When Israeli companies explore hiring staff overseas, salary figures often dominate initial discussions. In reality, the contract amount serves only as a starting point, since required contributions, taxes, and payments can substantially raise the employer's total outlay while shrinking the sum that reaches the employee's account.

A recent comparative analysis from Payoneer Workforce Management reviewed the expense of employing a mid-level marketing manager across six US cities, six European cities, and Tel Aviv. The results position Tel Aviv uniquely: among the priciest locations for employers, yet not always the most rewarding for workers.

This matter carries extra weight for Israeli firms, particularly in tech, as they expand operations abroad. The Innovation Authority's 2025 employment report notes that Israeli tech companies now employ roughly 440,000 people overseas, compared with about 400,000 inside Israel.

In this setting, choices about new roles hinge not only on talent availability, customer access, or market entry goals. They also demand clear insight into the full cost to the company and the portion of pay that actually stays with the employee.

$75,000 salary leads to $103,000 total cost

The study examined two scenarios. The first applied a fixed annual salary of $75,000 everywhere to isolate the impact of taxes and mandatory payments on overall expense.

US cities showed employer costs between $83,054 and $86,615 annually. European cities ranged higher, from $86,063 to $109,753.

Tel Aviv produced a total cost of $103,161 for the same gross salary, adding $28,161 or about 37.5 percent. Still, uniform-salary comparisons do not always match real hiring patterns.

A second scenario therefore used local median salaries. The average across the six US cities reached $91,833, roughly 38 percent above the $66,375 average for the European cities. These differences normally make US hiring costlier, yet Tel Aviv again stood apart.

The study estimated a marketing manager's gross salary in Tel Aviv at $84,000, pushing the full employment cost to $115,539 after mandatory payments.

This amount exceeds every European city reviewed, including Amsterdam, Paris, and London. Only San Francisco proved more expensive at $118,720 per year.

Net pay for employees ranks among the lowest

High employer costs do not automatically deliver higher net pay. A marketing manager in Tel Aviv is projected to receive about $56,339 annually after deductions.

By contrast, a counterpart in Nashville takes home roughly $64,407, or $8,068 more, even though the gross salary there was about $5,000 lower than in Tel Aviv, the lowest among US cities in the study.

The analysis covers only mandatory payments and excludes benefits, bonuses, equity, recruitment expenses, or external Employer of Record fees. Real costs can therefore run higher.

Salary figures drew from Glassdoor, government labor data, and job postings, with exchange rates set as of April 2026. Actual amounts may differ by country, employee profile, and employment structure.

For Israeli companies entering new markets, the results underscore that hiring choices cannot rest on gross salary alone, nor can one assume the US is always costlier or Europe always cheaper.

Before creating a role abroad, firms must review the complete range of mandatory payments, expected net salary, exchange rates, and related expenses. Otherwise, an offer that appears favorable on paper may result in greater company costs and lower employee satisfaction.