Fresh Graduate Salary Hong Kong 2027: By University & Degree
Kenji Farre, Director · Oct 20, 2026 · 18 min read
A fresh graduate in Hong Kong is typically offered about HK$20,000 a month. The median advertised starting salary on the universities' joint job board was HK$20,000 in Q1 2026, with an average of HK$21,000. Graduates of the eight UGC-funded universities actually earned an average of HK$336,000 a year (about HK$28,000 a month) in the 2024/25 survey, but that average is pulled up by medicine and by HKU and CUHK graduates. Plan around HK$18,000 to HK$25,000 for most business, engineering, IT and arts roles.
This guide covers starting pay only: by university, by degree, master's versus bachelor's, government entry pay, what you take home after MPF, and what non-local graduates should expect. For pay across the whole workforce, see our guide to average salary in Hong Kong.
What Is the Average Fresh Graduate Salary in Hong Kong?
There are two honest answers, and you need both.
The first is what employers advertise. JIJIS, the job information system shared by the eight UGC-funded universities, showed a median monthly starting salary of HK$20,000 in Q1 2026, up just over 2%, with an average of HK$21,000. For the whole of 2025, the average advertised salary for new hires was HK$20,961, up only 0.5%.
The second is what graduates report earning a few months after graduation. The University Grants Committee (UGC) survey found that bachelor's graduates of the eight funded universities earned an average of HK$336,000 a year in 2024/25, up from HK$329,000. That rise of about 2% was the slowest in five years.
Why the HK$8,000 gap? The UGC figure is an average, and it includes doctors, dentists and teachers on fixed pay scales, plus a lot of HKU and CUHK graduates who land the best-paid jobs. The JIJIS figure is a median of advertised jobs, which is much closer to what a typical business, engineering or arts graduate is offered. If you are negotiating your first offer, the HK$20,000 benchmark is the one the employer has in mind.
If you are looking for an English-speaking graduate job in Hong Kong, check out ExpatJobBoard.com. We list thousands of jobs that don't require Cantonese or Mandarin, including graduate and entry-level roles.
Fresh Graduate Salary by University
HKU and CUHK graduates earn the most, and the gap to the bottom of the table is wide. The figures below come from the UGC 2024/25 graduate survey as reported by Sing Tao Headline and TVB News. The UGC's own open dataset is published by discipline rather than by university, so these by-university numbers rely on those news reports of the UGC release. The monthly column is our own division by 12.
| University | Average annual salary 2024/25 | Monthly equivalent | 2023/24 annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| HKU | HK$400,000 | about HK$33,300 | HK$401,000 |
| CUHK | HK$399,000 | about HK$33,250 | HK$381,000 |
| EdUHK | HK$353,000 | about HK$29,400 | HK$348,000 |
| HKUST | HK$333,000 | about HK$27,750 | HK$330,000 |
| PolyU | HK$313,000 | about HK$26,100 | HK$306,000 |
| CityU | HK$275,000 | about HK$22,900 | HK$273,000 |
| HKBU | HK$274,000 | about HK$22,800 | HK$269,000 |
| Lingnan | HK$248,000 | about HK$20,700 | HK$243,000 |
| All eight universities | HK$336,000 | about HK$28,000 | HK$329,000 |
Sources: Sing Tao Headline, UGC 2024/25 graduate survey report (30 July 2026); TVB News, university pay ranking (5 August 2026); SCMP, salary growth at five-year low (24 July 2026).
Two things to keep in mind. EdUHK ranks third because most of its graduates go into teaching, which pays on a set scale. And HKU and CUHK both have large medical faculties, which lifts their averages.
How much do HKU graduates earn?
HKU's own Graduate Employment Survey 2025 puts the average monthly gross salary of its full-time bachelor's graduates at HK$33,338, with a median of HK$26,000 and an employment rate of 98.9%. That is a touch below the record HK$33,492 average for the 2024 cohort. The median is the number to quote: a typical HKU graduate earns HK$26,000, not HK$33,000.
How much do HKUST graduates earn?
HKUST's 2025 undergraduate survey reported a mean of HK$27,795 a month and a median of HK$23,267, which fell 3.1% from HK$24,000. Only 62.7% were in full-time work by December 2025, with 24.9% in further study.
