How much money does a product manager make?
How much money do product managers make in the biggest hubs around the world? How much cash do they net home? Which are the most profitable tech hubs for product managers? Let's find out!
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Pay Transparency
One of the biggest concerns among employees in any company is the pay transparency. You know how it usually starts, several colleagues get into a bar and start discussing compensation rumours or complain they are not getting paid enough. “John is raking in double the cash of poor old David, even though they're supposedly at the same level! What a waste of budgets! David's a superstar, by the way. It's a damn shame he hasn’t been leveled up for years”.
Yes, some employees are paid more than others for the same work they do. This happens because each employee has a unique background and pay history. Some equally skilled might come from lower-paid positions (struggling startups) while others were overpaid (big tech). If both employees meet the bar, the company will try to accommodate expectations in order to acquire talent. Inequality is just the natural consequence.
It is frequently assumed that by making salary and stock ranges freely visible, you could solve those issues and achieve equality and fairness once and for all. “Tell me what the pay ranges are and all my worries would be laid to rest” some people may loudly demand.
California and New York transparency laws
The government has decided to take a solution to this problem into their own hands. Both the state of California and New York have introduced pay transparency laws that require companies to provide compensation ranges for each open position. However, both laws fail in execution, as there are numerous ways for companies to avoid compliance. For example, Netflix reports extremely large ranges for PM positions, ranging from 100k to 900k gross per annum.
Pay data accessibility
After the laws took effect, many scrapers began parsing and aggregating these numbers (e.g. comprehensive.io). While the numbers may not always be precise and can be purposely skewed by companies, they contribute to a growing field of tech salary data that is now publicly accessible.
The accessibility of multiple sources of compensation data from almost every part of the world made me wonder, 'Where do product managers earn the most?' Where can they take home more money, considering taxes, cost of living, and rent? Or to put it another way, what is the most profitable place in the world for a product manager?
Methodology
I selected 14 global tech hubs with the highest number of product manager CVs (kudos to LinkedIn).
I used 7 common levels of product manager seniority, ranging from Associate PM to VP.
Salary data was obtained from publicly available sources such as Comprehensive.io and Glassdoor.com. Outliers were removed after cross-checking. All numbers were converted to EUR currency for uniformity.
Base salaries were based on the 50th percentile and extreme pay cases were excluded.
I assumed that stock and bonus pay increases proportionally with seniority level, and used a coefficient based on US data to estimate it globally due to sparse data in most countries.
Numbeo.com provided publicly accessible data for cost of living and rental estimates, which I corrected for outdated information on rent prices.
I simplified calculations by assuming a single, average product manager living outside the city center and has average needs.
Local tax calculators were used for each state and country.
Of course, the result can only be considered as a “pure average” and should be treated with a grain of salt.
Without further ado, let’s dive in.
💰 How much are product managers paid?
Base salary
The highest base salary for product managers, ranging from Associate to Director levels, is paid in Seattle, USA (between €75.2K to €165.7K), while VPs might earn more in Dubai, UAE (€190.8K). The lowest base salary across all levels is paid in Bangalore, India (between €16.5K and €76.9K).
Full comp
Due to the calculation approach, the full compensation package paints a similar picture - Seattle has the highest average compensation across all seniority levels (at €201.3K), while Bangalore has the lowest (at €63.7K).
How much are product managers taking home in net pay?
Comp package alone without understanding the cost of living and tax rules isn’t going to tell us much so let’s dig deeper.
🎉 Highest income
Seattle for a newly minted PM
Seattle again tops the charts, but this time only for Associate to Senior product level roles (Associate will net €2.3K, Mid-PM €5.4K, Sen-PM €8.6K). All in all, it’s a very attractive city for a newly minted product manager.
Dubai for senior leaders
Dubai outperforms Seattle for higher seniority level roles, ranging from Principal to VP (with Principal netting €12.3K, GPM €12.7K, Director €14.8K and VP a whopping €23.6K). The key differentiator is the tax rate, as currently Dubai has a 0% income tax, though this may change beginning in 2024. Anyways, if you're a seasoned Product Lead, Dubai can offer the highest net income in the world.
🥶 Worst income
APM - PM
The worst-paid hub for less experienced PMs is Singapore, as after taxes and fixed costs, an Associate can end up with a meager -€0.4K, and a Mid-PM with only €0.6K.
Senior PM
Barcelona is the worst paid location for a Senior product manager as taxes and expensive cost of living can only guarantee an average net income of €2.0K.
GPM-Principal
Bangalore is the least paid place for newly minted Product Leaders or experienced Individual Contributors (Principals) with a net income of €3.7K.
Director-VP
Berlin and Barcelona are the least paid hubs for senior-level leaders - as a Director will cash in €5.7K (Berlin) and a VP €7.6K (Barcelona). That’s literally three times less than what one could make in Seattle or Dubai.
⚖️ Comparing averages
Upper end of the spectrum
Looking at averages - UAE and US are the leaders in terms of net pay for a product manager.
Middle of the spectrum
On the average side of the spectrum are New York (with an average net income of €6.4K), Tallinn (€6.3K), Singapore (€5.3K), and London (€5.1K).
Surprisingly, the highest net income hub across all of Europe is Tallinn, Estonia.
Lower end of the spectrum
On the lower end of the spectrum are Dublin, Berlin, and Barcelona, where a product manager would have the least net income in comparison to other cities in the world.
Key take-aways
If money is your primary motivation for your current stage of the career, then:
Biggest net income:
Dubai and Seattle are the best places for net income (if you're just starting, you should consider Seattle; for a seasoned leader, Dubai might provide more lucrative opportunities).
Tallinn has the highest net income among all cities in Europe (on par with New York and San Francisco in terms of average numbers).
Lowest net income:
Singapore and Barcelona are the least welcoming places with the lowest net income for ICs.
Bangalore isn't very great in terms of net income for GPMs and Principals.
Berlin and Barcelona offer the worst net income opportunities for seasoned leaders (Directors and VPs).
Bottomline
At the end of the day, these are just averages calculated for educational purposes. Decision about a specific role needs to be made holistically and include many more factors besides the net income. Make yours wisely ;)
Great analysis! Would love to see the same for Analytics :D
Curious - here’s Tallinn data from?