In short
- Average gross salary, second quarter of 2026: €1,444 a month in Bulgaria, €1,943 in Sofia.
- Minimum wage in 2026: €620.20 a month and €3.74 an hour, 43% of the average salary.
- On €1,444 gross the employee takes home €1,120.52 and the employer pays €1,717.20.
- Contributions stop at €2,300 of monthly pay. Above it each further euro bears the 10% tax alone.
In this guide
What is the average salary in Bulgaria?
The average gross salary in Bulgaria was €1,444 per month in the second quarter of 2026. The National Statistical Institute published the figure on 12 August 2026 as preliminary data: €1,476 for April, €1,434 for May and €1,421 for June. It counts employees under an employment contract, before income tax and the employee's contributions.
The quarter stands 9.8% above the second quarter of 2025, when the average was €1,315, and 2.6% above the first quarter of 2026. Pay in private companies rose by 11.5% in the year, to €1,441, and pay in the public sector by 4.8%, to €1,452.
A founder who hires in Bulgaria budgets the gross salary and the employer's contributions on top of it. We count both every month and file the declarations: payroll services in Bulgaria.
Average salary in Sofia and in the districts
Sofia pays 34.6% above the country: €1,943 gross a month in the capital against €1,444. Of the 28 districts the capital alone stands above the national average, and the lowest, Blagoevgrad, pays €1,012.
| District | Second quarter of 2025 | Second quarter of 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bulgaria | €1,315 | €1,444 | 9.8% up |
| Sofia, the capital | €1,784 | €1,943 | 8.9% up |
| Varna | €1,207 | €1,360 | 12.7% up |
| Plovdiv | €1,123 | €1,228 | 9.3% up |
| Ruse | €1,073 | €1,185 | 10.4% up |
| Burgas | €1,047 | €1,175 | 12.2% up |
| Blagoevgrad | €935 | €1,012 | 8.2% up |
The Institute publishes the series for every district each quarter, in euros back to 2019.
Average salary by sector: IT, accounting and customer support
The Institute reports pay by the sector of the employer and gives no quarterly figure by profession. Three of its sectors come closest to the teams founders hire in Bulgaria: software, accounting and customer support. The table shows the second quarter of 2026.
| Sector | Average gross | Who is counted in it |
|---|---|---|
| Information and communication | €3,079 | Software and IT services, hosting, telecoms, publishing and broadcasting |
| Financial and insurance activities | €2,140 | Financial services, insurance and pension funds |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities | €1,972 | Accounting and law firms, consultants, engineers, advertising |
| Trade and repair of vehicles | €1,264 | Wholesale and retail |
| Manufacturing | €1,247 | Factories of every branch |
| Administrative and support service activities | €1,245 | Office and business support, the class nearest to a customer-support team, with staffing, security and cleaning |
| Construction | €1,182 | Building and civil works |
| Accommodation and food service | €918 | Hotels and restaurants |
A software company that pays the sector average of €3,079 spends €3,514.16 a month on the post, because contributions stop at €2,300. An accounting firm at €1,972 spends €2,345.10. A business support office at €1,245 spends €1,481.80, with an accident rate of 0.5% in place of 0.4%.
Minimum wage in Bulgaria in 2026 and how it is set
The minimum wage in Bulgaria is €620.20 a month and €3.74 an hour in 2026, for a full-time job of 8 hours a day and 5 days a week. The Council of Ministers set it by Decree 243 of 13 November 2025, in force from 1 January 2026. It is 12.6% above the €550.66 of 2025 and equals 43% of the average gross salary of the second quarter.
Eurostat places it lowest among the 22 EU member states that had a national minimum wage on 1 July 2026, on a scale that runs up to €2,771.
How the minimum wage is set from October 2026
The Council of Ministers sets the minimum wage for each calendar year. From 2023 the Labour Code tied it to 50% of the average gross wage of 12 months. An amendment in State Gazette 89 of 29 September 2026 replaced the formula: the amount for the next year is set by 15 August, on four criteria.
- The purchasing power of the minimum wage against the cost of living
- The general level of wages and how they are spread
- The growth rate of wages
- Long-term labour productivity
A new amount cannot be lower than the one before, and every three years the minimum wage is tested against 60% of the gross median wage and the cost of living. The State Budget Act for 2026 kept €620.20 in place until the rule changed. The amount for 2027 comes by a decree of its own, so an employer who pays the minimum checks it before the January payroll.
