Introduction
To rent a standard home in Amsterdam, your employee typically needs a gross income of about 3 to 4 times more than the rent (late-2025 data). Many relocating employees don’t clear that alone. Especially if your cozy studio seems affordable, but the gross requirement makes it impossible to rent the affordable cozy studio
For years, the standard advice was simple: if Amsterdam doesn’t work, widen the search radius. That advice is out of date. B-cities (smaller cities outside the main hubs, such as Almere, Lelystad and Tilburg) are now increasingly the first recommendation for relocating employees, not the fallback.
Most content on this topic is written for the individual expat looking for a flat. This post is for the employer making the call: when to recommend a B-city up front, what it does to commute, schooling and partner plans, and how to set housing budgets by region rather than nationally.
How much income do I need to rent in Amsterdam?
Dutch landlords commonly ask for a gross monthly income of around three times the rent; some larger corporate landlords use a stricter four-times rule. In Amsterdam, late-2025 data put the typical income needed for a standard rental at about €5,515 gross per month, with average rents of €28.68 per square metre, up 9.1% in a year.
Nationally, the Q2 2026 Pararius figures show average new-tenant free-sector rents of €1,882 a month, which implies roughly €5,650 gross income at the three-times rule. Supply is also shrinking: in Q2, 12,150 listings were removed against 11,389 that came available. In Q1 2026, 42% of available free-sector homes were priced above €2,000 a month.
Introduction
To rent a standard home in Amsterdam, your employee typically needs a gross income of about €5,515 a month (late-2025 data). Many relocating employees don’t clear that alone.
For years, the standard advice was simple: if Amsterdam doesn’t work, widen the search radius. That advice is out of date. B-cities (smaller cities outside the main hubs, such as Almere, Lelystad and Tilburg) are now increasingly the first recommendation for relocating employees, not the fallback.
Most content on this topic is written for the individual expat looking for a flat. This post is for the employer making the call: when to recommend a B-city up front, what it does to commute, schooling and partner plans, and how to set housing budgets by region rather than nationally.
How much income do I need to rent in Amsterdam?
Dutch landlords commonly ask for a gross monthly income of around three times the rent; some larger corporate landlords use a stricter four-times rule. In Amsterdam, late-2025 data put the typical income needed for a standard rental at about €5,515 gross per month, with average rents of €28.68 per square metre, up 9.1% in a year.
Nationally, the Q2 2026 Pararius figures show average new-tenant free-sector rents of €1,882 a month, which implies roughly €5,650 gross income at the three-times rule. Supply is also shrinking: in Q2, 12,150 listings were removed against 11,389 that came available. In Q1 2026, 42% of available free-sector homes were priced above €2,000 a month.
Pararius’s Q3 report shows new tenants paying an average of €1,914 a month in the free sector, which implies about €5,742 gross at the three-times rule. Per-m² rents were 4.4% higher than a year earlier, and nearly a third (32.7%) of former rental homes sold into owner-occupation had rents above €2,000.
Is it cheaper to live in Almere or Utrecht than Amsterdam?
Usually, yes, but the gap is narrowing and it differs by city.
- Amsterdam remains the most acute pressure point, with typical rents for one or two bedroom homes in the €2,300 to €2,400 range and furnished expat units often €2,000 to €3,000.
- Utrecht offers better value, with average rents around €1,515 a month.
- Eindhoven still has the lowest average rent in the Randstad area (around €1,348), which makes it attractive for tech, semiconductor and energy employers in the Brainport region, but it is also among the fastest-rising markets (+10.0% year on year in Q1 2026).
- Rotterdam has seen some of the fastest growth nationally (+10.4% year on year in Q1 2026).
- Almere, Lelystad and Tilburg are now primary relocation targets. Pararius’s own guide puts Almere at about €16.50 per m² and Lelystad and Tilburg at about €14.50 to €15.50 per m². For a 70 m² flat, that is roughly €1,100 to €1,250 a month against more than €2,000 in Amsterdam, a gap of around €900 a month before commuting costs.
Cross-check with Pararius per-m² rents for the G5 cities: Amsterdam €28.53 (+5.1%), Rotterdam €22.78 (+10.4%), The Hague €22.42 (+6.5%), Utrecht €21.61 (+5.9%), Eindhoven €19.55 (+10.0%).
Which cities are no longer cheap?
Rotterdam and Eindhoven. Both were long recommended as budget-friendly alternatives, and both had rent growth of around 10% year on year in Q1 2026, the fastest nationally.
Eindhoven is the case to read carefully, because the data points two ways at once. It still has the lowest average rent in the Randstad area, which makes it attractive. It is also among the fastest-rising markets. Both are true: Eindhoven is affordable today, and less so each quarter.
The regional picture adds a twist. Pararius’ Q2 2026 data shows rents rising fastest in Flevoland and Noord-Brabant (about 9.5% to 9.6%), the provinces that include Almere, Lelystad, Tilburg and Eindhoven. Utrecht province rose just 0.4%. B-cities are cheaper, but they are catching up.
Best cities near Amsterdam for expats to rent: the hidden costs
A lower rent is not the whole cost. Before recommending a B-city, check three things:
- Commute. A longer daily journey to an Amsterdam office is a real cost in time and money, and a common source of early dissatisfaction. Monthly rail-subscription costs are roughly €195 between Almere and Amsterdam, €320 between Lelystad and Amsterdam and €375 between Tilburg and Utrecht.
- School start dates. If the housing search takes longer, children may start the school year late.
- Partner co-tenancy. A trailing partner who wants to be on the lease may face income-requirement stress, wherever the home is.
When to recommend a B-city up front
We would recommend a B-city as the first option when:
- The household’s gross income sits close to or below the Amsterdam qualifying level.
- The employee’s work is not tied to daily presence in central Amsterdam.
- The family values space and schooling stability over a short commute.
- The start date is fixed and a long Amsterdam search would put it at risk.
If none of these apply, Amsterdam or a nearby city may still be the better fit. The point is to make the call deliberately, at the start.
How should housing budgets be set by region rather than nationally?
A single national housing allowance will be too low for Amsterdam and too high for parts of the country where rents are lower. Expats should now budget 30% to 40% of net income for housing, above the traditional 30%.
In practice:
- Set allowances by region, using current figures per city rather than a national average.
- Refresh them quarterly. Rents in Rotterdam and Eindhoven moved about 10% in a single year.
- Use one data source consistently. Pararius and NVM publish different figures with different methods. Both show rents rising faster than inflation, but do not mix them in one budget.
The takeaway
Amsterdam’s income threshold has turned B-cities from a fallback into a first choice for many relocating employees. Recommend them deliberately, account for commute, schooling and partner plans, and budget by region.
Next step
Get in touch with Jimble before you finalise your allowances and city recommendations. We’ll help you work through your cohort size, target cities and timeline.
