Bucharest overtakes Cluj-Napoca as Romania's highest-paying city, new survey states

Official data from the National Institute of Statistics (INS) have been centralized by local daily Ziarul Financiar to reveal the trend of salaries in all Romanian counties.

An average employee in Bucharest received an average net salary of over RON 5,200 in September, a 15% increase from the last year’s amount for the same month. Over 1 million people, both locals and internationals, are employed in the capital.

The county of Cluj recorded a 13% increase from last year, sitting second with an average net salary of almost RON 4,800 and 275,000 employees. Next is Timis county with an average net wage of around RON 4,300 (up 13% year-on-year).

Meanwhile, Cluj-Napoca, the seat of Cluj county, tops the list of the most expensive cities in the country, even above Bucharest. “An espresso at a cafe in the center of Cluj-Napoca typically costs more than in a city like Vienna. It’s definitely getting more expensive. It might be that the image of Cluj is improving, and local businesses are equating themselves to western capitals such as Paris, Madrid, or even London,” says Aaron Roberts, a British expatriat who’s been living in Cluj-Napoca for the past ten years, in this Romania Insider’s story about the fluctuating rental market in the city.

Imobiliare.ro, Romania’s largest real estate networking website, placed Cluj-Napoca as the most expensive city for the average amount requested for renting an apartment (EUR 8.3/sqm) in its August 2022 report. Bucharest, on the other hand, has an average of EUR 7.9/sqm.

The most improving working condition can be found in Sălaj, right in north-west Romania, where most employees see a 25% increase from last year in net salary (RON 3,500), followed by Covasna with 20% and Sibiu (19%).

Harghita, Vrancea, Teleorman, and Vâlcea are the only counties that record minimum salaries of less than RON 3,000.

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