Country Comparison

Austria vs Belgium

Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.

At a Glance

Austria flagAustria

vs

BelgiumBelgium flag

$78,3012025

Latest Average Wage

Belgium +2.2%

(vs Austria)

$80,0092025
+3.3%2025

5-Year Wage Change

Belgium +2.7 pts

(vs Austria)

+6.0%2025
+5.5%2025

10-Year Wage Change

Austria +1.3 pts

(vs Belgium)

+4.3%2025
77.12024

Overall Price Level

Belgium +0.4 index points

(vs Austria)

77.52024

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.

$74k$75k$77k$79k$80k20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025

USD PPP, constant prices · missing years shown as gaps, never interpolated

Austria flag

Austria

Latest Average Wage

+3.3% · 5 years

$78,301

Belgium flag

Belgium

Latest Average Wage

+6.0% · 5 years

$80,009

Wage Milestones

Austria flagAustria

10 Years Ago

$74,198 (2015)

Historical Peak

$78,301 (2025)

Latest Wage

$78,301 (2025)

1Y +0.8% · 5Y +3.3% · At the historical peak

Belgium flagBelgium

10 Years Ago

$76,731 (2015)

Historical Peak

$80,009 (2025)

Latest Wage

$80,009 (2025)

1Y +1.8% · 5Y +6.0% · At the historical peak

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

Austria (AUT)Belgium (BEL)

Overall

−0.4 index points

100
77.1vs77.5

Food

+3.9 index points

100
93.8vs89.9

Clothing

+7.0 index points

100
95.2vs88.2

Housing

−11.9 index points

100
62.3vs74.2

Health

+9.9 index points

100
62.7vs52.8

Transport

+1.0 index points

100
115vs114

Recreation

+10.1 index points

100
95.8vs85.7

Restaurants & Accommodation

−10.8 index points

100
90.2vs101

What Stands Out

01

Latest Wage Gap

Belgium's latest average wage is $80,009 for 2025, about 2.2% higher than Austria's $78,301 for 2025 — computed straight from the two reported values. Per year, that works out to roughly $1,707 on the shared purchasing-power basis.

02

Stronger Recent Trend

On the latest one-year change, Belgium shows the stronger movement at +1.8%, against +0.8% for Austria. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +6.0% against +3.3%. Both percentages are real, PPP-adjusted changes from the reported wage series.

03

Largest Price Gap

Housing shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 62.3 for Austria against 74.2 for Belgium. Belgium sits on the higher side of that 11.9-point spread; Austria reads 11.9 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 Overall: Austria reads 77.1 and Belgium 77.5 for 2024 — effectively the same relative price level on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Transport at 1.0 index points apart. Closeness here describes the index readings only, not the baskets behind them.

Understanding the Comparison

Wage Position illustration

Wage Position

Austria and Belgium report nearly the same PPP-adjusted average annual wage: $80,009 for 2025, against $78,301 for 2025. The difference is 2.2% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $1,707 a year, which is small next to either figure. No extra conversion is needed here: each figure is already a purchasing-power-adjusted annual amount in constant prices. Over ten years Austria recorded +5.5% and Belgium +4.3%, 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 illustration

Wage Direction

Both wage series rise over the five-year horizon, though not at the same pace. Austria sits at the highest point of its series — $78,301 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +5.5%. Belgium sits at the highest point of its series — $80,009 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +4.3%. Belgium's five-year change of +6.0% outpaces Austria's +3.3% 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 illustration

Price Profile

Austria's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 77.1, and Belgium's reads 77.5, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: Austria leads in 5 of the 8 comparable categories and Belgium in 2, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. Housing separates the two most: Austria reads 62.3 and Belgium 74.2, 11.9 index points apart. The two sit closest in Overall (77.1 versus 77.5), only 0.4 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 1 of Austria's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 2 of Belgium's 8.

Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.

Average wages are PPP-adjusted and expressed in constant prices. Consumer price levels use the United States as the reference value of 100.