How much does the same salary leave you in different Swedish kommuner?
In Sweden, where you live changes your take-home pay, because most income tax goes to your kommun and region at a rate they set themselves. On a SEK 45,000 monthly salary in 2026, nettolön is SEK 35,815 a month in Stockholm and SEK 34,883 in Örebro.
That's SEK 932 a month, or SEK 11,185 a year, for the same job and the same pay.
The gap grows with salary. On SEK 80,000 a month it reaches SEK 24,205 a year among the 8 kommuner we compared.
Why the kommun matters so much
Swedish income tax on a salary comes in two parts. The kommunalskatt is a flat percentage of your taxable income, made up of the municipal rate and the region rate, and it applies from the first krona above the basic deduction. The statlig inkomstskatt, the national tax, adds 20% only on taxable income above SEK 643,000 a year.
For most workers the kommunalskatt is the whole tax. In 2026 it ranges from 30.55% in Stockholm to 33.65% in Örebro among the kommuner here, a spread of 3.10 percentage points. The national average is 32.38%.
Two deductions bring the bill down: the grundavdrag, a basic allowance taken off taxable income, and the jobbskatteavdrag, a tax credit for earned income. Both are built into the figures below.
Nettolön by kommun at six salaries
Each row is one kommun and each column one gross monthly salary. Figures are net pay per month in kronor. Sort by any column.
Sweden net salary per month by kommun and gross salary, 2026
Download CSVKronor (SEK) per month after kommunalskatt, statlig inkomstskatt, grundavdrag and jobbskatteavdrag. Under 66, no church or burial fee. Source: Bedrock Calculator Sweden net salary engine.
| Stockholm | 30.55% | 20,786.28 | 28,498.09 | 35,814.59 | 42,759.59 | 47,711.26 | 55,128.76 |
| Västerås | 31.24% | 20,691.11 | 28,351.24 | 35,607.13 | 42,483.13 | 47,365.8 | 54,679.8 |
| Helsingborg | 31.39% | 20,670.42 | 28,319.31 | 35,562.03 | 42,423.03 | 47,290.7 | 54,582.2 |
| Linköping | 31.75% | 20,620.77 | 28,242.7 | 35,453.79 | 42,278.79 | 47,110.46 | 54,347.96 |
| Malmö | 32.42% | 20,528.36 | 28,100.1 | 35,252.34 | 42,010.34 | 46,775.01 | 53,912.01 |
| Göteborg | 32.60% | 20,503.53 | 28,061.79 | 35,198.22 | 41,938.22 | 46,684.89 | 53,794.89 |
| Uppsala | 32.85% | 20,469.05 | 28,008.58 | 35,123.06 | 41,838.06 | 46,559.72 | 53,632.22 |
| Örebro | 33.65% | 20,358.71 | 27,838.32 | 34,882.52 | 41,517.52 | 46,159.19 | 53,111.69 |
On SEK 35,000 a month, net pay runs from SEK 27,838 in Örebro to SEK 28,498 in Stockholm. On SEK 55,000 it's SEK 41,518 to SEK 42,760.
Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö compared
The three biggest cities show the pattern well. Stockholm has the lowest kommunalskatt here at 30.55%, and a SEK 45,000 salary nets SEK 35,815 a month. In Göteborg, at 32.60%, the same salary nets SEK 35,198, or SEK 7,396 less over the year. In Malmö, at 32.42%, it nets SEK 35,252, which is SEK 6,747 a year less than Stockholm.
Uppsala, at 32.85%, nets SEK 35,123. Linköping nets SEK 35,454, Västerås SEK 35,607 and Helsingborg SEK 35,562.
For a Stockholm worker on SEK 45,000 a month, total income tax for the year is SEK 110,225, or 20.4% of gross pay.
Why the gap grows as pay rises
The kommunalskatt is a flat rate, so a difference in the rate is worth more on a bigger income. On SEK 25,000 a month the gap between Stockholm and Örebro is SEK 5,131 a year. On SEK 55,000 it's SEK 14,905, and on SEK 80,000 it's SEK 24,205.
The statlig inkomstskatt doesn't change this, because it's the same everywhere. Once you're above the threshold, every kommun adds the same 20% on top of its own rate.
If you're weighing a job offer in another city, or deciding whether to live in the city or a neighbouring kommun, the yearly gap is the number to look at. Rent and commuting costs usually matter more, but the tax difference is real and it comes every month.
How we worked out these numbers
Every figure comes from this site's Sweden net salary by kommun calculator. It applies each kommun's 2026 combined rate, the 2026 statlig inkomstskatt threshold, the grundavdrag and the jobbskatteavdrag for someone under 66. We ran it once per kommun and salary.
The calculator covers 8 large kommuner. Sweden has 290, and several smaller ones have lower rates than any here, so this isn't a complete ranking of the cheapest places to live.
What these numbers leave out
Church and burial fees. The kyrkoavgift for Church of Sweden members and the begravningsavgift that almost everyone pays are not included. Both are set locally and would lower net pay a little more.
Approximations. The calculator approximates the grundavdrag with a smooth curve rather than Skatteverket's stepped table, usually within a few hundred kronor of the official figure. The jobbskatteavdrag follows the statutory formula in Inkomstskattelagen 67 kap. 7 § for people under 66. Your payslip uses Skatteverket's skattetabeller and can differ.
Everything else. Pension contributions through salary exchange, benefits, bonuses, capital income and people aged 66 or over are not modelled.
Run your own numbers
Try your own salary and kommun in the Sweden net salary calculator. The Sweden income tax calculator shows the annual tax in more detail, and the jämkning calculator helps if your monthly withholding looks wrong. For how a Swedish salary compares with Germany, the UK and other countries, read our take-home pay by country study.
