Switzerland
Latest Average Wage
+7.1% · 5 years
$92,285
Country Comparison
Switzerland vs United Kingdom
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Switzerland
vs
United Kingdom
$92,2852025
Latest Average Wage
Switzerland +39.2%
(vs United Kingdom)
$66,2992025
+7.1%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Switzerland +6.0 pts
(vs United Kingdom)
+1.2%2025
+5.8%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Switzerland +2.5 pts
(vs United Kingdom)
+3.3%2025
1192024
Overall Price Level
Switzerland +34.7 index points
(vs United Kingdom)
84.32024
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
United Kingdom
Latest Average Wage
+1.2% · 5 years
$66,299
Wage Milestones
Switzerland
10 Years Ago
$87,262 (2015)
Historical Peak
$92,285 (2025)
Latest Wage
$92,285 (2025)
United Kingdom
10 Years Ago
$64,199 (2015)
Historical Peak
$66,480 (2019)
Latest Wage
$66,299 (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
Switzerland (CHE)United Kingdom (GBR)
Overall
+34.7 index points
100
119vs84.3
Food
+51.9 index points
100
137vs85.1
Clothing
+44.1 index points
100
123vs78.9
Housing
+23.6 index points
100
119vs95.4
Health
+22.4 index points
100
94.5vs72.1
Transport
+23.0 index points
100
134vs111
Recreation
+45.8 index points
100
136vs90.2
Restaurants & Accommodation
+52.8 index points
100
140vs87.2
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Switzerland's latest average wage is $92,285 for 2025, about 39.2% higher than United Kingdom's $66,299 for 2025 — computed straight from the two reported values. Per year, that works out to roughly $25,986 on the shared purchasing-power basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, United Kingdom shows the stronger movement at +0.7%, against +0.1% for Switzerland. The five-year horizon reverses the ordering — Switzerland at +7.1% and United Kingdom at +1.2% — 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
Restaurants & Accommodation shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 140 for Switzerland against 87.2 for United Kingdom. Switzerland sits on the higher side of that 52.8-point spread; United Kingdom reads 52.8 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 Health: Switzerland reads 94.5 and United Kingdom 72.1 for 2024, just 22.4 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Transport at 23.0 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: Switzerland reports $92,285 for 2025, while United Kingdom reports $66,299 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 39.2% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $25,986 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 Switzerland recorded +5.8% and United Kingdom +3.3%, so the two series have been moving in the same long-term direction.
Wage Direction
Both wage series rise over the five-year horizon, though not at the same pace. Switzerland sits at the highest point of its series — $92,285 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +5.8%. United Kingdom stands just below its historical high of $66,480 in 2019, only 0.3% away, with a ten-year change of +3.3%. Switzerland's five-year change of +7.1% outpaces United Kingdom's +1.2% 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
Switzerland's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 119, and United Kingdom's reads 84.3, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: Switzerland sits higher in 8 of the 8 comparable categories. Restaurants & Accommodation separates the two most: Switzerland reads 140 and United Kingdom 87.2, 52.8 index points apart. The two sit closest in Health (94.5 versus 72.1), only 22.4 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 7 of Switzerland's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 1 of United Kingdom'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.
