Belgium
Latest Average Wage
+6.0% · 5 years
$80,009
Country Comparison
Belgium vs France
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Belgium
vs
France
$80,0092025
Latest Average Wage
Belgium +32.3%
(vs France)
$60,4832025
+6.0%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Belgium +2.3 pts
(vs France)
+3.7%2025
+4.3%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Belgium +2.6 pts
(vs France)
+1.7%2025
77.52024
Overall Price Level
Belgium +7.1 index points
(vs France)
70.42024
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
France
Latest Average Wage
+3.7% · 5 years
$60,483
Wage Milestones
Belgium
10 Years Ago
$76,731 (2015)
Historical Peak
$80,009 (2025)
Latest Wage
$80,009 (2025)
France
10 Years Ago
$59,485 (2015)
Historical Peak
$61,289 (2019)
Latest Wage
$60,483 (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
Belgium (BEL)France (FRA)
Overall
+7.1 index points
100
77.5vs70.4
Food
−3.5 index points
100
89.9vs93.4
Clothing
+2.1 index points
100
88.2vs86.1
Housing
+5.9 index points
100
74.2vs68.3
Health
+9.4 index points
100
52.8vs43.4
Transport
0.0 index points
100
114vs114
Recreation
+3.5 index points
100
85.7vs82.2
Restaurants & Accommodation
+10.9 index points
100
101vs90.1
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Belgium's latest average wage is $80,009 for 2025, about 32.3% higher than France's $60,483 for 2025 — computed straight from the two reported values. Per year, that works out to roughly $19,525 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 +1.0% for France. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +6.0% against +3.7%. Both percentages are real, PPP-adjusted changes from the reported wage series.
03
Largest Price Gap
Restaurants & Accommodation shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 101 for Belgium against 90.1 for France. Belgium sits on the higher side of that 10.9-point spread; France reads 10.9 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 Transport: Belgium reads 114 and France 114 for 2024 — effectively the same relative price level on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Clothing at 2.1 index points apart. A gap this small leaves the category effectively tied on the shared US=100 scale.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
Few pairings separate this cleanly — Belgium's latest average wage of $80,009 for 2025 stands well above France's $60,483 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 32.3% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $19,525 a year. No extra conversion is needed here: each figure is already a purchasing-power-adjusted annual amount in constant prices. 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 Belgium recorded +4.3% and France +1.7%, so the two series have been moving in the same long-term direction.
Wage Direction
The five-year direction is shared here: both series rise, with different momentum on each side. 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%. France stands just below its historical high of $61,289 in 2019, only 1.3% away, with a ten-year change of +1.7%. The shared direction still leaves room for different speeds: +6.0% for Belgium against +3.7% for France, 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
Belgium's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 77.5, and France's reads 70.4, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Belgium reads higher in 6 of the 8 comparable categories, so the price profile leans consistently to one side. The widest separation is in Restaurants & Accommodation: 101 for Belgium against 90.1 for France, a gap of 10.9 index points. At the other end, Transport brings the two closest — 114 versus 114, a gap of just 0.0 index points. Relative to the US benchmark, Belgium reads above 100 in 2 of its 8 reported categories, and France in 1 of its 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
