United Kingdom
Latest Average Wage
+1.2% · 5 years
$66,299
Country Comparison
United Kingdom vs Switzerland
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
United Kingdom
vs
Switzerland
$66,2992025
Latest Average Wage
Switzerland +39.2%
(vs United Kingdom)
$92,2852025
+1.2%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Switzerland +6.0 pts
(vs United Kingdom)
+7.1%2025
+3.3%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Switzerland +2.5 pts
(vs United Kingdom)
+5.8%2025
84.32024
Overall Price Level
Switzerland +34.7 index points
(vs United Kingdom)
1192024
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
Switzerland
Latest Average Wage
+7.1% · 5 years
$92,285
Wage Milestones
United Kingdom
10 Years Ago
$64,199 (2015)
Historical Peak
$66,480 (2019)
Latest Wage
$66,299 (2025)
Switzerland
10 Years Ago
$87,262 (2015)
Historical Peak
$92,285 (2025)
Latest Wage
$92,285 (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
United Kingdom (GBR)Switzerland (CHE)
Overall
−34.7 index points
100
84.3vs119
Food
−51.9 index points
100
85.1vs137
Clothing
−44.1 index points
100
78.9vs123
Housing
−23.6 index points
100
95.4vs119
Health
−22.4 index points
100
72.1vs94.5
Transport
−23.0 index points
100
111vs134
Recreation
−45.8 index points
100
90.2vs136
Restaurants & Accommodation
−52.8 index points
100
87.2vs140
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. In annual terms the gap comes to about $25,986 on the same PPP 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 — United Kingdom at +1.2% and Switzerland at +7.1% — 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: 87.2 for United Kingdom against 140 for Switzerland. 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: United Kingdom reads 72.1 and Switzerland 94.5 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
Switzerland holds a clear wage lead in this pairing: $92,285 for 2025, against United Kingdom's $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. 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 United Kingdom recorded +3.3% and Switzerland +5.8%, 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. 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 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%. 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
United Kingdom's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 84.3, and Switzerland's reads 119, 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: United Kingdom reads 87.2 and Switzerland 140, 52.8 index points apart. The two sit closest in Health (72.1 versus 94.5), only 22.4 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 1 of United Kingdom's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 7 of Switzerland'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.
