Finland
Latest Average Wage
−0.1% · 5 years
$63,053
Country Comparison
Finland vs United States
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Finland
vs
United States
$63,0532025
Latest Average Wage
United States +37.9%
(vs Finland)
$86,9772025
−0.1%2025
5-Year Wage Change
United States +2.2 pts
(vs Finland)
+2.1%2025
+3.8%2025
10-Year Wage Change
United States +9.2 pts
(vs Finland)
+13.0%2025
83.82024
Overall Price Level
United States +16.2 index points
(vs Finland)
1002024
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 States
Latest Average Wage
+2.1% · 5 years
$86,977
Wage Milestones
Finland
10 Years Ago
$60,740 (2015)
Historical Peak
$65,186 (2021)
Latest Wage
$63,053 (2025)
United States
10 Years Ago
$76,999 (2015)
Historical Peak
$86,977 (2025)
Latest Wage
$86,977 (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
Finland (FIN)United States (USA)
Overall
−16.2 index points
100
83.8vs100
Food
−6.9 index points
100
93.1vs100
Clothing
+9.0 index points
100
109vs100
Housing
−29.3 index points
100
70.7vs100
Health
−24.6 index points
100
75.4vs100
Transport
+17.0 index points
100
117vs100
Recreation
+1.0 index points
100
101vs100
Restaurants & Accommodation
+3.0 index points
100
103vs100
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
United States' latest average wage is $86,977 for 2025, about 37.9% higher than Finland's $63,053 for 2025 — a percentage worked out directly from the two reported figures. That is roughly $23,924 a year on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, United States shows the stronger movement at +1.7%, against +1.1% for Finland. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +2.1% against −0.1%. 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: 70.7 for Finland against 100 for United States. That is a separation of 29.3 index points on the US=100 scale, with United States on the higher side and Finland on the lower one. Index points are not percentages; the two scales answer different questions.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Recreation: Finland reads 101 and United States 100 for 2024, just 1.0 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Restaurants & Accommodation at 3.0 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
A clear separation shows in the latest wage figures — United States at $86,977 for 2025, and Finland at $63,053 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 37.9% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $23,924 a year. Both figures are expressed in USD PPP at constant 2025 prices, so they can be set side by side without any further conversion. 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.
Wage Direction
No single shared direction describes this pairing; each side follows its own recent path. Finland is partway through a recovery: the latest year added +1.1%, though the level remains 3.3% below its peak. United States sits at the highest point of its series — $86,977 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +13.0%. With the five-year changes at −0.1% for Finland and +2.1% for United States, the horizons are clearer when read side by side rather than folded into one trend statement. All changes here are measured in real, PPP-adjusted terms, so they describe purchasing-power movement rather than nominal pay increases.
Price Profile
Finland's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 83.8, and United States' reads 100, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: Finland leads in 4 of the 8 comparable categories and United States in 4, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. The widest separation is in Housing: 70.7 for Finland against 100 for United States, a gap of 29.3 index points. At the other end, Recreation brings the two closest — 101 versus 100, a gap of just 1.0 index points. Relative to the US benchmark, Finland reads above 100 in 4 of its 8 reported categories, and United States in 0 of its 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