Fresh Graduate Salary by Degree and Discipline
Medicine is in a league of its own. After that, the spread between sciences, social sciences, business, engineering and arts is surprisingly narrow, at around HK$23,000 to HK$25,000 a month.
| Discipline (bachelor's) | Average annual 2024/25 | Monthly equivalent | 2023/24 annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medicine, Dentistry and Health | HK$554,000 | about HK$46,200 | HK$540,000 |
| Education | HK$363,000 | about HK$30,250 | HK$362,000 |
| Sciences | HK$299,000 | about HK$24,900 | HK$292,000 |
| Social Sciences | HK$294,000 | about HK$24,500 | HK$300,000 |
| Business and Management | HK$292,000 | about HK$24,300 | HK$291,000 |
| Engineering and Technology | HK$287,000 | about HK$23,900 | HK$288,000 |
| Arts and Humanities | HK$279,000 | about HK$23,250 | HK$269,000 |
Sources: UGC Secretariat, Average Annual Salaries of Graduates of Full-time UGC-funded Programmes (dataset, 2024/25), via DATA.GOV.HK.
The UGC dataset and the by-university figures above are compiled differently, so don't try to reconcile them line by line. Use the discipline table to compare degrees and the university table to compare institutions.
What surprises most people is that business and engineering graduates earn almost exactly the same. Business and Management averaged HK$292,000 and Engineering HK$287,000 in 2024/25. Both have barely moved since 2022/23, when business was at HK$295,000 and engineering HK$283,000. In other words, graduate pay in Hong Kong has plateaued for three years after a strong jump from HK$234,000 (business) in 2019/20.
Do Master's Graduates Earn More in Hong Kong?
Yes, but the premium is smaller than most people expect, especially in engineering and IT.
| Discipline | Bachelor's (annual) | Taught master's (annual) | Research postgraduate (annual) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medicine, Dentistry and Health | HK$554,000 | HK$674,000 | HK$417,000 |
| Social Sciences | HK$294,000 | HK$485,000 | HK$407,000 |
| Arts and Humanities | HK$279,000 | HK$448,000 | HK$404,000 |
| Education | HK$363,000 | HK$448,000 | HK$430,000 |
| Sciences | HK$299,000 | HK$442,000 | HK$483,000 |
| Engineering and Technology | HK$287,000 | HK$343,000 | HK$470,000 |
| Business and Management | HK$292,000 | not published | HK$472,000 |
Sources: UGC Secretariat, graduate salary dataset, 2024/25.
Be careful with the taught master's column. Only a small share of master's programmes are UGC-funded, and many students on them already have years of work experience, which inflates the average. The business cell is blank in the official dataset.
A cleaner comparison comes from HKUST, where most master's students are recent graduates. Its 2025 taught postgraduate survey found a median of HK$25,000 a month and a mean of HK$29,019. Compare that with the HKUST bachelor's median of HK$23,267. A one-year MSc straight after your degree buys you roughly HK$1,700 a month at the median. My view: do a master's in Hong Kong for the visa, the network or a career switch, not for the pay bump.
What Starting Salaries Do Employers Actually Offer?
Offers sit well below what graduates hope for. A CTgoodjobs survey of 435 graduates and 235 employers in 2024 found graduates expected HK$24,958 a month while employers offered HK$18,317, a gap of HK$6,641.
The Hong Kong Baptist University employer survey tells the same story. Its 2025 Greater Bay Area Pay and Benefits Survey of 258 companies put the average bachelor's starting salary at HK$19,500, ending a five-year run of increases. The 2024 edition had reported HK$19,806, and the two reports describe the trend slightly differently, so treat both as "just under HK$20,000".
Which industries pay fresh graduates the most?
From the CTgoodjobs 2024 data, the highest average offers by industry were:
| Industry | Average monthly offer to graduates (2024) |
|---|---|
| Entertainment and leisure | HK$25,000 |
| Medical and pharmaceutical | HK$20,667 |
| Banking, insurance and finance | HK$20,643 |
| Accounting, audit and tax | HK$20,400 |
| Construction and engineering | HK$20,139 |
| All employers surveyed | HK$18,317 |
Sources: Human Resources Online, CTgoodjobs graduate salary survey (3 October 2024).
Sector matters more at the top end than this table suggests. At HKUST, graduates who joined government and related bodies earned a median of HK$32,348, against HK$23,000 in commerce and business and HK$23,625 in engineering and industry. Bank and Big Four graduate schemes generally pay above the market median; we cover how to get onto them in our graduate programmes guide.
How Much Does the Hong Kong Government Pay Graduates?
The civil service is the best-paid mainstream option for a fresh graduate, which is why the government sector tops the HKUST table. Most professional and executive grades are paid on the Master Pay Scale (MPS). These are the points from 1 April 2026, after the 2% civil service pay rise announced on 16 June 2026, which was subject to Finance Committee approval.
| MPS point | Monthly salary from 1 April 2026 |
|---|---|
| MPS 10 | HK$27,120 |
| MPS 12 | HK$30,595 |
| MPS 14 | HK$34,075 |
| MPS 15 | HK$35,780 |
| MPS 16 | HK$37,585 |
| MPS 18 | HK$41,430 |
| MPS 22 | HK$50,215 |
| MPS 27 | HK$63,100 |
Sources: Civil Service Bureau, Master Pay Scale; Decision on 2026-27 civil service pay adjustment.
