Average Salary in Egypt (2026): CAPMAS Data, Minimum Wage, Costs
The last full CAPMAS wage bulletin put the average monthly wage in Egypt at EGP 5,005 for 2023, with private-sector employees at EGP 4,675 and public-sector employees at EGP 12,401; the private-sector minimum wage is now EGP 7,000 (about US$134) and employer social insurance adds 18.75 percent.
The most recent complete wage bulletin from CAPMAS, Egypt's national statistics agency, put the average monthly wage at EGP 5,005 for 2023, up 16.8 percent on 2022, with private-sector employees averaging EGP 4,675 and public-sector employees EGP 12,401. Those pounds were worth about US$162 at the 2023 exchange rate and would be worth about US$96 at today's rate of EGP 52 to the dollar, which tells you most of what you need to know about Egyptian pay since the March 2024 devaluation: nominal wages have risen fast, dollar wages have fallen, and the statutory floor has overtaken the old average. The private-sector minimum wage is EGP 7,000 a month (about US$134) from March 2025, and the public-sector floor rose to EGP 8,000 in July 2026. For a US or UK company staffing a contact center in Cairo, the practical range for an agent is EGP 7,000 to 16,000 a month, plus 18.75 percent employer social insurance.
Why the official average is older than you would like
CAPMAS publishes its Annual Bulletin of Employment, Wages and Hours of Work with a lag of more than a year, and the 2023 figures released in October 2024 are the latest full-year averages this page could verify. Since then the pound has been devalued and the minimum wage has risen from EGP 6,000 to EGP 7,000, so treat the 2023 average as a historical anchor, not a current benchmark. All dollar figures use the mid-market rate of EGP 52.135 per US dollar for 19 September 2026.
The Official Numbers
CAPMAS surveys establishments with ten or more workers, so its averages describe the formal economy. The 2023 bulletin gave an overall average monthly wage of EGP 5,005, a 16.8 percent rise from EGP 4,284 in 2022. The public sector, where government and state-company pay scales apply, averaged EGP 12,401; the private sector averaged EGP 4,675. Men averaged EGP 5,128 and women EGP 4,439. No official median is published, and because more than half of Egyptian employment is informal, the true middle of the distribution is lower than any establishment survey shows.
Third-party sites quote everything from EGP 3,900 to EGP 18,500 a month as "the average salary in Egypt". The low figures usually derive from an old CAPMAS weekly wage multiplied out; the high ones describe professional roles in Cairo's formal private sector. One widely cited page reports EGP 6,833 based on a CAPMAS weekly wage of EGP 1,584 for December 2024, a figure this page could not locate in a CAPMAS release and therefore does not use. When a source does not name the bulletin and year, assume it is describing a different population.
Minimum Wage in Egypt
Egypt runs two separate wage floors. The National Wages Council sets the private-sector minimum, which rose to EGP 7,000 a month on 1 March 2025 from EGP 6,000. The same decision introduced the first hourly minimum for part-time work at EGP 28 net per hour and required employers to give an annual raise of at least 3 percent of the social-insurance wage, with a floor of EGP 250 a month. The council's decisions apply to all private employers, though enforcement in small firms is uneven.
The public-sector minimum is set through the state budget. Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced on 1 April 2026 that it would rise to EGP 8,000 from July 2026, and the FY2026/27 budget lifted the floor for state employees to that level with payments from 20 July, alongside a monthly allowance of EGP 750 and annual increments of 12 to 15 percent. Private-sector employers are not bound by the EGP 8,000 figure, but experienced BPO agents already earn above it.
Salaries by Sector
CAPMAS does not publish a role-level breakdown that this page could fetch, so the official split is by sector:
| Sector (CAPMAS 2023 bulletin) | Average monthly wage | USD at 2026 rate |
|---|---|---|
| Public sector | EGP 12,401 | $238 |
| All employees | EGP 5,005 | $96 |
| Private sector | EGP 4,675 | $90 |
| Men, all sectors | EGP 5,128 | $98 |
| Women, all sectors | EGP 4,439 | $85 |
The public-private gap of 2.7 times is the largest in this country series and reflects both the seniority of the state workforce and the informality of much private employment. Within the private sector, banking, telecoms, oil and gas, and multinational shared-service centers pay several times the sector average; retail, construction and agriculture pull it down.
