HR salaries by industry
Software and internet€112k
Healthcare and life sciences€95.6k
Professional services€90.3k
Finance and insurance€88.5k
Manufacturing and industry€85k
Marketing and media€83.2k
Energy and utilities€82.9k
IT services and consulting€76.5k
Public sector and non-profit€76.5k
Telecom€70.9k
Retail and consumer€67.3k
Logistics and transport€65.9k
Education€53.8k
Staffing and HR services€51.5k
| Industry | Median | 25th percentile | 75th percentile | Pay ranges |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software and internet | €112,400 | €69,800 | €149,600 | 451 |
| Healthcare and life sciences | €95,600 | €67,500 | €133,300 | 269 |
| Professional services | €90,300 | €56,300 | €142,300 | 116 |
| Finance and insurance | €88,500 | €62,700 | €130,100 | 232 |
| Manufacturing and industry | €85,000 | €62,500 | €116,800 | 317 |
| Marketing and media | €83,200 | €55,300 | €110,200 | 87 |
| Energy and utilities | €82,900 | €62,600 | €101,500 | 54 |
| IT services and consulting | €76,500 | €51,200 | €115,200 | 157 |
| Public sector and non-profit | €76,500 | €51,400 | €137,200 | 55 |
| Telecom | €70,900 | €57,400 | €114,800 | 26 |
| Retail and consumer | €67,300 | €51,600 | €96,200 | 122 |
| Logistics and transport | €65,900 | €54,000 | €90,000 | 29 |
| Education | €53,800 | €42,800 | €97,600 | 65 |
| Staffing and HR services | €51,500 | €39,200 | €72,000 | 1,400 |
What drives the gap between industries
The industries that pay HR best, software and internet, healthcare and life sciences and professional services, compete with each other for scarce talent and spend more per hire, so they invest in senior HR and talent acquisition teams.
Staffing and HR services is a special case: it posts the most HR jobs (1,400 with pay) because recruiting is its business, but most of them are agency recruiter and consultant roles with a median of €51.5k.
Frequently asked questions
›Which industry pays HR the most?
Software and internet, with a median HR salary of €112,400 a year, followed by healthcare and life sciences at €95,600.
›Do recruitment agencies pay recruiters well?
Agency and staffing postings have a median of €51,500, below in-house HR roles in most industries.
Turn market data into pay bandsSkailer keeps salaries, pay bands and compensation reviews next to your employee records, so every offer and raise starts from the same numbers.
Related salary data
About this dataPay ranges published in 132,956 job postings, collected from company career pages and applicant tracking systems. Each posting counts once, at the middle of its range, converted to yearly pay in euros. We show a figure only when at least 20 postings back it. Updated October 2026. How we collect and calculate the data