United Kingdom
Latest Average Wage
+1.2% · 5 years
$66,299
Country Comparison
United Kingdom vs Germany
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
United Kingdom
vs
Germany
$66,2992025
Latest Average Wage
Germany +15.1%
(vs United Kingdom)
$76,2852025
+1.2%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Germany +0.8 pts
(vs United Kingdom)
+2.0%2025
+3.3%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Germany +3.8 pts
(vs United Kingdom)
+7.1%2025
84.32024
Overall Price Level
United Kingdom +12.8 index points
(vs Germany)
71.52024
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
Germany
Latest Average Wage
+2.0% · 5 years
$76,285
Wage Milestones
United Kingdom
10 Years Ago
$64,199 (2015)
Historical Peak
$66,480 (2019)
Latest Wage
$66,299 (2025)
Germany
10 Years Ago
$71,244 (2015)
Historical Peak
$76,285 (2025)
Latest Wage
$76,285 (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)Germany (DEU)
Overall
+12.8 index points
100
84.3vs71.5
Food
−3.6 index points
100
85.1vs88.7
Clothing
−11.5 index points
100
78.9vs90.4
Housing
+31.3 index points
100
95.4vs64.1
Health
+21.4 index points
100
72.1vs50.7
Transport
−3.0 index points
100
111vs114
Recreation
+3.6 index points
100
90.2vs86.6
Restaurants & Accommodation
−3.9 index points
100
87.2vs91.1
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Germany's latest average wage is $76,285 for 2025, about 15.1% higher than United Kingdom's $66,299 for 2025 — a relative difference calculated from the two reported values. That is roughly $9,985 a year on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Germany shows the stronger movement at +1.9%, against +0.7% for United Kingdom. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +2.0% against +1.2%. 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: 95.4 for United Kingdom against 64.1 for Germany. Measured on the US=100 scale, the two readings for this category are 31.3 index points apart, United Kingdom above Germany. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Transport: United Kingdom reads 111 and Germany 114 for 2024, just 3.0 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Recreation at 3.6 index points apart. A gap this small leaves the category effectively tied on the shared US=100 scale.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
Germany holds a clear wage lead in this pairing: $76,285 for 2025, against United Kingdom's $66,299 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 15.1% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $9,985 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. Over ten years United Kingdom recorded +3.3% and Germany +7.1%, 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%. Germany sits at the highest point of its series — $76,285 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +7.1%. Germany's five-year change of +2.0% 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 Germany's reads 71.5, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: United Kingdom leads in 4 of the 8 comparable categories and Germany in 4, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. Housing separates the two most: United Kingdom reads 95.4 and Germany 64.1, 31.3 index points apart. The two sit closest in Transport (111 versus 114), only 3.0 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 1 of United Kingdom's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 1 of Germany's 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