What Remote and BPO Roles Pay
Egypt's outsourcing industry serves Arabic, English, French, German and Italian markets from Cairo, Alexandria and the newer Smart Village and Maadi technology parks. The ranges below come from job-board data and are market observations, not statistics.
| Role | Monthly range (EGP) | Monthly range (USD) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Call center agent, 0 to 1 year | EGP 7,000 to 10,000 | $134 to $192 | Wuzzuf job postings, July 2026 |
| Call center agent, 1 to 3 years | EGP 11,000 to 16,000 | $211 to $307 | Wuzzuf job postings, July 2026 |
| Senior agent or team lead, 5+ years | EGP 25,000 to 35,000 | $480 to $671 | Wuzzuf job postings, July 2026 |
| Software developer | EGP 7,167 to 20,125 (25th to 75th percentile) | $137 to $386 | Glassdoor Cairo, 963 submissions, May 2026 |
| Accountant | About EGP 5,800 average | $112 | PayScale, 136 profiles, June 2026 |
| Administrative assistant | About EGP 5,100 average | $98 | PayScale, 60 profiles, October 2025 |
Three cautions. Wuzzuf notes that English- and French-speaking agents earn substantially more than the Arabic-only ranges, and that night shifts for US and European accounts carry allowances. Glassdoor labels its Cairo developer figures as annual amounts, but they are consistent only with monthly market pay, so this page presents them as monthly. The PayScale averages for accountants and administrative staff predate the 2025 minimum wage rise and fall below the EGP 7,000 floor; read them as evidence of stale self-reported data rather than as current offers.
What It Costs to Employ Someone in Egypt
Social Insurance Law 148 of 2019 sets the employer contribution at 18.75 percent of the insurable salary and the employee contribution at 11 percent. The insurable salary is bounded: a minimum of EGP 2,700 and a maximum of EGP 16,700 a month in 2026, with both limits rising 15 percent each January through 2027. Employers also deduct 0.05 percent of gross salary for the Martyrs and Victims Fund. Managers listed in the commercial register are insured at a flat 21 percent of the maximum insurable salary.
| Charge | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Social insurance, employer share | 18.75% of insurable salary | Capped at EGP 16,700 a month in 2026 |
| Social insurance, employee share | 11% of insurable salary | Withheld from pay |
| Martyrs and Victims Fund | 0.05% of gross salary | Employer remits |
| Universal health insurance | Being phased in by governorate | Adds a few percent where the system has launched; confirm for the hiring location |
Worked example for a bilingual call center agent at EGP 12,000 a month in Cairo:
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross salary | EGP 12,000.00 |
| Social insurance 18.75% (salary is below the EGP 16,700 cap) | EGP 2,250.00 |
| Martyrs Fund 0.05% | EGP 6.00 |
| Monthly employer cost | EGP 14,256.00 (US$273) |
For salaries above EGP 16,700 the cap makes the effective rate fall: a developer at EGP 30,000 costs EGP 3,131 in social insurance, or 10.4 percent. The 2025 Labor Law adds a mandatory annual raise of at least 3 percent of the insured wage, four months of maternity leave, and termination only through a judicial decision, all of which raise the effective cost of employment beyond the payroll table.
Salary Trends
Egyptian wages are chasing prices. CAPMAS reported urban headline inflation at 14.5 percent in the year to August 2026, down from 14.9 percent in July, with core inflation at 14.9 percent. The private-sector minimum wage rose 16.7 percent in March 2025, the public floor rose to EGP 8,000 in July 2026, and the National Wages Council's 3 percent annual raise rule sets a floor on private-sector increases. In dollar terms, however, Egyptian pay has become cheaper: the pound traded near EGP 31 to the dollar before March 2024 and near EGP 52 in September 2026. A US company that budgeted US$300 for an agent in 2023 can now fund the top of the mid-level Wuzzuf range with the same money, which is the main reason Egypt's BPO sector has grown against the Philippines and India.
