The income tax saving is genuine. Dubai charges no personal income tax on salaries, bonuses, allowances or end-of-service gratuities, and employers withhold nothing. On a strong London or Sydney salary that is a real number. The problem sits on the other side of the ledger, and for anyone moving with children it is big enough to make the whole sum look nothing like the LinkedIn post that talked you into it.
Start with school fees, because nothing else comes close. Expat children cannot attend government schools in Dubai. Those are for Emirati nationals. Every expat family pays full fees at a private international school, and the fees are not gentle. Two children at a premium British school runs AED 130,000 to AED 180,000 a year in tuition alone, before rent, bills or food. Across twelve months that is AED 11,000 to AED 15,000 gone before the first grocery run. The spread across Dubai’s 23 Outstanding-rated schools shows the range: preschool at Lycée Français International Georges Pompidou starts at AED 29,488 a year, while Year 13 at Dubai British School Jumeirah Park costs AED 111,799. The citywide average for 2026-27 is about AED 42,000, which sounds fine until you double it for a second child and clear six figures. One bit of relief for next year: the KHDA has frozen tuition increases for 2026-27, so at least the number holds.
Rent is the second wall, and it keeps climbing. Residential rents are forecast to rise four to six per cent in 2026. In mid-tier expat areas such as JVC, Al Furjan, Town Square and Mirdif, a one or two-bedroom unit runs AED 75,000 to AED 130,000 a year. Three bedrooms costs more. On top of the rent, you pay a municipality housing fee of five per cent of your annual rent, collected monthly through your DEWA bill. It is not optional and it is not small: on AED 120,000 of rent that is AED 6,000 a year added to the utilities.
Then there is the move-in cost, which catches people cold. You pay the first rent cheque one to three months upfront, a security deposit of five per cent of annual rent, an agency fee of five per cent if you use a broker, a DEWA deposit of AED 2,000, and Ejari registration of AED 220. On a AED 120,000 rental that lot can total AED 30,000 to AED 50,000 before you sleep a night in the place. That money has to be sitting in cash. If your relocation package does not cover it, it is coming out of your savings.
Health insurance is mandatory for every Dubai resident, and since 1 January 2025 the rule covers all seven emirates. Employer plans often leave out maternity, dental and dependents, so families end up topping up or buying separate cover. Full family cover runs roughly AED 17,000 to AED 35,000 a year for four, and premium international plans go higher. None of that tends to surface in the headline salary chat.
So what does comfortable actually cost? A single professional needs around AED 12,000 to AED 15,000 net a month for a decent one-bed, groceries, transport and the odd night out. The average net salary in Dubai is about AED 14,100 a month, which puts the average earner right at the floor of comfortable single living. That figure is dragged down by low-paid work in hospitality and construction, and anyone being recruited out of Europe or Australia should expect an offer above it. But it tells you Dubai does not forgive a package that just mirrors your home salary and lets the employer pocket the tax saving.
For a family the numbers are blunt. Target AED 25,000 to AED 30,000 a month, more if the kids are in top-tier schools. Premium schooling and a bigger place can take you past AED 40,000. At AED 30,000 a month, a family earning the equivalent of a solid UK salary and saving nothing on tax needs to clear roughly AED 360,000 a year net just to stand still. The tax saving is real. For a family, most of it is already spoken for.
None of this makes Dubai the wrong move. It makes the tax saving the wrong question. The one that matters is what your package covers once school fees and rent come off the top. Get that figure before you start packing.
