How do regional salaries of developers differ from Moscow ones, given the cost of living

In the footsteps of our general overview of salaries for the first half of 2019, we continue to refine certain aspects that are either not included in the review or touched upon only superficially. Today we will take a closer look at the regional features of salaries: 

1. Let's find out how much they pay developers living in Russian cities with a population of over a million and smaller cities.
2. For the first time, let's look at how the salaries of regional developers differ from the salaries of Moscow ones, if we also take into account the cost of living.

We collect salary data from salary calculator "My circle", in which users indicate the salaries that they receive in their hands after deducting all taxes and can also look at any other salaries in IT.

First, let's compare the absolute values ​​of salaries 

In Moscow, the median salary of a developer is 140 rubles, in St. Petersburg - 000 rubles. In million-plus cities and other cities, the median salary is the same - 120 rubles. At first glance, in St. Petersburg, wages are 000% less than in Moscow, and in regional cities - 80% less. 

If we continue to compare the salaries of developers in the same way for individual cities with a million population, we will see that they differ quite a lot from each other. In Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Krasnodar, the median salary of developers is about 90 rubles, which is 000% less than in Moscow. In Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Voronezh, Samara, Kazan and Krasnoyarsk - about 35 rubles, which is 80% less. In Perm and Rostov-on-Don - about 000 rubles, which is 43% less. In Chelyabinsk and Omsk - about 70 rubles, which is 000% less.

That is, according to the first impression, in a number of cities, developers live 2 or more times poorer than their Moscow counterparts. Can this really happen within the same country? What if we also take into account the cost of living in each city? How different will the real purchasing power of developers be then? 

Now consider also the cost of living

Let's use the service Numbeo, which collects statistics on prices for various goods and services in cities around the world. These prices are compared with the prices of similar goods and services in New York, and the corresponding indices are calculated, for example: 

1. Cost of Living Index (Excl. Rent). The Cost of Living Index (which does not include rent) measures the difference in prices for consumer goods - including food, restaurants, transportation and utilities - in the city compared to New York City. The cost of living index does not include living expenses such as rent or mortgage. If a city has a cost of living index of 120, that means Numbeo rates it 20% more expensive than New York City.
2. Rent index. The Rent Index is the difference in prices for renting apartments in the city compared to New York. If the rental index is 80, Numbeo estimates that rent in that city is on average 20% less than in New York.
3. Cost of Living Plus Rent Index. Cost of Living Index plus Rent Index - As the name implies, this index is the sum of the other two: the Cost of Living Index and the Rent Index. This is the difference in prices for consumer goods and services - including rent - in the city compared to New York.

As you can see, any New York index will always be equal to 100. 

For our purposes, we will use the latest aggregated index containing information on the cost of living and rent in the city. 

It is more convenient for us to compare our cities not with New York, but with Moscow. To do this, we divide the index of each city relative to New York by the index of Moscow relative to New York and multiply by 100 to get the percentage. We will see the following picture: the new Moscow index will be equal to 100, the cost of living and rent in St. Petersburg will be 22% lower, in Chelyabinsk - by 42%. 

At the same time, we will add the salary index by dividing the salary in each city by the salary in Moscow. Once again we will see that the salary in St. Petersburg is less by 14%, and in Chelyabinsk - by 57%.

Unfortunately, Numbeo does not have information on some of our million-plus cities.

City	Median salary of a developer, thousand rubles (My Circle data)	Salary index relative to Moscow	Cost of living and housing index relative to New York (Numbeo data)	Cost of living and housing index relative to Moscow
Moscow	140	100,00	35,65	100,00
St. Petersburg	120	85,71	27,64	77,53
Novosibirsk	85	60,71	23,18	65,02
Nizhny Novgorod	92	65,71	24,14	67,71
Krasnodar	85	60,71	21,96	61,60
Ekaterinburg	80	57,14	23,53	66,00
Voronezh	80	57,14	21,19	59,44
Samara	79	56,43	22,99	64,49
Kazan	78	55,71	22,91	64,26
Permian	70	50,00	21,51	60,34
Rostov-on-Don	70	50,00	22,64	63,51
Chelyabinsk	60	42,86	20,74	58,18

Knowing for each city the salary and the cost of living and housing relative to Moscow, we can compare how many goods and services can be bought in each city compared to similar goods and services in Moscow. To do this, divide the salary index by the cost of living and housing index and multiply by 100 to get the percentage. 

Let's call the resulting number index of provision with local goods, services and housing. And we will see the following curious picture: in St. Petersburg, a developer can buy 10% more local goods, services and housing than in Moscow. And in Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod and Voronezh - only 1-4% less than in Moscow, that is, almost the same. Chelyabinsk has the lowest indicator - here the developer is provided with goods, services and housing 26% less than in Moscow.

Additionally, let's look at two indices: the cost of living and the cost of renting a home. We see that developers from regional cities pay 60-70% less for rental housing, and 20-25% less for local goods and services.

City	Median salary of a developer, thousand rubles	Cost of living index relative to Moscow	Housing cost index relative to Moscow	Index of provision with local goods, services and housing
St. Petersburg	120	89,50	58,35	110,55
Moscow	140	100,00	100,00	100,00
Krasnodar	85	77,91	34,43	98,56
Nizhny Novgorod	92	83,44	39,35	97,05
Voronezh	80	77,91	27,13	96,14
Novosibirsk	85	79,90	38,51	93,38
Samara	79	80,47	36,11	87,50
Kazan	78	80,27	35,81	86,70
Ekaterinburg	80	81,98	37,93	86,58
Permian	70	77,75	30,89	82,87
Rostov-on-Don	70	81,04	32,57	78,73
Chelyabinsk	60	76,56	26,11	73,67

To sum up

• If we compare the salaries of developers from different Russian cities directly at face value, then in most cases they will be 35-60% less than Moscow salaries.
• If we take into account the cost of local goods, services, and rental housing, then the real purchasing power of regional developers may turn out to be even higher than that of Moscow ones - as in St. Petersburg, or almost the same - as in Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod and Voronezh.
• Chelyabinsk has the lowest purchasing power among million-plus cities - here the developer is provided with goods, services and housing 26% less than in Moscow.
• This leveling of living standards - despite the sometimes significant difference in nominal wages - occurs due to the fact that developers from regional cities pay 60-70% less for rent, and 20-25% less for local goods and services.

If you like our salary surveys and want to get even more accurate and useful information, don't forget to leave your salaries in our calculator, from which we then take all the data: moikrug.ru/salaries/new. It's anonymous.

Source: habr.com