How US and UK Companies Pay Workers in Egypt
An employer of record in Egypt is the usual route: the provider registers the employee with the National Organization for Social Insurance, pays the 18.75 percent contribution, applies the minimum wage and the new labor law's termination rules, and handles the Arabic-language contract the law requires. Contractor arrangements are common for developers paid in dollars, but a contractor working fixed hours for one client is an employee under the labor law, and the social insurance authority pursues unpaid contributions. Setting up a local company involves a foreign-investment registration and an Egyptian bank account, and is worthwhile only for a permanent operation. The Egypt labor law guide covers working hours (48 a week), overtime at 135 and 170 percent, and leave entitlements; the EOR cost guide compares provider fees. For how Egypt compares as an offshore destination, see the nearshore versus offshore comparison and the labor cost calculation guide for BPOs.
Tracking Time and Attendance for a Team in Egypt
Egypt's labor law limits ordinary hours to eight a day and 48 a week and pays daytime overtime at 135 percent and night overtime at 170 percent, and Cairo is two hours ahead of London and seven ahead of US Eastern time, so most US-facing shifts run into the Egyptian evening. HiveDesk records hours automatically from the desktop and mobile apps, takes periodic screenshots, and produces timesheets for approval, with scheduling, attendance and leave management included in the $5 per user per month plan. Night-shift differentials and overtime are easy to verify when the hours record is automatic rather than self-reported.
Automatic time tracking, screenshots, schedules and timesheets for $5 per user per month. 14-day free trial, no credit card.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the minimum wage in Egypt in USD?
About US$134 a month for the private-sector minimum of EGP 7,000, and about US$153 for the public-sector floor of EGP 8,000, at the September 2026 rate of EGP 52 to the dollar.
Is 100 USD a lot in Egypt?
US$100 is about EGP 5,200, which is above the 2023 CAPMAS average private-sector wage of EGP 4,675 but below the current private-sector minimum wage of EGP 7,000. It covers a week or two of a mid-level agent's pay, not a month.
What is a good salary in Egypt?
For a formal private-sector employee in Cairo, EGP 15,000 to 20,000 a month (about US$290 to $385) is above the mid-level contact-center range and comfortably above both minimum wages. Professionals in banking, telecoms and multinational firms earn several times that.
Why is the average salary in Egypt so low?
Because the average is measured in a currency that lost about 40 percent of its dollar value in 2024, because more than half of employment is informal and low-paid, and because the establishment survey that produces the average is two years old. Nominal wages rose 16.8 percent in 2023 and the minimum wage has risen every year since.
Is Egypt cheap to live in?
For a foreign employer, yes: a mid-level bilingual agent costs about US$275 a month fully loaded. For Egyptians, urban inflation of 14.5 percent has outrun most raises, and a living wage benchmark published by the Anker Research Institute put a family living wage at EGP 14,624 a month for 2025, roughly twice the private-sector minimum.
What is the average salary in Egypt per month?
The last official figure is EGP 5,005 for 2023 across public and private employers with ten or more workers. A current formal private-sector employee in Cairo typically earns between the EGP 7,000 minimum and about EGP 20,000.
Sources
- Amwal Al Ghad, "Egyptian wages surge 16.8% in '23 – CAPMAS", 21 October 2024, reporting the CAPMAS Annual Bulletin of Employment, Wages and Hours of Work; accessed 19 September 2026. The CAPMAS site itself (capmas.gov.eg) serves the bulletin only in Arabic PDF form
- Daily News Egypt, "Egypt raises minimum wage for private sector to EGP 7,000", 9 February 2025, accessed 19 September 2026; the same decision is reported by the State Information Service
- Egyptian Streets, "Egypt to Raise Public Sector Minimum Wage to EGP 8,000", 3 July 2026, accessed 19 September 2026; announcement reported by Ahram Online
- PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries, Egypt, Other taxes (reviewed 17 August 2026), for the social insurance rates and 2026 caps
- Enterprise, "Urban inflation unexpectedly slowed to 14.5% in August", 13 September 2026, reporting CAPMAS data
- Wuzzuf, Call Center Agent Salary in Egypt, updated 30 July 2026
- Glassdoor, Software Developer salaries in Cairo, Egypt, May 2026
- PayScale Egypt pages for accountant and administrative assistant, accessed 19 September 2026
- Anker Research Institute, Egypt living wage 2025
- Open Exchange Rates API, USD base, 19 September 2026
See the other salary guides by country for Kenya, South Africa, the Philippines and the rest of the series.