Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland, the country’s center for culture, education, arts, technology, and industry. The population in Greater Dublin exceeds 1.9 million while the capital city population is just over 550 thousand. Despite its relatively small size, Dublin is dubbed the “Tech Capital of Europe” as it’s a global technology and start-up hub with hundreds of tech companies and job opportunities.
IT salaries
The average IT salary in Dublin is about €60,000 – 80,000 per year or €5,000 – 6,700 per month depending on the specialization and experience.
Here are average annual IT salaries in Dublin (€, before taxes) according to Morgan McKinley:
- AI / machine learning specialist: 90,000 (65,000 – 130,000)
- Android developer: 65,000 (55,000 – 75,000)
- Big Data developer: 80,000 (65,000 – 100,000)
- Business analyst: 65,000 (50,000 – 80,000)
- C# developer: 70,000 (60,000 – 80,000)
- Cloud architect: 95,000 (80,000 – 110,000)
- Data analyst: 55,000 (45,000 – 70,000)
- Data scientist: 85,000 (70,000 – 100,000)
- DevOps engineer: 85,000 (70,000 – 120,000)
- Full-stack developer: 65,000 (50,000 – 80,000)
- iOS developer: 60,000 (55,000 – 75,000)
- IT manager: 80,000 (70,000 – 100,000)
- Java developer: 70,000 (60,000 – 80,000)
- JavaScript developer: 70,000 (45,000 – 80,000)
- .NET developer: 60,000 (50,000 – 70,000)
- Network engineer: 70,000 (60,000 – 80,000)
- PHP developer: 60,000 (50,000 – 70,000)
- Product manager: 85,000 (70,000 – 100,000)
- Product owner: 70,000 (60,000 – 80,000)
- Python developer: 65,000 (40,000 – 80,000)
- QA engineer: 60,000 (50,000 – 75,000)
- React developer: 75,000 (45,000 – 90,000)
- Ruby on Rails developer: 60,000 (50,000 – 70,000)
- Salesforce developer: 75,000 (60,000 – 90,000)
- Scrum master: 90,000 (70,000 – 110,000)
- Security engineer: 65,000 (45,000 – 85,000)
- SQL developer: 60,000 (50,000 – 70,000)
- Systems analyst: 50,000 (45,000 – 55,000)
- Technical writer: 50,000 (40,000 – 60,000)
- UX/UI designer: 60,000 (50,000 – 70,000)
Economy
Dublin is Ireland’s largest economic hub. The city is home to a number of multinational corporations and offers most of the jobs in Ireland’s ICT sector.
The unemployment rate in Dublin is 4.5% — slightly lower compared to 5.4% across the nation (April 2020).
Important economic sectors in Dublin include:
- Digital media
- Finance
- ICT (information and communications technology)
- Pharmaceutical industry
- Retail
- Tourism
Among the most important technology sectors in Dublin are software, cloud computing, and FinTech.
The largest technology companies present in Dublin include:
- Accenture
- Airbnb
- Amazon
- Dropbox
- eBay
- Facebook
- Google
- Hedgeguard
- Indeed
- LinkedIn
- Logentries
- Microsoft
- MongoDB
- PayPal
- Pinterest
- Salesforce
- Sohalo
- Squarespace
- Tenable
- TripAdvisor
- Twitter
- Viddyad
- Yahoo!
- Zendesk
Photo: Jmckinley / Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0
Many technology companies, including Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, are located in the Dublin area nicknamed Silicon Docks. About 7,000 tech professionals are employed by Silicon Docks’ resident companies.
Another cluster of technology and digital companies in Dublin is The Digital Hub located in The Liberties area. It consists of about 75 companies located in eight buildings, collectively employing 700 people.
Moreover, Dublin is Europe’s leading hub of games companies with Big Fish, Havok, DemonWare, and Riot Games all having a presence there.
Cost of living
According to a study by Mercer, Dublin is the most expensive city for the cost of living for expatriates in the Eurozone.
The average monthly expenses in Dublin stand at about €890 for a single person or €3,180 for a four-person family (without rent).
Here are examples of the average prices in Dublin (€):
- Meal at McDonald’s: 8–10
- Meal at another inexpensive restaurant: 10–30
- Average food basket (milk, bread, eggs, cheese, chicken, apples, potatoes, water, beer): 32
- Monthly fee at a fitness club: 25–65
- Monthly pass: 100–170
- Monthly rent (1 bedroom): 1,200 – 2,100
- Monthly rent (3 bedrooms): 2,000 – 4,000
- Property prices per square meter: 3,000 – 8,000
- Utilities: 100–270 per month
Travel
Dublin Airport is the biggest and busiest in Ireland. It serves many destinations including (but not limited to) Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Dubai, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Miami, Moscow, Tel Aviv, Toronto, and many other cities.
Entertainment
Dublin has many attractions: pubs and nightclubs of Temple Bar, museums and galleries, markets and retail centers, the Old Library of Trinity College and St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin Castle and the Ha’penny Bridge over the River Liffey, St Stephen’s Green and Saint Anne’s Park — whatever floats your boat.