Australia
Latest Average Wage
−1.4% · 5 years
$72,018
Country Comparison
Australia vs Japan
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Australia
vs
Japan
$72,0182025
Latest Average Wage
Australia +43.5%
(vs Japan)
$50,1832025
−1.4%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Australia +0.7 pts
(vs Japan)
−2.2%2025
+2.2%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Australia +3.9 pts
(vs Japan)
−1.6%2025
92.72024
Overall Price Level
Australia +33.5 index points
(vs Japan)
59.22024
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
Japan
Latest Average Wage
−2.2% · 5 years
$50,183
Wage Milestones
Australia
10 Years Ago
$70,450 (2015)
Historical Peak
$73,870 (2021)
Latest Wage
$72,018 (2025)
Japan
10 Years Ago
$51,027 (2015)
Historical Peak
$52,662 (1997)
Latest Wage
$50,183 (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)Japan (JPN)
Overall
+33.5 index points
100
92.7vs59.2
Food
−11.0 index points
100
101vs112
Clothing
−1.5 index points
100
69.5vs71
Housing
+43.3 index points
100
91.8vs48.5
Health
+53.0 index points
100
86.9vs33.9
Transport
+14.9 index points
100
99.3vs84.4
Recreation
+16.8 index points
100
95.2vs78.4
Restaurants & Accommodation
+42.4 index points
100
115vs72.6
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Australia's latest average wage is $72,018 for 2025, about 43.5% higher than Japan's $50,183 for 2025 — computed straight from the two reported values. That is roughly $21,836 a year on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Australia shows the stronger movement at +1.1%, against −0.5% for Japan. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: −1.4% against −2.2%. Both percentages are real, PPP-adjusted changes from the reported wage series.
03
Largest Price Gap
Health shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 86.9 for Australia against 33.9 for Japan. Australia sits on the higher side of that 53.0-point spread; Japan reads 53.0 index points lower on the US=100 scale. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Clothing: Australia reads 69.5 and Japan 71 for 2024, just 1.5 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Food at 11.0 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
The wage levels in this pairing are far apart: Australia reports $72,018 for 2025, while Japan reports $50,183 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 43.5% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $21,836 a year. Both figures are expressed in USD PPP at constant 2025 prices, so they can be set side by side without any further conversion. For scale, neither series has moved by that much within any single reported year, so the gap is structural rather than the product of one unusual observation. Over ten years Australia recorded +2.2% against Japan's −1.6%, so the current levels were reached on visibly different long-term paths.
Wage Direction
The five-year direction is shared here: both series decline, with different momentum on each side. Australia shows no single direction across horizons: +1.1% over one year against −1.4% over five. Japan continues to drift below its peak, with a one-year change of −0.5% and a five-year change of −2.2%. Japan's five-year change of −2.2% outpaces Australia's −1.4% in magnitude, so the common direction does not mean the two levels are holding a fixed distance. Each percentage is a real, PPP-adjusted change; nominal pay movements are outside what this dataset reports.
Price Profile
Australia's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 92.7, and Japan's reads 59.2, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: Australia sits higher in 6 of the 8 comparable categories. Health separates the two most: Australia reads 86.9 and Japan 33.9, 53.0 index points apart. The two sit closest in Clothing (69.5 versus 71), only 1.5 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 2 of Australia's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 1 of Japan's 8. These are index values for 2024, not currency amounts; categories without a reported value on either side are left out of the comparison.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
