adobe Systems, 3M, Nokia, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard all have offices in the area.

Average annual salary (Ottawa): US$60,023

Estimated monthly living costs (Ottawa): US$2,134

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom ranks fourth on Relocate.me’s list, with tech hubs throughout, including Manchester, Edinburgh, and Bristol. But the concentrated cluster of high-tech companies located in London known as East London Tech City, or the Silicon Roundabout, is a worthy standout. The tech boom in London started in 2008, when the recession dropped rents even further in this already low cost of living area, and it has since grown into a bustling tech hub as more tech companies moved in. Companies such as Google, Cisco, Facebook, Intel, McKinsey & Co., and Microsoft have since opened offices in the area. Those developments, along with the proximity of several universities in the city, have helped rank London second for concentrated tech talent, making it easier for businesses to recruit top talent, according to Z/Yen Group’s Smart Centres Index.

Average annual salary (London): US$62,587

Estimated monthly living costs (London): US$5,028

Switzerland

Switzerland is another highly popular crossroads for tech talent, buoyed by main IT hubs Zurich, Geneva, and Lausanne. Capital Bern is also quickly becoming a growing force, especially in the medtech, biotech, fintech, and cleantech industries, as the city has a longstanding reputation as being a hub for experts in healthcare, life sciences, and environmental sustainability. The city also has a growing base of tech startups, coming up right behind Zurich and Geneva as a top destination in Switzerland for startups, according to Startup Blink. Entrepreneurs benefit from the city’s co-working spaces, incubators, and accelerators, including Startup Hub Bern, Impact Hub Bern, and Innovationsdorf Bern, where they can access networks, mentors, and funding opportunities.

Average annual salary (Bern): US$103,715

Estimated monthly living costs (Bern): US$3,611

Sweden

Sweden comes in at No. 6 on Relocate.me’s list, predominantly thanks to the vibrant tech scene in Stockholm, which is a major tech center in Europe, and also the country’s financial center, an industry that increasingly relies on technology for daily operations. Stockholm’s tech hub can be found in Kista, a northern suburb, and is considered Europe’s largest IT cluster. It’s also a strong hub for startups, boasting the second most unicorns per capita in the world, after Silicon Valley, and is home to the once-startups Spotify and Klarna. For tech workers making the move to Stockholm, they will also benefit from Sweden’s social supports, such as free education, free childcare, and other safety nets in place to support citizens.

Average annual salary (Stockholm): US$51,162

Estimated monthly living costs (Stockholm): US$2,727

United States

The US boasts a number of vibrant tech hubs, most notably Silicon Valley, Seattle, and New York. As the capital city of the United States, Washington, D.C., is home to a strong government industry, but there’s also been an influx of tech companies flocking to the city. According to CompTIA’s Tech Jobs Report, Washington topped the list compared to other metro areas in terms of tech job postings. The city is also home to several large universities and colleges, which means there’s a strong talent pool to hire from year after year. There’s a large draw for cybersecurity professionals, software developers, and healthtech workers — companies in the area include Boeing, ShieldAI, PwC, Salesforce, IBM, and Intuit.

Average annual salary (Washington): US$99,461

Estimated monthly living costs (Washington): US$4,583

Australia

Australia comes in at No. 8 on Relocate.me’s list, thanks to vibrant innovation centers in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth. The capital city Canberra has also been attracting software vendors, such as Tower Software and RuleBurst, to work with the many government customers in the area. There’s even plans for a billion-dollar data hub in Canberra to support private and government institutions in the space, defense, and education industries. In 2019, the Canberra Cyber Security Innovation Node was formed to support these industries further. The city has a reputation for innovation and has strong support from the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) — there are even plans to unveil a Cyber, Space, and Advanced Technology hub in the coming years.

Average annual salary (Canberra): US$50,244

Estimated monthly living costs (Canberra): US$2,474

Denmark

Denmark ranks second on the 2023 World Happiness Report, and a study from Boston Consulting Group and Digital Hub Denmark found that digital workers in Denmark report high satisfaction rates, both with the workplace culture in Denmark and the financial support. Denmark also boasts one of the highest employment rates in Denmark, and according to the OECD Better Life Index, only 1.1% of Danish workers report working long hours, while the average worker reports spending up to 16 hours per day on “leisure and personal care.” Employees in Denmark typically work 37-hour weeks, with a standard 5 weeks of PTO each year, allowing for a healthy work-life balance. Companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Zendesk, and SAP have innovation and development hubs located in Denmark. While Aalborg is a leading tech center in Denmark, the country’s main IT action all takes place in Copenhagen.

Average annual salary (Copenhagen): US$48,650

Estimated monthly living costs (Copenhagen): US$2,250

Belgium

Belgium rounds out the top 10, and while Antwerp has become a tech hub, Brussels is the main attraction for tech talent. The capital city is home to several STEM universities and research institutes such as the National Fund for Scientific Research (NFSR), the Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (RASAB), and the Belgium Academy Council of Applied Sciences (BACAS). In 2021, the European Digital Expertise Hub (EDIH), part of SussAIn Brussels, was established to promote AI and other emerging technologies in Brussels. The plan is to offer free guidance to Brussels businesses that are interested in embarking on digital transformation, with a €4 million budget that is co-financed by the European Commission and the Brussels Region. Brussels also has a growing startup scene, with startups such as FiscalNote, Izix, CentralApp, Drawbotics, and AppTweak setting up shop in the city.

Average annual salary (Brussels): US$47,422

Estimated monthly living costs (Brussels): US$2,400