In September 2026, the median rent for a one-room apartment in Ukraine was 12,500 UAH. A comparison with salaries for working professions showed that for a cook, this housing would cost 81% of the proposed salary, while for a plasterer, it would be about 15%. This was reported by Socportal citing OLX.
Renting an apartment: who will have to give away more than half of their salary
OLX Work and OLX Real Estate compared median salary offers in job vacancies with the median rent. The highest burden was borne by workers offered less than 20,000 UAH per month:
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Cook: salary 15,400 UAH, rent takes 81%, remains 2,900 UAH;
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Cashier: 15,700 UAH, housing takes 80%, remainder 3,200 UAH;
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Car washer and baker: 16,800 UAH each, rent is 74%, remaining 4,300 UAH;
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Barista: 19,000 UAH, housing costs 66%, remainder 6,500 UAH;
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Locksmith and loader: 23,000 UAH each, rent takes 54%, remaining 10,500 UAH;
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Salesperson: 24,300 UAH, housing takes 51%, remainder 11,800 UAH.
These remaining amounts were obtained by simply subtracting the rent from the total in the vacancies. Utilities, food, and transport are not included. Taxation conditions for salaries should also be clarified with the employer.
Salaries of teachers and salespeople: the cost of housing
For workers with salary offers in the range of 30–40 thousand UAH, rent takes up about a third or more than 40% of their income:
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Sales consultant and waiter: salary 30,000 UAH, share of rent 42%;
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Teacher: 32,000 UAH, housing costs 39%;
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Sales manager, trade representative, courier, tutor, pharmacist, and tire installer: each 40,000 UAH, share of rent 31%.
The figure for teachers refers specifically to ads on the platform. It does not mean that all public school teachers earn 32,000 UAH. Likewise, the other amounts listed are not average actual incomes for all representatives of the profession.
Construction and technical professions: who can afford rent more easily
Housing takes the smallest percentage of income for specialists with higher salary offers. In particular, construction workers' pay allows spending less than one-fifth of their stated earnings on housing:
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Plasterer: salary 85,000 UAH, rent is about 15%;
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Facade worker, technologist, and dentist: each 70,000 UAH, share of rent 18%;
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Bricklayer, tiler, and truck driver: each 65,000 UAH, housing costs 19%;
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Factory worker, site manager, auto painter, electrician, and plumber: each 50,000 UAH, rent takes 25%;
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Welder and installer: salary offers 45–48 thousand UAH, share of rent 26–28%.
At the same time, the salary stated in the vacancy may depend on productivity, the number of orders, or shifts. Therefore, the upper salary offer is not always a guaranteed monthly payment.
Rental costs: why actual expenses will differ
The study uses a single benchmark of 12,500 UAH for the entire country. It does not account for differences between cities, utility payments, deposits, and possible broker fees.
According to OLX's data, in Kyiv, the median rent for a one-room apartment in September was 16,500 UAH. This is 4,000 UAH more than the national average and exceeds the salary reported for a cook.
For rent at 12,500 UAH not to exceed 30% of income, one would need to earn approximately 41,667 UAH per month. However, the actual burden depends on the specific vacancy and city: even apartment rents in Kyiv significantly vary between neighborhoods.