Hungary
Latest Average Wage
+18.8% · 5 years
$39,145
Country Comparison
Hungary vs Japan
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Hungary
vs
Japan
$39,1452025
Latest Average Wage
Japan +28.2%
(vs Hungary)
$50,1832025
+18.8%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Hungary +20.9 pts
(vs Japan)
−2.2%2025
+48.3%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Hungary +50.0 pts
(vs Japan)
−1.6%2025
45.12024
Overall Price Level
Japan +14.1 index points
(vs Hungary)
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
Hungary
10 Years Ago
$26,390 (2015)
Historical Peak
$39,145 (2025)
Latest Wage
$39,145 (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
Hungary (HUN)Japan (JPN)
Overall
−14.1 index points
100
45.1vs59.2
Food
−30.4 index points
100
81.6vs112
Clothing
+5.4 index points
100
76.4vs71
Housing
−12.9 index points
100
35.6vs48.5
Health
−14.7 index points
100
19.2vs33.9
Transport
0.0 index points
100
84.4vs84.4
Recreation
−22.7 index points
100
55.7vs78.4
Restaurants & Accommodation
−15.9 index points
100
56.7vs72.6
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Japan's latest average wage is $50,183 for 2025, about 28.2% higher than Hungary's $39,145 for 2025 — a percentage worked out directly from the two reported figures. That is roughly $11,038 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 −0.5% for Japan. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +18.8% against −2.2%. Both percentages are real, PPP-adjusted changes from the reported wage series.
03
Largest Price Gap
Food shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 81.6 for Hungary against 112 for Japan. That is a separation of 30.4 index points on the US=100 scale, with Japan 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 Transport: Hungary reads 84.4 and Japan 84.4 for 2024 — effectively the same relative price level on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Clothing at 5.4 index points apart. A gap this small leaves the category effectively tied on the shared US=100 scale.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
Japan holds a clear wage lead in this pairing: $50,183 for 2025, against Hungary's $39,145 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 28.2% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $11,038 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 Hungary recorded +48.3% against Japan's −1.6%, so the current levels were reached on visibly different long-term paths.
Wage Direction
Opposite directions define this pairing, and they pull the two wage levels closer together. 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%. Japan continues to drift below its peak, with a one-year change of −0.5% and a five-year change of −2.2%. The side gaining in real terms is Hungary, the lower of the two latest wage levels (+18.8% over five years against −2.2%), so on these measures the two are closing in rather than drifting apart. Each percentage is a real, PPP-adjusted change; nominal pay movements are outside what this dataset reports.
Price Profile
Hungary's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 45.1, and Japan's reads 59.2, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: Japan sits higher in 6 of the 8 comparable categories. Food separates the two most: Hungary reads 81.6 and Japan 112, 30.4 index points apart. The two sit closest in Transport (84.4 versus 84.4), only 0.0 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 0 of Hungary'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.
