Australia
Latest Average Wage
−1.4% · 5 years
$72,018
Country Comparison
Australia vs Ireland
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Australia
vs
Ireland
$72,0182025
Latest Average Wage
Australia +2.7%
(vs Ireland)
$70,1132025
−1.4%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Australia +1.4 pts
(vs Ireland)
−2.8%2025
+2.2%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Ireland +2.4 pts
(vs Australia)
+4.6%2025
92.72024
Overall Price Level
Australia +0.5 index points
(vs Ireland)
92.22024
Wages are PPP-adjusted average annual wages; price levels use the United States reference of 100. Years shown are each country's latest reported observation.
How Wages Have Changed
Follow PPP-adjusted average annual wages in constant prices across both economies.
USD PPP, constant prices · missing years shown as gaps, never interpolated
Ireland
Latest Average Wage
−2.8% · 5 years
$70,113
Wage Milestones
Australia
10 Years Ago
$70,450 (2015)
Historical Peak
$73,870 (2021)
Latest Wage
$72,018 (2025)
Ireland
10 Years Ago
$67,039 (2015)
Historical Peak
$72,356 (2021)
Latest Wage
$70,113 (2025)
Compare Everyday Price Levels
See how eight consumer price categories compare with the United States reference value of 100.
United States = 100 · Differences shown in index points
Australia (AUS)Ireland (IRL)
Overall
+0.5 index points
100
92.7vs92.2
Food
+2.9 index points
100
101vs98.1
Clothing
−19.2 index points
100
69.5vs88.7
Housing
−12.2 index points
100
91.8vs104
Health
+2.5 index points
100
86.9vs84.4
Transport
−14.7 index points
100
99.3vs114
Recreation
+3.2 index points
100
95.2vs92
Restaurants & Accommodation
+10.0 index points
100
115vs105
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Australia's latest average wage is $72,018 for 2025, about 2.7% higher than Ireland's $70,113 for 2025 — computed straight from the two reported values. That is roughly $1,906 a year on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Ireland shows the stronger movement at +1.8%, against +1.1% for Australia. The five-year horizon reverses the ordering — Australia at −1.4% and Ireland at −2.8% — so the latest year is not the whole story. Both percentages are real, PPP-adjusted changes from the reported wage series.
03
Largest Price Gap
Clothing shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 69.5 for Australia against 88.7 for Ireland. Ireland sits on the higher side of that 19.2-point spread; Australia reads 19.2 index points lower on the US=100 scale. Index points are not percentages; the two scales answer different questions.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Overall: Australia reads 92.7 and Ireland 92.2 for 2024, just 0.5 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Health at 2.5 index points apart. Two readings this close mean the category sits at nearly the same point of the US=100 scale for both.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
Australia and Ireland report nearly the same PPP-adjusted average annual wage: $72,018 for 2025, against $70,113 for 2025. The difference is 2.7% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $1,906 a year, which is small next to either figure. Both figures are expressed in USD PPP at constant 2025 prices, so they can be set side by side without any further conversion. Over ten years Australia recorded +2.2% and Ireland +4.6%, so the two series have been moving in the same long-term direction. For most side-by-side readings the two wage levels can be treated as equivalent within this dataset.
Wage Direction
Both wage series decline over the five-year horizon, though not at the same pace. Australia shows no single direction across horizons: +1.1% over one year against −1.4% over five. Ireland is partway through a recovery: the latest year added +1.8%, though the level remains 3.1% below its peak. The shared direction still leaves room for different speeds: −2.8% for Ireland against −1.4% for Australia, so the distance between the two levels keeps shifting. All changes here are measured in real, PPP-adjusted terms, so they describe purchasing-power movement rather than nominal pay increases.
Price Profile
Australia's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 92.7, and Ireland's reads 92.2, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: Australia leads in 4 of the 8 comparable categories and Ireland in 3, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. The widest separation is in Clothing: 69.5 for Australia against 88.7 for Ireland, a gap of 19.2 index points. At the other end, Overall brings the two closest — 92.7 versus 92.2, a gap of just 0.5 index points. Relative to the US benchmark, Australia reads above 100 in 2 of its 8 reported categories, and Ireland in 3 of its 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
