One of the first questions employers ask when hiring internationally is "what should we pay?" Salary surveys exist for most countries, but they usually describe local, in-office jobs. Remote candidates applying to international companies often expect something different.
So we looked at what remote job seekers on JobsHives actually tell us. Out of more than 2,500 registered job seekers, 1,383 have entered an annual salary expectation in US dollars on their profile. Here is what they expect, broken down by country and by role.
How to Read These Numbers
- These are self-reported expectations, not salaries actually paid.
- Figures are annual, in USD, and the median is the middle value: half of candidates expect more, half less.
- The range shown is the middle 50% (25th to 75th percentile), which gives a better sense of the spread than an average.
- We only show groups with enough responses to be meaningful.
Salary Expectations by Country
| Country | Median expectation (USD/year) | Middle 50% |
|---|---|---|
| Nigeria | $30,000 | $12,000 to $55,000 |
| India | $35,000 | $16,000 to $60,000 |
| Egypt | $36,000 | $25,000 to $65,000 |
| Ghana | $40,000 | $30,000 to $50,000 |
| Kenya | $45,000 | $30,000 to $50,000 |
| Pakistan | $50,000 | $30,000 to $75,000 |
Sample sizes range from 188 candidates in Nigeria to around 10 in Kenya and Egypt, so treat the smaller countries as directional.
Salary Expectations by Role
| Role | Median expectation (USD/year) | Middle 50% |
|---|---|---|
| Customer service / support | $30,000 | $12,000 to $50,000 |
| Data / analytics | $30,000 | $10,000 to $70,000 |
| Virtual / executive assistant and admin | $32,000 | $13,000 to $70,000 |
| Marketing / social media | $35,000 | $20,000 to $55,000 |
| Design | $40,000 | $30,000 to $80,000 |
| Sales / business development | $45,000 | $27,000 to $60,000 |
| Product / project management | $60,000 | $30,000 to $80,000 |
| Software / engineering | $60,000 | $30,000 to $80,000 |
What This Means for Employers
The ranges are wide, so experience matters more than country
In almost every group, the 75th percentile is three to four times the 25th. A junior support agent and an experienced support lead in the same country have very different expectations. Price the role by seniority first, then sanity-check against location.
Remote candidates benchmark against international pay
Many expectations sit well above typical local salaries for the same job. Candidates applying to international remote roles know they are competing for global work and price accordingly. Offering local-market rates usually means losing your best applicants to companies that pay a little more.
Support and assistant roles are the most cost-effective
Customer support and virtual assistant roles have the lowest median expectations and, on JobsHives, by far the largest candidate pool: 44% of seekers who list a target role want customer service work. That combination makes them the easiest roles to fill well internationally. See our guide to hiring a remote customer support team.
Showing pay gets more applicants
When we compared employers on JobsHives, the one whose posts showed a salary range (and were open worldwide) converted viewers into applicants more than six times better than one whose posts showed no pay. Use the tables above to set a range, then publish it. More detail in why some remote job posts get 6x more applicants.
Methodology
Data comes from JobsHives job seeker profiles as of October 2026. We included profiles with a stated annual salary expectation in USD and a recognisable location or target role. Roles were grouped from the free-text "desired role" field using keyword matching. Expectations in other currencies were excluded rather than converted. Candidates choose whether to show their salary expectation to employers; the aggregate figures here contain no individual data.
The Bottom Line
International remote talent is not as cheap as many employers assume, and not as expensive as hiring locally in the US or Western Europe. Price by seniority, publish your range, and you will attract stronger candidates. Hire remote talent on JobsHives: post your first 3 jobs free and search candidate profiles by role, skills and location.