Top Jobs & High Costs in Luxembourg in 2026

Luxembourg pairs secure, satisfying careers with rock-solid safety — but expats pay dearly for housing and living costs.

➡️You’re welcome to use these 2026 Expat Insider results. Please remember to credit InterNations as the source, and where possible, include a link to www.internations.org.

In this article:

In Brief
The Best Place to Work
Connected, Safe & Well Run
The Housing Crunch
A Tougher Social Start
The Typical Expat in Luxembourg
External References
Further Reading

In Brief

Luxembourg ranks 10th out of 31 destinations in the Expat Insider 2026 survey.

It excels in the Working Abroad Index (4th) and posts solid results for Quality of Life (10th) and Expat Essentials (9th). The Ease of Settling In (17th) and the Personal Finance (19th) Indices delight less, with the latter hit hard by cost.

Overall, about three in four expats (76%) are happy with life there, above the 70% global average.

The Best Place to Work

Luxembourg is a career stronghold, ranking 4th in the Working Abroad Index, including a 1st place in its Salary & Job Security Subcategory. It tops the table for job security, which about four in five expats (79%) rate positively — far above the 54% global average. It also places 1st for overall job satisfaction.

The economy ranks 4th, and personal career opportunities 5th. The pull is obvious: more than half (53%) moved there primarily for job-related reasons, 20 percentage points above the global share of 33%.

Expats also appreciate the workplace flexibility (8th) and working hours (12th), so the strong careers don’t come at the expense of time. The average full-time week is over an hour less than the global average (41.1 hours vs. 42.2).

Connected, Safe & Well Run

Quality of life is high, with Luxembourg 10th in the index. It ranks 3rd for Travel & Transit, thanks to, among other things, its 1st place for affordable public transport. Nearly all expats (97%) are satisfied with this factor — a fact that is admittedly hardly surprising, seeing how public transport in Luxembourg has been free for all since 2020.¹

Complementing these results in the Quality of Life Index are an excellent 2nd place for Safety & Security and a solid 8th rank for Healthcare.

Opinion

I appreciate the standard of children’s parks, free public transport, good healthcare and the services you get for taxes — it is safe, clean and run well. (British expat in Luxembourg City)

Opinion

The downside? According to expats, only Norway offers even worse Leisure Options — and Luxembourg ranks dead last for the climate.

Practical life is smooth, though, with Luxembourg receiving a solid result in the Expat Essentials Index (9th). Over three-quarters (77%), for example, find it easy to deal with the bureaucracy (vs. 38% globally), and two-thirds (67%) agree that you can get by even without speaking the local language (vs. 48%).

The Housing Crunch

Cost is Luxembourg’s Achilles’ heel. The country ranks 19th in the Personal Finance Index, dragged down by a 29th place for the general cost of living. Fewer than one in five expats (19%) rate this factor positively (vs. 39% globally). Housing is worse still: Luxembourg ranks second-to-last for affordability and 28th for the ease of finding a place.

Opinion

What I like least? The high cost of living, especially housing expenses are astronomical. (US American in Belval Esch-sur-Alzette)

Opinion

In fact, high living costs were the top pre-move worry for about half of respondents (51% vs. 21% globally), and the housing marked worried about two in five (37% vs. 17%).

Interestingly, the pinch is purely about cost: an above-average share of expats in Luxembourg are still satisfied with their financial situation in general (68% vs. 55% globally).

Building a social life takes more effort here, with Luxembourg 17th in the Ease of Settling In Index, with expats sometimes struggling to get used to the culture (22nd). Only about a quarter (26%) find it easy to make local friends (vs. 39% globally), and feeling at home ranks 25th.

In fact, the expat scene dominates socially: more than half (56%) say their friends are mostly other expats. And about half of expats (49%) say they don’t yet know their long-term plans — both signs of a more transient community.