# The complete map of home help costs in Europe

The map puts four layers side by side: the cost of one declared hour, a salary measure, the employer’s legal steps and the evidence on undeclared work. Each layer keeps its own unit, place and period.

## The cost of one declared hour

For each location we show the cost to a household of one hour of declared home help hired directly, taken from an official source: the statutory or collective minimum wage with the employer charges where a household scheme publishes them, or else a statistics office's average hourly earnings for elementary occupations; where no official figure exists we show no comparable figure, and Switzerland comes from Helpore's own payroll rules. Each figure names its basis and links to the page we read, with the date we read it.

## Order of sources

We use the first source that exists, in this order. First, an official household scheme or collective agreement, with the employer charges it publishes. Second, the statutory minimum wage. Third, a statistics office’s average hourly earnings for elementary occupations, from Eurostat or ILOSTAT. Otherwise, no comparable figure. A statistics office figure is marked as average pay, not a household cost. Where a country publishes its minimum per month, day or week, we divide it by the statutory full time hours named in the source list; those hourly figures are our calculation.

## Switzerland

Switzerland comes from Helpore’s own payroll rules, applied to each canton’s cost data. The figure is what a household pays per hour worked, without accident insurance. The canton cost study shows each canton.

## Hours, weeks and currencies

Readers choose from 1 to 40 hours a week. A yearly cost is the hourly cost times the weekly hours times 52 weeks. Where the cost and the salary measure use different currencies, the cost is converted into the local salary currency at the European Central Bank (ECB) reference rate of 12 October 2026. Bulgaria is shown in euros.

## Salary comparison

The yearly cost is divided by the yearly salary measure in the same currency. Average and median salaries stay apart. Salary before tax and modelled take home pay are separate views. Each country shows the period and the population of its salary measure.

## Administration

Each country lists ten topics for two routes: buying a service from a company and hiring directly. For each topic, the map names who is responsible, what the household does, when, and the source. It adds no time estimate and no difficulty score.

## Undeclared work

Each country keeps the source’s definition, population and period. Awareness, household use, buyer reports and enforcement activity are labelled apart. They are not combined into one league table.

## Dates

The date beside each figure is the date of its source. We read the sources up to 13 October 2026.

## Limits of the comparison

- A statutory minimum is a legal floor. A collective agreement minimum binds the employers the agreement covers; a household that hires directly is often outside it. Neither is an average of what households pay.
- Average hourly earnings in elementary occupations are a different measure from a minimum wage, so the map marks them.
- A location without a figure is a gap in official sources, not a cost of zero.
- The map compares evidence. It does not rank countries by fairness, ease or policy effectiveness.

## Sources

Helpore analysis, tables and map graphics: CC BY 4.0, credit Helpore. Map geometry: Natural Earth, public domain. Source material remains subject to its source rights.