Salaries in Saudi Arabia

1. Salary components in Saudi Arabia

A monthly salary is not a single number, but the sum of several elements, each treated differently for insurance and end-of-service purposes:

The percentages above (25% housing, 10% transport) are common practice, not a legal requirement; they are set by the contract or company policy.

2. Gross vs net salary

• Gross salary: basic + all allowances before any deduction.
• Net salary: what actually reaches your account after the social-insurance deduction.
• No income tax on salaries in Saudi Arabia; the only deduction for a Saudi employee is the insurance contribution (9.75%).
• An expat has no insurance deduction, so their net salary equals their gross.

Compute your net pay after insurance automatically with the Saudi salary calculator.

3. Housing & transport allowances

The two most common allowances on a payslip are housing and transport. The housing allowance is commonly 25% of basic (and may be paid as an annual lump sum) and is included in the insurable wage. The transport allowance is commonly 10% of basic and is not included in the insurance calculation. Remember these are common percentages that can change by contract.

4. Government sector pay

Civil servants' pay is set by the salary scale, which divides a job into a rank and a step, with a fixed annual increment when moving between steps. Scales differ by cadre (general employees, teachers, health, military, engineers).

Browse detailed figures by rank and step in the government salary scales, including the teachers, health, and military scales.

5. Private sector pay

In the private sector, pay is set by the employment contract within the framework of the Saudi Labor Law. There is no unified scale, so salary is negotiated between the parties and shaped by specialization, experience, and company size. The table below compares the key differences:

6. Minimum wage & Saudization

Saudi Arabia has no single statutory minimum wage covering all private-sector workers. However, the Ministry of Human Resources counts SAR 4,000 as the minimum for a Saudi to be counted in the Saudization (Nitaqat) program — raised from SAR 3,000 — so anyone paid less is not counted as a full Saudi employee toward localization quotas. For insurance, the minimum insurable wage is SAR 1,500.

7. Salary deductions: social insurance

The main deduction from a Saudi employee's salary is the GOSI social-insurance contribution at 9.75% of (basic + housing allowance), rising gradually for those under the new system. Expats have no insurance deduction, and there is no income tax on salaries.

For full details on rates and the insurable wage, see the GOSI social-insurance guide, and for the rest of your rights the Labor Law guide.

8. Average salaries & official sources

The average salary varies by sector, occupation, experience, and nationality, so it cannot be reduced to a single number. The official reference is the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), which publishes average monthly wages periodically in its labour-market bulletin. For your specific case, enter your salary in the calculator to find your exact net.

9. Salary payment dates

The Wage Protection System (WPS) requires private-sector firms to pay salaries through banks no later than the 27th of the month via the Mudad platform. The government sector has its own monthly published payment dates.

Track the nearest dates via salary payment dates.