Tech Salaries: Quebec vs France vs Europe, the 2026 Comparison

You are a developer in Paris, Berlin or London and Quebec has caught your eye? The salary question always comes first, and it is the most misunderstood. Comparing a Paris gross salary in euros to a Montreal gross salary in Canadian dollars tells you almost nothing: everything hinges on taxes, housing costs and benefits. We recruit developers in Montreal every day, many of whom arrive from Europe. Here is the 2026 comparison, with sourced figures, so you know what you will really earn.

Gross salaries: Montreal vs Paris vs Berlin vs London

Let's start with raw data from the major salary platforms:

• Montreal: the average developer salary is around CA$86,800 per year, with ranges from about CA$57,000 for a junior to over CA$127,000 for a senior (source: Glassdoor).
• Paris and France: the 2026 grid sits around €35,000 to €45,000 for a junior, €45,000 to €60,000 for a mid-level and €60,000 to €85,000 for a senior (source: Licorne Society).
• Berlin: the average software engineer salary is around €61,000, with about €46,000 at entry level and €76,000 for a senior developer (source: PayScale).
• London: the average hovers around £69,000 for a software engineer, with seniors negotiating between £60,000 and £85,000 outside the big American tech companies (source: Glassdoor).

Converted to euros, a Montreal mid-level developer at CA$90,000 earns about €58,000, and a senior at CA$120,000 about €77,000. On gross pay, Montreal therefore sits above Paris and Berlin for most profiles, and slightly below London. But gross pay is only the beginning of the story. For details by specialty (data, DevOps, cybersecurity), see our analysis of Montreal tech salaries in 2026.

Taxes and contributions: the gap nobody calculates

This is where the ranking flips. Every year the OECD measures the "tax wedge", the share of labour cost absorbed by taxes and contributions. For a single worker at the average wage, it reaches 47.2 % in France, the third highest in the OECD, versus 32.0 % in Canada (source: OECD). Also according to the OECD, the average Canadian worker keeps 74.5 % of their gross salary after taxes and benefits.

Concretely, the social contribution gap means that for the same employer cost, a much larger share of compensation lands in your pocket in Quebec. Yes, Quebec's combined federal-provincial tax rates are the highest in Canada, but they remain significantly gentler than the French stack of contributions plus income tax, especially in the CA$80,000 to CA$130,000 range where experienced developers sit. In the United Kingdom, taxation is close to Canada's, but London's cost of living wipes out the salary advantage, as we are about to see.

Cost of living: Montreal crushes the competition

Housing is the line item that makes the difference:

• Against Paris: the cost of living in Paris is about 33 % higher than in Montreal, driven mainly by rents (source: Expatistan).
• Against London: according to Numbeo, you need about £3,940 (CA$7,390) per month in Montreal to maintain the standard of living that costs £6,900 in London, rent included (source: Numbeo).
• Healthcare: RAMQ public coverage is included in your taxes, and most tech employers add group insurance (dental, vision, telemedicine) that costs a fraction of European private plans.

A telling example: a one-bedroom apartment in downtown Montreal rents for around CA$1,700 to CA$1,900 (€1,100 to €1,250), while the Paris equivalent often exceeds €1,500 and the London one £2,200. For a couple of developers, the rent difference alone funds a well-stocked RRSP (the Canadian retirement savings plan).

What a French developer can expect to earn in Montreal

Let's take a typical case we see every month at VALO: a mid-level full-stack developer, 5 years of experience, paid €52,000 gross in Paris. In Montreal, that profile negotiates between CA$90,000 and CA$105,000 depending on the stack, or €58,000 to €68,000. The gains stack up three ways: higher gross pay, lighter taxation and housing 30 to 40 % cheaper. Net result: most of our French candidates see a purchasing power increase in the range of 20 to 30 % in the first year, even before second-year negotiations, where the Quebec market quickly rewards the scarcity of experienced profiles.

Three honest caveats. First, the very high salaries of London big tech or Paris unicorns can exceed Montreal: if you are a staff engineer at a big tech company, the math is different. Second, some Quebec costs surprise newcomers (cars, groceries, private daycare outside subsidized spots). Third, your first months require building a local credit history. Our guide to landing a first job in Quebec without Canadian experience covers these practical aspects.

Beyond salary: why Quebec attracts

Salary makes people come, the rest makes them stay. The European developers we place almost always cite the same factors: working in French in a North American market, flatter teams than in France, fast access to responsibility, and a legible immigration path. On that last point, Quebec offers concrete routes to permanent residence, notably the PEQ, whose 2026 reopening for tech professionals we cover in detail, along with the federal and provincial programs described on the official sites (source: Québec.ca and source: Canada.ca).

Add safety, nature an hour from the city and a dynamic ecosystem in artificial intelligence and video games, and you understand why France remains one of the top sources of permanent immigration to Quebec year after year (source: Institut de la statistique du Québec).

Let's be transparent about the trade-offs, because an expatriation project should be decided with eyes open: Quebec paid vacation (often 3 to 4 weeks in tech, sometimes 2 at the start of a contract) falls short of the French 5 weeks, employment insurance is less generous than the European safety net, and winter requires a real adaptation period. Most of our candidates judge the exchange clearly worth it, but these elements must be part of your negotiation: vacation weeks, the group retirement plan and remote work are negotiated just like salary.

Make the leap with real numbers, not promises

A successful expatriation project starts with a well-calibrated salary negotiation: asking too much disqualifies you, asking too little costs you years of catching up. At VALO, we know the real ranges Montreal employers pay, role by role: check our tech salary guide to position yourself. We then support European candidates from interview to offer, at no cost to you (our fees are paid by the employer), and we know which employers genuinely support immigration processes. Discover our candidate services and let's talk about your Quebec project.