Contributions have a floor of their own. In IT, professional and administrative services the minimum insurable income is €936 for a manager, €826 for a specialist and €716 for clerical staff.
From gross to net salary in Bulgaria, and to the employer's cost
An employee pays 13.78% of the gross salary in social security and health contributions, and 10% income tax on what remains. The employer adds 18.92% in a company with the lowest accident rate, such as a software or accounting firm. The table counts three salaries for an employee born after 1959.
| Line | Minimum wage | Average salary | €3,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | €620.20 | €1,444.00 | €3,000.00 |
| Employee's contributions, 13.78% | €85.46 | €198.98 | €316.94 |
| Income tax, 10% | €53.47 | €124.50 | €268.31 |
| Net pay | €481.27 | €1,120.52 | €2,414.75 |
| Employer's contributions, 18.92% | €117.34 | €273.20 | €435.16 |
| Employer's total cost | €737.54 | €1,717.20 | €3,435.16 |
| Net pay as a share of the cost | 65.3% | 65.3% | 70.3% |
At the first two salaries the employee keeps 65.3% of what the employer spends. The tax has one rate and no tax-free band, so the share is the same at every salary up to €2,300.
We do this for you Payroll services in Bulgaria declarations filed by the 25th
The maximum insurable income: what a high salary costs
Contributions are charged on monthly pay up to €2,300. The State Social Security Budget Act for 2026 raised the ceiling from €2,111.64 on 1 August 2026. At the ceiling the employee pays €316.94 a month and the employer €435.16, and neither amount grows with the salary.
Above €2,300 each further €100 of gross pay costs the employer €100 and gives the employee €90. A salary of €5,000 nets €4,214.75 and costs €5,435.16: the employer's contributions come to 8.7% of the gross amount, against 18.92% below the ceiling.
The ceiling binds benefits too: sick pay is counted on insured income of up to €2,300 a month. An owner who works in the company insures an income between €620.20 and €2,300 under the same limits. The guide to tax rates in Bulgaria sets the contributions beside the taxes on profit and dividends.
The 13th salary, overtime and holiday pay in the Labour Code
The Labour Code gives no 13th salary. A bonus for results or a share of profit is paid where the contract or the employer's internal wage rules provide one. The supplements the law does fix are in the table.
| Item | Rule |
|---|---|
| Length of service | 0.6% of the basic salary or more for each year of experience, once the employee has one year |
| Overtime on a working day | Hourly pay plus 50% or more |
| Overtime on a rest day | Hourly pay plus 75% or more |
| Overtime on a public holiday | Hourly pay plus 100% or more |
| Work on a public holiday | Double pay or more, overtime or not |
| Night work, 22:00 to 6:00 | €0.93 an hour or more on top in 2026: 0.15% of the minimum wage |
| Paid annual leave | 20 working days or more, at the average daily gross pay of the last full month |
| Sick leave | 70% from the employer for the first 2 working days, then 80% from the social security institute |
Overtime is forbidden outside the cases the Code lists, such as finishing work already started and seasonal peaks. Where it is allowed, it stops at 150 hours a year, 30 day hours a month and 6 day hours a week.
How wages changed with the euro
Salaries have been counted and paid in euros since 1 January 2026. Each salary agreed in leva was divided by the fixed rate of 1.95583 and rounded up to the next cent, person by person: BGN 2,200 became €1,124.85.
The euro changed the currency of pay and left its level to contracts and to the law. The minimum wage rose from €550.66 to €620.20 on the day of the changeover, under a decree adopted before it. The average gross salary rose from €1,315 to €1,444 between the second quarters of 2025 and 2026.
The limits of the social security system are written in euros as well: €620.20 as the lowest insured income of a self-insured person and €2,300 as the ceiling. What else changed for a company is in the guide to Bulgaria's euro adoption.
What a first employee in Bulgaria costs for a year
A full-time employee on the average salary of €1,444 costs the employer €20,606.40 a year: 12 months at €1,717.20. Paid leave is inside the sum, because leave pay replaces the salary of those days.
Eurostat puts the hourly labour cost in Bulgaria at €12.0 in 2025, the lowest in the EU, against €34.9 for the EU as a whole. It grew by 13.1% in a year, the largest rise in the euro area.
Our tariff for accounting services in Bulgaria starts at €150 a month and includes payroll for two insured people, and each further employee adds €8. The dates an employer meets each month are on the page about payroll in Bulgaria, and the company's other filings in the guide to accounting requirements in Bulgaria.
