Estonia
Latest Average Wage
+1.6% · 5 years
$41,019
Country Comparison
Estonia vs Hungary
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Estonia
vs
Hungary
$41,0192025
Latest Average Wage
Estonia +4.8%
(vs Hungary)
$39,1452025
+1.6%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Hungary +17.2 pts
(vs Estonia)
+18.8%2025
+27.6%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Hungary +20.8 pts
(vs Estonia)
+48.3%2025
63.62024
Overall Price Level
Estonia +18.5 index points
(vs Hungary)
45.12024
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
Hungary
Latest Average Wage
+18.8% · 5 years
$39,145
Wage Milestones
Estonia
10 Years Ago
$32,160 (2015)
Historical Peak
$42,741 (2021)
Latest Wage
$41,019 (2025)
Hungary
10 Years Ago
$26,390 (2015)
Historical Peak
$39,145 (2025)
Latest Wage
$39,145 (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
Estonia (EST)Hungary (HUN)
Overall
+18.5 index points
100
63.6vs45.1
Food
+9.6 index points
100
91.2vs81.6
Clothing
+28.6 index points
100
105vs76.4
Housing
+19.3 index points
100
54.9vs35.6
Health
+22.2 index points
100
41.4vs19.2
Transport
+14.1 index points
100
98.5vs84.4
Recreation
+28.1 index points
100
83.8vs55.7
Restaurants & Accommodation
+24.0 index points
100
80.7vs56.7
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Estonia's latest average wage is $41,019 for 2025, about 4.8% higher than Hungary's $39,145 for 2025 — a percentage worked out directly from the two reported figures. That is roughly $1,874 a year on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Hungary shows the stronger movement at +3.4%, against +1.4% for Estonia. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +18.8% against +1.6%. Both percentages are real, PPP-adjusted changes from the reported wage series.
03
Largest Price Gap
Clothing shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 105 for Estonia against 76.4 for Hungary. That is a separation of 28.6 index points on the US=100 scale, with Estonia on the higher side and Hungary on the lower one. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Food: Estonia reads 91.2 and Hungary 81.6 for 2024, just 9.6 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Transport at 14.1 index points apart. Closeness here describes the index readings only, not the baskets behind them.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
Estonia's latest PPP-adjusted average wage is $41,019 for 2025, moderately higher than Hungary's $39,145 for 2025. In relative terms the gap is 4.8% — calculated from the two reported values — equivalent to about $1,874 a year on the same purchasing-power basis. Both figures are expressed in USD PPP at constant 2025 prices, so they can be set side by side without any further conversion. Over ten years Estonia recorded +27.6% and Hungary +48.3%, so the two series have been moving in the same long-term direction. The wage milestones above show how each side arrived at its current level, year by year.
Wage Direction
Both wage series rise over the five-year horizon, though not at the same pace. Estonia is partway through a recovery: the latest year added +1.4%, though the level remains 4.0% below its peak. Hungary sits at the highest point of its series — $39,145 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +48.3%. Hungary's five-year change of +18.8% outpaces Estonia's +1.6% 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
Estonia's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 63.6, and Hungary's reads 45.1, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: Estonia sits higher in 8 of the 8 comparable categories. Clothing separates the two most: Estonia reads 105 and Hungary 76.4, 28.6 index points apart. The two sit closest in Food (91.2 versus 81.6), only 9.6 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 1 of Estonia's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 0 of Hungary'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.
