Iceland
Latest Average Wage
+21.6% · 5 years
$100,605
Country Comparison
Iceland vs France
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Iceland
vs
France
$100,6052025
Latest Average Wage
Iceland +66.3%
(vs France)
$60,4832025
+21.6%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Iceland +17.9 pts
(vs France)
+3.7%2025
+34.6%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Iceland +32.9 pts
(vs France)
+1.7%2025
1122024
Overall Price Level
Iceland +41.6 index points
(vs France)
70.42024
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
France
Latest Average Wage
+3.7% · 5 years
$60,483
Wage Milestones
Iceland
10 Years Ago
$74,730 (2015)
Historical Peak
$100,605 (2025)
Latest Wage
$100,605 (2025)
France
10 Years Ago
$59,485 (2015)
Historical Peak
$61,289 (2019)
Latest Wage
$60,483 (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
Iceland (ISL)France (FRA)
Overall
+41.6 index points
100
112vs70.4
Food
+33.6 index points
100
127vs93.4
Clothing
+42.9 index points
100
129vs86.1
Housing
+22.7 index points
100
91vs68.3
Health
+56.5 index points
100
99.9vs43.4
Transport
+30.0 index points
100
144vs114
Recreation
+45.8 index points
100
128vs82.2
Restaurants & Accommodation
+43.9 index points
100
134vs90.1
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Iceland's latest average wage is $100,605 for 2025, about 66.3% higher than France's $60,483 for 2025 — computed straight from the two reported values. Per year, that works out to roughly $40,122 on the shared purchasing-power basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Iceland shows the stronger movement at +1.8%, against +1.0% for France. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +21.6% against +3.7%. Both percentages are real, PPP-adjusted changes from the reported wage series.
03
Largest Price Gap
Health shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 99.9 for Iceland against 43.4 for France. Iceland sits on the higher side of that 56.5-point spread; France reads 56.5 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 Housing: Iceland reads 91 and France 68.3 for 2024, just 22.7 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Transport at 30.0 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
The wage levels in this pairing are far apart: Iceland reports $100,605 for 2025, while France reports $60,483 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 66.3% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $40,122 a year. 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 Iceland recorded +34.6% and France +1.7%, 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. Iceland sits at the highest point of its series — $100,605 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +34.6%. France stands just below its historical high of $61,289 in 2019, only 1.3% away, with a ten-year change of +1.7%. Iceland's five-year change of +21.6% outpaces France's +3.7% 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
Iceland's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 112, and France's reads 70.4, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: Iceland sits higher in 8 of the 8 comparable categories. Health separates the two most: Iceland reads 99.9 and France 43.4, 56.5 index points apart. The two sit closest in Housing (91 versus 68.3), only 22.7 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 6 of Iceland's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 1 of France'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.
