Nurse take-home pay in the Netherlands after tax, 2026

The nursing scale in 2026: gross against net

Grades under the FWG scale follow the complexity of the role. A BIG-registered verpleegkundige at niveau 5, which covers most registered nurses, lands in FWG 45 to 50. Specialists in intensive care, coronary care or oncology usually sit at FWG 55, and nurse practitioners qualified to HBO level or above reach FWG 60 to 65.

Two brackets do the work in box 1: 36.97% up to €75,518 a year and 49.5% beyond it, which means nursing salaries sit entirely inside the first one. Two credits then pull the effective rate down noticeably, the arbeidskorting worth as much as €5,053 and the algemene heffingskorting at €3,362 for incomes up to around €24,000, tapering away above that.

Set against the British system

Take a Dutch nurse at the middle of FWG 45, on €3,200 gross a month or €38,400 a year, who nets around €2,415 monthly. Set that beside a British Band 5 nurse on £32,073 a year, £2,673 gross a month, who takes home roughly £2,154.

At the mid-2026 rate of €1.17 to the pound, that €2,415 becomes about £2,063, marginally under the British figure. Two things sit outside the comparison, though. No separate pension deduction appears, because pension is built into the gross package or funded through the sector-wide Pensioenfonds at little employee cost, and lower earners can claim zorgtoeslag, a health allowance worth up to €1,890 a year, which closes part of the remaining gap.

Vakantiegeld: the 8% holiday payment

Every employee in the country is legally owed vakantiegeld, 8% of annual gross, normally paid out in May. On €38,400 that comes to €3,072 gross, roughly €2,330 net, arriving in a single month. None of the monthly figures above include it, so the year works out as eleven ordinary months plus one much larger one. Spread across twelve months for budgeting purposes it adds something like €175 to €200 to the effective monthly total.

What nights and weekends add

Dutch hospital nurses working irregular hours receive supplements under the CAO:

• Night work (00:00-06:00): +50% of hourly rate
• Sunday work: +50% of hourly rate
• Saturday afternoon (13:00-18:00): +25%
• Public holiday work: +100%

A nurse working 4-6 nights per month can add €250-€400 gross/month in irregular-hours supplements - approximately €190-€300 net after the 36.97% marginal rate applies.

Frequently asked questions