Ireland
Latest Average Wage
−2.8% · 5 years
$70,113
Country Comparison
Ireland vs Germany
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Ireland
vs
Germany
$70,1132025
Latest Average Wage
Germany +8.8%
(vs Ireland)
$76,2852025
−2.8%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Germany +4.8 pts
(vs Ireland)
+2.0%2025
+4.6%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Germany +2.5 pts
(vs Ireland)
+7.1%2025
92.22024
Overall Price Level
Ireland +20.7 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
Ireland
10 Years Ago
$67,039 (2015)
Historical Peak
$72,356 (2021)
Latest Wage
$70,113 (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
Ireland (IRL)Germany (DEU)
Overall
+20.7 index points
100
92.2vs71.5
Food
+9.4 index points
100
98.1vs88.7
Clothing
−1.7 index points
100
88.7vs90.4
Housing
+39.9 index points
100
104vs64.1
Health
+33.7 index points
100
84.4vs50.7
Transport
0.0 index points
100
114vs114
Recreation
+5.4 index points
100
92vs86.6
Restaurants & Accommodation
+13.9 index points
100
105vs91.1
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Germany's latest average wage is $76,285 for 2025, about 8.8% higher than Ireland's $70,113 for 2025 — computed straight from the two reported values. Per year, that works out to roughly $6,172 on the shared purchasing-power basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Germany shows the stronger movement at +1.9%, against +1.8% for Ireland. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +2.0% against −2.8%. 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: 104 for Ireland against 64.1 for Germany. Ireland sits on the higher side of that 39.9-point spread; Germany reads 39.9 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 Transport: Ireland reads 114 and Germany 114 for 2024 — effectively the same relative price level on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Clothing at 1.7 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
Germany's latest PPP-adjusted average wage is $76,285 for 2025, moderately higher than Ireland's $70,113 for 2025. In relative terms the gap is 8.8% — calculated from the two reported values — equivalent to about $6,172 a year on the same purchasing-power basis. No extra conversion is needed here: each figure is already a purchasing-power-adjusted annual amount in constant prices. 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 Ireland recorded +4.6% and Germany +7.1%, so the two series have been moving in the same long-term direction.
Wage Direction
The two wage series are currently moving in opposite directions, and the separation between them is growing. Ireland is partway through a recovery: the latest year added +1.8%, though the level remains 3.1% below its peak. 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 is the side gaining in real terms (+2.0% over five years), while Ireland records −2.8%, 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
Ireland's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 92.2, and Germany's reads 71.5, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: Ireland sits higher in 6 of the 8 comparable categories. Housing separates the two most: Ireland reads 104 and Germany 64.1, 39.9 index points apart. The two sit closest in Transport (114 versus 114), only 0.0 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 3 of Ireland's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 1 of Germany'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.