Degree-entry grades such as Executive Officer II and Administrative Officer start well up this scale, so even the entry point beats the private-sector median by a wide margin. Each grade's starting point is set in its recruitment notice, so check the current notice before you compare offers. The catch for most of our readers: civil service posts generally require permanent residency and strong Chinese, so for most non-local graduates this is a benchmark, not an option.
What Is Left After MPF and Tax?
On HK$20,000 a month, you take home HK$19,000 after MPF, before salaries tax.
Under the MPF rules, you and your employer each pay 5% of your relevant income. Contributions are capped at HK$1,500 each once you earn HK$30,000 a month, and nothing is deducted from your pay if you earn under HK$7,100. New joiners also get a 30-day contribution holiday on the employee side, so your first payslip is often slightly bigger than the rest.
| Monthly salary | Your MPF (5%) | Take-home before tax | Employer MPF on top |
|---|---|---|---|
| HK$18,000 | HK$900 | HK$17,100 | HK$900 |
| HK$20,000 | HK$1,000 | HK$19,000 | HK$1,000 |
| HK$25,000 | HK$1,250 | HK$23,750 | HK$1,250 |
| HK$30,000 | HK$1,500 | HK$28,500 | HK$1,500 |
| HK$35,000 | HK$1,500 (capped) | HK$33,500 | HK$1,500 |
Sources: MPFA, Mandatory contributions.
Salaries tax is the pleasant surprise. Hong Kong taxes once a year rather than through your payslip, and after the basic personal allowance a single graduate on HK$20,000 a month pays very little. The first bill also usually arrives well after you start work, so set some money aside. Our salaries tax guide has the current bands and a worked example, and our MPF guide explains how to choose funds.
Can you live on a fresh graduate salary in Hong Kong?
On HK$20,000 you can live in Hong Kong, but not alone in a central flat. Most local graduates live with family. Non-local graduates usually share a flat or rent a room, and rent will be your biggest cost by far. If you are weighing up a later offer, our breakdown of whether HK$50,000 is a good salary shows what a mid-career income buys.
How Does Graduate Pay Compare With the Minimum Wage?
The statutory minimum wage rose to HK$43.1 an hour from 1 May 2026. Over a 208-hour month that is roughly HK$8,965, so a HK$20,000 graduate offer is a little over twice the legal floor.
For a longer view, government figures show that bachelor's degree holders aged 20 to 24 earned an average of HK$18,000 a month in 2019 (in constant 2018 dollars), rising to HK$24,300 for those aged 25 to 29. That second figure is the useful one: your pay should rise noticeably in your first four or five years, mostly through job moves rather than annual rises.
What Do Non-Local and International Graduates Earn?
The surveys above do not split pay by nationality, and in our experience employers rarely run a separate pay scale for non-local graduates. What changes is the visa.
If you graduate from a full-time, locally accredited degree in Hong Kong, the IANG arrangement lets recent graduates stay and look for work without a job offer. Non-recent graduates need a degree-level job paid at market rate. See our full IANG visa guide for the 2+3+3 stay pattern.
If you studied overseas at an eligible university, the Top Talent Pass Scheme Category C covers graduates within five years of graduating with under three years' experience, subject to an annual quota. Non-local students from Hong Kong's own full-time undergraduate programmes use IANG instead.
One more benchmark: the government's Greater Bay Area Youth Employment Scheme requires a minimum salary of HK$18,000 a month for subsidised graduate posts in the mainland GBA cities. An offer below that in Hong Kong itself is low.
Is the Graduate Job Market Getting Harder in 2026?
Yes. Pay has held up, but the number of jobs has not.
Graduate vacancies posted on JIJIS fell 55% in 2025 to 30,798, from 68,728 in 2024, a five-year low. In Q1 2026 they fell another 14.1% to 6,811, and the number of employers recruiting dropped by over 20%. The one bright spot was accounting and audit, where vacancies rose 194% to over 3,300. Surveying and mechanical engineering roles fell by over 70%, and conventional IT programming by over 60%.
The UGC survey shows the same squeeze. The share of bachelor's graduates in full-time work fell to 67.7% in 2024/25 from 70.8%, and underemployment rose to 6.1%, a record high according to the reports. For the wider picture, read our Hong Kong job market guide.
