Italy
Latest Average Wage
+1.8% · 5 years
$53,864
Country Comparison
Italy vs United Kingdom
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Italy
vs
United Kingdom
$53,8642025
Latest Average Wage
United Kingdom +23.1%
(vs Italy)
$66,2992025
+1.8%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Italy +0.7 pts
(vs United Kingdom)
+1.2%2025
−3.9%2025
10-Year Wage Change
United Kingdom +7.2 pts
(vs Italy)
+3.3%2025
64.12024
Overall Price Level
United Kingdom +20.2 index points
(vs Italy)
84.32024
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
United Kingdom
Latest Average Wage
+1.2% · 5 years
$66,299
Wage Milestones
Italy
10 Years Ago
$56,043 (2015)
Historical Peak
$57,790 (2010)
Latest Wage
$53,864 (2025)
United Kingdom
10 Years Ago
$64,199 (2015)
Historical Peak
$66,480 (2019)
Latest Wage
$66,299 (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)United Kingdom (GBR)
Overall
−20.2 index points
100
64.1vs84.3
Food
+1.6 index points
100
86.7vs85.1
Clothing
+16.4 index points
100
95.3vs78.9
Housing
−44.6 index points
100
50.8vs95.4
Health
−19.3 index points
100
52.8vs72.1
Transport
−11.1 index points
100
99.9vs111
Recreation
−15.8 index points
100
74.4vs90.2
Restaurants & Accommodation
+2.2 index points
100
89.4vs87.2
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
United Kingdom's latest average wage is $66,299 for 2025, about 23.1% higher than Italy's $53,864 for 2025 — a relative difference calculated from the two reported values. In annual terms the gap comes to about $12,435 on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Italy shows the stronger movement at +1.2%, against +0.7% for United Kingdom. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +1.8% against +1.2%. 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: 50.8 for Italy against 95.4 for United Kingdom. Measured on the US=100 scale, the two readings for this category are 44.6 index points apart, United Kingdom above Italy. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Food: Italy reads 86.7 and United Kingdom 85.1 for 2024, just 1.6 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Restaurants & Accommodation at 2.2 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
United Kingdom holds a clear wage lead in this pairing: $66,299 for 2025, against Italy's $53,864 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 23.1% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $12,435 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 Italy recorded −3.9% against United Kingdom's +3.3%, so the current levels were reached on visibly different long-term paths.
Wage Direction
Both wage series rise over the five-year horizon, though not at the same pace. Italy is partway through a recovery: the latest year added +1.2%, though the level remains 6.8% below its peak. 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%. Italy's five-year change of +1.8% outpaces United Kingdom's +1.2% 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
Italy's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 64.1, and United Kingdom's reads 84.3, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: Italy leads in 3 of the 8 comparable categories and United Kingdom in 5, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. Housing separates the two most: Italy reads 50.8 and United Kingdom 95.4, 44.6 index points apart. The two sit closest in Food (86.7 versus 85.1), only 1.6 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 0 of Italy's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 1 of United Kingdom's 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
