Data and salaries

Tech Salaries by City 2026: Tel Aviv vs Haifa, Jerusalem and Be'er Sheva

Published: 2026-07-09 · Data as of 2026-07-08

JobFox Data Team · The JobFox data team. Every number comes straight from our live job index.

“Move to Tel Aviv, that is where the salaries are.” You have heard it, and it is only half true. Tel Aviv does lead on job count and on nominal pay, but the gap between it and other cities is smaller than it looks, and sometimes it disappears entirely once you sign a lease. This page separates two things people usually mix: how many jobs are open in each city (that is our data, live and current), and how much the pay is actually worth there after cost of living and commute (that is from public sources we cross-checked).

Which city pays the most?

In nominal gross pay, Tel Aviv and the Gush Dan area lead, but the gap is surprisingly small, and Tel Aviv is not even at the top. In 2024 data, three cities posted higher average salaries than Tel Aviv (CBS via Metaintro, 2024):

1. Ra’anana: ILS 22,405 per month (all-industry average).
2. Herzliya: ILS 21,473.
3. Modi’in: ILS 21,148, and only then Tel Aviv at ILS 20,655.

One caveat: these are averages across all industries, not tech pay alone, because tech-specific salary figures by city are almost never published. The national tech-sector average was ILS 36,731 per month (CBS, March 2025), about 2.5 times the national average. Where the city-specific tech numbers are missing, we say so rather than invent them.

There is one place where location does buy unusually high pay: the chip-design belt. In Yokneam, Haifa and Herzliya, senior hardware and silicon engineers reach compensation packages of ILS 730k to over ILS 1M per year, driven partly by Nvidia’s expansion in the north and Apple’s presence in Herzliya (nucamp, 2026).

How many jobs are open in each city right now

Tel Aviv is not just the leader, it is nearly half the mapped market. As of 8 July 2026, this is how open roles split by city on the JobFox market map, which counts every open tech job in Israel plus remote-abroad roles at Israeli-native companies (18,633 roles in all), top 15:

Three takeaways from the table. First, the concentration is extreme: Tel Aviv’s 3,001 roles exceed the next 14 cities combined (2,976). Second, there is a real northern bloc: Haifa and Yokneam together reach 832 roles, Israel’s chip and hardware hub. Third, Jerusalem (239) and Be’er Sheva (79) are far smaller than their reputations as cyber and academic centers might suggest, at least in terms of open roles right now.

The full equation: pay vs cost of living vs commute, 4 scenarios

The common mistake is to compare gross numbers between cities and stop there. What actually lands in your pocket depends on rent, commute and time. Here are four representative scenarios, each with the numbers behind it:

1. Live and work in Tel Aviv. The most roles (3,001) and the highest nominal pay, but a one-bedroom rental runs ILS 5,500 to 7,500 per month (Metaintro, 2024 to 2025). To keep the same standard of living as ILS 22,926 in Jerusalem, you need about ILS 26,000 in Tel Aviv, a gap of roughly 12%.
2. Live in Jerusalem, work in the city. Only 239 open roles, but lower rent (ILS 4,200 to 5,800 for a one-bedroom) and cost of living about 12% below Tel Aviv. Less choice, more relative take-home per shekel.
3. Live in Haifa or the north, work the chip belt. 832 roles between Haifa and Yokneam, very competitive hardware pay, and cost of living 15% to 18% below Tel Aviv, with rent of ILS 3,800 to 5,200 for a one-bedroom. For many people this is the best equation in Israel, provided your specialty fits the local market.
4. Live in the periphery, commute or work remote. Here the commute is the variable. An hour each way means ten hours a week gone, and that is a real cost even if it never shows on a payslip. Distance that ate the pay gap is distance that did not pay off.

The simple rule: do not compare gross, compare disposable net after rent, plus the commute hours. A city with lower nominal pay can easily leave you with more money and more time in the day.

Sources and a note on method

The demand side on this page, the open-role counts by city, comes from the JobFox market map, scraped continuously from company career sites and applicant-tracking APIs, current as of 8 July 2026. The market map counts every open tech job in Israel plus remote-abroad roles at Israeli-native companies (18,633 roles in all); the city counts include only roles mapped to a specific city. Details on the methodology page.

The salary and cost-of-living side comes from public sources we read and cross-checked: CBS by-city data for 2024, a Metaintro compilation for rent and cost of living, and nucamp for chip-belt packages. Tech-specific pay at the city level is thin in Israel, so we leaned on all-industry city averages and the national sector figure, and said so wherever it matters. For the full salary table by role and level, see Israel Tech Salaries 2026.