United Kingdom
Latest Average Wage
+1.2% · 5 years
$66,299
Country Comparison
United Kingdom vs Japan
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
United Kingdom
vs
Japan
$66,2992025
Latest Average Wage
United Kingdom +32.1%
(vs Japan)
$50,1832025
+1.2%2025
5-Year Wage Change
United Kingdom +3.3 pts
(vs Japan)
−2.2%2025
+3.3%2025
10-Year Wage Change
United Kingdom +4.9 pts
(vs Japan)
−1.6%2025
84.32024
Overall Price Level
United Kingdom +25.1 index points
(vs Japan)
59.22024
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
Japan
Latest Average Wage
−2.2% · 5 years
$50,183
Wage Milestones
United Kingdom
10 Years Ago
$64,199 (2015)
Historical Peak
$66,480 (2019)
Latest Wage
$66,299 (2025)
Japan
10 Years Ago
$51,027 (2015)
Historical Peak
$52,662 (1997)
Latest Wage
$50,183 (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)Japan (JPN)
Overall
+25.1 index points
100
84.3vs59.2
Food
−26.9 index points
100
85.1vs112
Clothing
+7.9 index points
100
78.9vs71
Housing
+46.9 index points
100
95.4vs48.5
Health
+38.2 index points
100
72.1vs33.9
Transport
+26.6 index points
100
111vs84.4
Recreation
+11.8 index points
100
90.2vs78.4
Restaurants & Accommodation
+14.6 index points
100
87.2vs72.6
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
United Kingdom's latest average wage is $66,299 for 2025, about 32.1% higher than Japan's $50,183 for 2025 — a percentage worked out directly from the two reported figures. In annual terms the gap comes to about $16,116 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 −0.5% for Japan. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +1.2% against −2.2%. 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 48.5 for Japan. That is a separation of 46.9 index points on the US=100 scale, with United Kingdom on the higher side and Japan 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 Clothing: United Kingdom reads 78.9 and Japan 71 for 2024, just 7.9 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Recreation at 11.8 index points apart. A gap this small leaves the category effectively tied on the shared US=100 scale.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
The wage levels in this pairing are far apart: United Kingdom reports $66,299 for 2025, while Japan reports $50,183 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 32.1% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $16,116 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% against Japan's −1.6%, so the current levels were reached on visibly different long-term paths.
Wage Direction
The two wage series are currently moving in opposite directions, and the separation between them is growing. 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%. Japan continues to drift below its peak, with a one-year change of −0.5% and a five-year change of −2.2%. United Kingdom is the side gaining in real terms (+1.2% over five years), while Japan records −2.2%, so the five-year measures point away from each other instead of converging. 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 Japan's reads 59.2, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: United Kingdom sits higher in 7 of the 8 comparable categories. Housing separates the two most: United Kingdom reads 95.4 and Japan 48.5, 46.9 index points apart. The two sit closest in Clothing (78.9 versus 71), only 7.9 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 Japan'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.