How Do You Negotiate Your First Salary in Hong Kong?
You can negotiate, but pick your battles. Graduate scheme salaries at banks and Big Four firms are usually fixed for the whole intake, so push on start date or location instead. Smaller firms and startups have more room.
- Anchor on the median, not the average. Quoting HK$28,000 because of the UGC headline will make you look out of touch. HK$20,000 to HK$23,000 is the realistic band for most non-medical degrees.
- Ask about double pay and bonus. A 13th month changes the annual number by over 8%. Many Hong Kong employers pay one, but not all, so ask.
- Use internships as leverage. A relevant internship is the strongest argument for starting above the band.
- Get it in writing. Check the offer letter for base pay, probation length and MPF arrangements before you resign from anything or turn down other offers.
FAQs: Fresh Graduate Salary in Hong Kong
What is a good starting salary for a fresh graduate in Hong Kong?
Anything above HK$22,000 a month is a good offer for a non-medical bachelor's degree in 2026. The median advertised starting salary was HK$20,000 in Q1 2026. HK$25,000 or more is strong unless you are in medicine or the civil service.
Which university's graduates earn the most in Hong Kong?
HKU, narrowly ahead of CUHK. In the UGC 2024/25 survey, as reported by Sing Tao Headline, HKU bachelor's graduates averaged HK$400,000 a year and CUHK graduates HK$399,000. Lingnan was lowest at HK$248,000.
Which degree has the highest starting salary in Hong Kong?
Medicine, dentistry and health, by a long way. UGC data shows an average of HK$554,000 a year for these graduates in 2024/25, about HK$46,200 a month. Education is second at HK$363,000, helped by the teachers' pay scale.
How much does a master's graduate earn in Hong Kong?
It depends heavily on the field and prior experience. HKUST's taught master's graduates earned a median of HK$25,000 a month in 2025, only slightly above the university's bachelor's median of HK$23,267. UGC data for engineering shows HK$343,000 a year for taught master's graduates against HK$287,000 for bachelor's graduates.
How much do HKU graduates earn?
HKU's 2025 survey found an average monthly salary of HK$33,338 and a median of HK$26,000 for full-time bachelor's graduates. The employment rate was 98.9%.
Is HK$20,000 a month enough to live on as a graduate?
Yes, if you share a flat or live with family. After 5% MPF you keep HK$19,000 a month, and salaries tax at that level is low. Living alone on HK$20,000 is tight because rent takes most of it.
How much MPF is deducted from a fresh graduate salary?
5% of your monthly pay, capped at HK$1,500. On HK$20,000 that is HK$1,000. You pay nothing for the first 30 days of a new job, and nothing at all if you earn under HK$7,100 a month, according to the MPFA.
Do fresh graduates pay salaries tax in Hong Kong?
Most pay some, but not much. Tax is assessed annually after allowances, and your first bill usually comes in your second year of work. See our salaries tax guide for the current bands.
What is the minimum wage in Hong Kong in 2026?
HK$43.1 an hour from 1 May 2026, up from HK$42.1. A typical graduate salary is a little over twice the minimum wage on a full-time month.
Can non-local graduates stay and work in Hong Kong after graduation?
Yes. Graduates of full-time, locally accredited degrees can apply under IANG without a job offer if they apply as recent graduates. Graduates of eligible overseas universities within five years may qualify for TTPS Category C.
Are graduate jobs in Hong Kong falling in 2026?
Yes. JIJIS graduate vacancies fell 14.1% in Q1 2026 after a 55% drop in 2025. Accounting and audit is the main exception, with vacancies nearly tripling.
Key Takeaways
- The median advertised starting salary for Hong Kong graduates was HK$20,000 a month in Q1 2026, with an average of HK$21,000.
- UGC-funded bachelor's graduates averaged HK$336,000 a year (about HK$28,000 a month) in 2024/25, up only about 2%.
- HKU (HK$400,000) and CUHK (HK$399,000) graduates earn the most a year; Lingnan graduates (HK$248,000) earn the least.
- Medicine pays an average of HK$554,000 a year; business (HK$292,000) and engineering (HK$287,000) are almost level.
- HKUST's taught master's median of HK$25,000 a month is only about HK$1,700 above its bachelor's median.
- On HK$20,000 a month you take home HK$19,000 after 5% MPF, before salaries tax.
- Graduate vacancies fell 55% in 2025 and another 14.1% in Q1 2026, so expect a longer search.
Find Your First Job in Hong Kong
With fewer graduate vacancies, it pays to apply early and widely. Browse entry-level and graduate roles that don't require Cantonese on ExpatJobBoard.com.
