Italy
Latest Average Wage
+1.8% · 5 years
$53,864
Country Comparison
Italy vs Germany
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Italy
vs
Germany
$53,8642025
Latest Average Wage
Germany +41.6%
(vs Italy)
$76,2852025
+1.8%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Germany +0.2 pts
(vs Italy)
+2.0%2025
−3.9%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Germany +11.0 pts
(vs Italy)
+7.1%2025
64.12024
Overall Price Level
Germany +7.4 index points
(vs Italy)
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
Italy
10 Years Ago
$56,043 (2015)
Historical Peak
$57,790 (2010)
Latest Wage
$53,864 (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
Italy (ITA)Germany (DEU)
Overall
−7.4 index points
100
64.1vs71.5
Food
−2.0 index points
100
86.7vs88.7
Clothing
+4.9 index points
100
95.3vs90.4
Housing
−13.3 index points
100
50.8vs64.1
Health
+2.1 index points
100
52.8vs50.7
Transport
−14.1 index points
100
99.9vs114
Recreation
−12.2 index points
100
74.4vs86.6
Restaurants & Accommodation
−1.7 index points
100
89.4vs91.1
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Germany's latest average wage is $76,285 for 2025, about 41.6% higher than Italy's $53,864 for 2025 — computed straight from the two reported values. Per year, that works out to roughly $22,420 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 +1.2% for Italy. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +2.0% against +1.8%. Both percentages are real, PPP-adjusted changes from the reported wage series.
03
Largest Price Gap
Transport shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 99.9 for Italy against 114 for Germany. Germany sits on the higher side of that 14.1-point spread; Italy reads 14.1 index points lower on the US=100 scale. Index points are not percentages; the two scales answer different questions.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Restaurants & Accommodation: Italy reads 89.4 and Germany 91.1 for 2024, just 1.7 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Food at 2.0 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
A clear separation shows in the latest wage figures — Germany at $76,285 for 2025, and Italy at $53,864 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 41.6% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $22,420 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 Italy recorded −3.9% against Germany's +7.1%, so the current levels were reached on visibly different long-term paths.
Wage Direction
The five-year direction is shared here: both series rise, with different momentum on each side. Italy is partway through a recovery: the latest year added +1.2%, though the level remains 6.8% 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%. The shared direction still leaves room for different speeds: +2.0% for Germany against +1.8% for Italy, so the distance between the two levels keeps shifting. All changes here are measured in real, PPP-adjusted terms, so they describe purchasing-power movement rather than nominal pay increases.
Price Profile
Italy's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 64.1, and Germany's reads 71.5, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Germany reads higher in 6 of the 8 comparable categories, so the price profile leans consistently to one side. The widest separation is in Transport: 99.9 for Italy against 114 for Germany, a gap of 14.1 index points. At the other end, Restaurants & Accommodation brings the two closest — 89.4 versus 91.1, a gap of just 1.7 index points. Relative to the US benchmark, Italy reads above 100 in 0 of its 8 reported categories, and Germany in 1 of its 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
