The average salary in Singapore is around S$5,700 per month (S$68,400 per year). The top highest-paying industries are accounting, banking and finance, healthcare and life sciences, and information technology (according to Seedly, Singapore’s finance community).
How much you can earn
The average tech salary in Singapore is S$7,250 per month or about S$87,000 per year, according to Glassdoor. Wages can vary between S$70,000 and S$100,000 per year (S$5,800 – 8,300 per month) depending on the specialization and experience.
The minimum salary to get a work visa in Singapore is S$2,500 per month (S$30,000 per year) for mid-skilled specialists or S$4,500 (S$54,000 per year) for high-skilled professionals. However, to obtain authorizations for your family members, you need to earn at least S$6,000 a month (S$72,000 per year). Read more in the article “Relocation process in Singapore.”
Here are the average IT salaries in Singapore (S$ per year, before taxes), according to Robert Half and Seedly:
- Application architect: 114,000 – 190,000
- Back-end engineer/developer: 72,000
- Business analyst: 108,000 – 110,000
- Cloud engineer: 110,000
- Data analyst: 90,000 – 95,000
- Data scientist: 120,000
- Database administrator: 130,000
- DevOps engineer: 75,000
- Front-end engineer/developer: 78,000
- IT auditor: 96,000 – 100,000
- IT security analyst: 108,000 – 120,000
- Network engineer: 78,000 – 90,000
- Product owner/manager: 102,000 – 150,000
- QA engineer: 51,000
- Software developer: 96,000 – 120,000
- Solution architect: 114,000 – 120,000
- Web developer: 54,000
Tech salaries in Singapore can vary significantly depending on the job seeker’s experience. Middle specialists earn from S$6,000 to S$9,000, senior specialists from S$8,000 to S$13,000, lead professionals from S$10,000 to S$15,000 a month.
Below are several examples (S$ per year).
Application architect:
- Junior: 140,000
- Middle: 190,000
- Senior: 240,000
- Expert: 300,000
Back-end engineer/developer:
- Junior: 60,000
- Middle: 72,000
- Senior: 84,000
- Expert: 120,000
Business analyst:
- Junior: 80,000
- Middle: 110,000
- Senior: 150,000
- Expert: 180,000
Cloud engineer:
- Junior: 80,000
- Middle: 110,000
- Senior: 140,000
- Expert: 180,000
DevOps engineer:
- Junior: 60,000
- Middle: 75,000
- Senior: 90,000
- Expert: 120,000
Front-end engineer/developer:
- Junior: 60,000
- Middle: 78,000
- Senior: 96,000
- Expert: 120,000
Full-stack developer:
- Junior: 60,000
- Middle: 90,000
- Senior: 120,000
- Expert: 169,000
IT security analyst:
- Junior: 90,000
- Middle: 120,000
- Senior: 150,000
- Expert: 200,000
QA engineer:
- Junior: 42,000
- Middle: 51,000
- Senior: 60,000
- Expert: 96,000
Software developer:
- Junior: 90,000
- Middle: 120,000
- Senior: 144,000
- Expert: 180,000
Web developer:
- Junior: 36,000
- Middle: 54,000
- Senior: 72,000
- Expert: 90,000
Salaries can also vary depending on the specific company. Here are examples of salaries in various tech companies in Singapore according to Glassdoor (S$ per month / per year):
- Visa: 9,100 / 109,200
- Dell: 8,895 / 106,740
- Amazon: 8,890 / 106,680
- Google: 9,050 / 108,600
- Facebook: 8,350 / 100,200
- Apple: 8,020 / 96,240
- Grab: 7,600 / 91,200
- Oracle: 7,165 / 85,980
- Micron: 6,470 / 77,640
- Seagate Technology: 6,420 / 77,040
In addition to the base salary, the total compensation of tech professionals in Singapore may include:
- Annual or half-year bonus (about 15% of the salary)
- Health insurance for the family
- 20–21 days of paid time off (only 7 days are required by law)
- Stocks (shares, RSU, etc.)
- Retirement program: you have a certain percentage of your salary withheld, the company doubles the amount, and the money is sent to a fund, which invests money in bonds or stocks
- Commuter assistance, gym membership, and more
According to the Robert Half agency, employers in Singapore are especially keen to hire developers, business analysts, and product managers. In-demand permanent roles also include software engineers, IT security analysts, and IT auditors. According to the Michael Page agency, there is also a high demand for eCommerce, digital marketing, and data science professionals.
A report by Robert Half also says that technical skills that are in demand in Singapore are AWS (Amazon Web Services), Python/SQL/.NET, and CISA/CISM/CISSP certifications. And popular soft skills are multi-tasking, willingness to learn, and stakeholder management skills. Remember to include these skills (if applicable) in your resume to attract HR specialists who work with Singaporean companies.
Note that all salaries indicated above are before taxes. Foreigners who have arrived in Singapore to work longer than 183 days are subjected to progressive resident tax. For example, if you earn S$90,000 per year, you’ll pay in taxes about S$4,500. You can use the official tax calculator to learn what applies specifically to you.
Cost of living in Singapore
To live comfortably in Singapore, you need at least S$5,000 per month as this is an extremely expensive place. However, this sum depends on your personal consumption, daily habits, commuter costs, whether you rent an apartment or live at your friend’s, etc.
Here are examples of the average monthly expenses in Singapore (S$):
- Rental accommodation: 2,000 – 3,000 (6,000 – 7,000 in central districts)
- Food: 500–800
- Leisure activities: 800 – 1,200
- Transport: from 100–200 (public transport) to 1,000 – 1,200 (daily taxi)
- School for children: 500 plus additional expenses (up to 1,500 – 3,000 in total)
- Utilities and Internet: 150–600
In general, it’s not recommended to move to Singapore if your salary is less than S$3,500 per month. And a good standard of living for an expat starts at S$7,000 per month.
Some people might need even more. For example, with a spouse and a school-age child, you’ll need to earn around S$12,000 per month to live in a S$3,000 condo, regularly travel abroad, send money to your family in your home country, and save some money for the future.
You might manage to live in Singapore with just S$2,000 per month if you rent a cheap room and tighten your belt. However, you’ll unlikely to get a work visa with such an income.