South African IT salaries vs the US and UK

South African IT professionals can earn much higher salaries for the same positions in the United Kingdom or the United States.

However, those considering a move should keep in mind that the living costs in those two countries are also substantially higher than in South Africa.

The UK and US are the first and third most popular destinations for emigrating South Africans.

Over 217,000 South Africans lived in the UK as of 2021, and more than 139,000 in the US.

These countries provide plenty of job opportunities in the tech industry, which has seen strong growth over the past few years.

To determine if the move to the UK or US would be worthwhile for a better salary, we compared the average pay of 10 common IT positions of varying skill levels in South Africa and the UK.

We calculated the average salary for each job using figures from comparison sites Indeed and Payscale. We found that the same positions always had substantially better salaries in the UK and the US, often around triple or more the South African salary.

The table below shows how salaries for typical IT jobs located in the UK and US compared to South Africa.

The UK salaries were calculated at an exchange rate of R23.73 to the British pound, while the US salaries were calculated using an exchange rate of R18.85.

The salaries in the table above do not account for income tax, which is calculated differently in each country.

Below are the tax brackets for South Africa, the UK, and the US.

United Kingdom tax brackets

United States federal tax brackets

South Africa tax brackets

Once you’ve considered the tax implications, it is also important to note that living costs in the US and UK can be exponentially more expensive than in South Africa.

This will vary greatly based on the exact location where you work and live.

The rent on an apartment in London or New York will be way more expensive than a similar unit in Johannesburg.

Although your salary might be substantially higher overseas, the rent amount will take up a larger part of your budget.

Other items — like clothing — might have similar prices to South Africa.

A fair and accurate comparison of living costs would only be possible when delving deeper into specific living costs — including rent, utilities, fuel, groceries, and entertainment.

However, The Economist’s Big Mac Index can provide a rough indication of the buying power of the rand compared to the pound and the dollar using the price of the well-known McDonald’s burger in South Africa, the UK, and the US.

The latest iteration found that the rand was about 52.5% undervalued against the dollar and 53.9% undervalued against the pound.

For the same price as one Big Mac in the UK and the US, you can buy two in South Africa.

When adjusted for GDP per capita, the undervaluations drop to 41% and 46.5%, respectively.

These figures can be used to determine alternative exchange rates for the rand against the dollar and pound, which can be applied to the US and UK salaries to get a more accurate salary comparison which accounts for living expenses.

Nevertheless, it would not be wise to accept the Big Mac Index’s numbers as gospel, as it only relies on one product to provide a rough indication of the true value of a currency within its own country.

Another method is to use the World Bank’s purchasing power parity (PPP) conversion factor. However, this is usually a few years out of date.

At the time of publication, the most recent PPP data available is for 2022.