Spain
Latest Average Wage
+4.3% · 5 years
$57,779
Country Comparison
Spain vs Portugal
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Spain
vs
Portugal
$57,7792025
Latest Average Wage
Spain +28.6%
(vs Portugal)
$44,9372025
+4.3%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Portugal +9.6 pts
(vs Spain)
+13.9%2025
+2.6%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Portugal +20.5 pts
(vs Spain)
+23.1%2025
59.42024
Overall Price Level
Spain +3.7 index points
(vs Portugal)
55.72024
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
Portugal
Latest Average Wage
+13.9% · 5 years
$44,937
Wage Milestones
Spain
10 Years Ago
$56,334 (2015)
Historical Peak
$58,456 (2009)
Latest Wage
$57,779 (2025)
Portugal
10 Years Ago
$36,520 (2015)
Historical Peak
$44,937 (2025)
Latest Wage
$44,937 (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
Spain (ESP)Portugal (PRT)
Overall
+3.7 index points
100
59.4vs55.7
Food
−5.6 index points
100
82vs87.6
Clothing
−1.8 index points
100
80.6vs82.4
Housing
+9.8 index points
100
54.5vs44.7
Health
+3.2 index points
100
42.7vs39.5
Transport
+0.1 index points
100
92.1vs92
Recreation
+7.1 index points
100
73.6vs66.5
Restaurants & Accommodation
+7.5 index points
100
69.2vs61.7
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Spain's latest average wage is $57,779 for 2025, about 28.6% higher than Portugal's $44,937 for 2025 — a percentage worked out directly from the two reported figures. In annual terms the gap comes to about $12,842 on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Portugal shows the stronger movement at +1.8%, against +1.2% for Spain. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +13.9% against +4.3%. 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: 54.5 for Spain against 44.7 for Portugal. That is a separation of 9.8 index points on the US=100 scale, with Spain on the higher side and Portugal on the lower one. Index points are not percentages; the two scales answer different questions.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Transport: Spain reads 92.1 and Portugal 92 for 2024 — effectively the same relative price level on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Clothing at 1.8 index points apart. A gap this small leaves the category effectively tied on the shared US=100 scale.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
A clear separation shows in the latest wage figures — Spain at $57,779 for 2025, and Portugal at $44,937 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 28.6% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $12,842 a year. Because both values already sit on the same USD PPP, constant-2025-price footing, the comparison adjusts for price-level differences between the two economies. 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 Spain recorded +2.6% and Portugal +23.1%, 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. Spain stands just below its historical high of $58,456 in 2009, only 1.2% away, with a ten-year change of +2.6%. Portugal sits at the highest point of its series — $44,937 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +23.1%. The shared direction still leaves room for different speeds: +13.9% for Portugal against +4.3% for Spain, 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
Spain's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 59.4, and Portugal's reads 55.7, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: Spain leads in 5 of the 8 comparable categories and Portugal in 2, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. The widest separation is in Housing: 54.5 for Spain against 44.7 for Portugal, a gap of 9.8 index points. At the other end, Transport brings the two closest — 92.1 versus 92, a gap of just 0.1 index points. Relative to the US benchmark, Spain reads above 100 in 0 of its 8 reported categories, and Portugal in 0 of its 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
