Italy
Latest Average Wage
+1.8% · 5 years
$53,864
Country Comparison
Italy vs United States
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Italy
vs
United States
$53,8642025
Latest Average Wage
United States +61.5%
(vs Italy)
$86,9772025
+1.8%2025
5-Year Wage Change
United States +0.3 pts
(vs Italy)
+2.1%2025
−3.9%2025
10-Year Wage Change
United States +16.9 pts
(vs Italy)
+13.0%2025
64.12024
Overall Price Level
United States +35.9 index points
(vs Italy)
1002024
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 States
Latest Average Wage
+2.1% · 5 years
$86,977
Wage Milestones
Italy
10 Years Ago
$56,043 (2015)
Historical Peak
$57,790 (2010)
Latest Wage
$53,864 (2025)
United States
10 Years Ago
$76,999 (2015)
Historical Peak
$86,977 (2025)
Latest Wage
$86,977 (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 States (USA)
Overall
−35.9 index points
100
64.1vs100
Food
−13.3 index points
100
86.7vs100
Clothing
−4.7 index points
100
95.3vs100
Housing
−49.2 index points
100
50.8vs100
Health
−47.2 index points
100
52.8vs100
Transport
−0.1 index points
100
99.9vs100
Recreation
−25.6 index points
100
74.4vs100
Restaurants & Accommodation
−10.6 index points
100
89.4vs100
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
United States' latest average wage is $86,977 for 2025, about 61.5% higher than Italy's $53,864 for 2025 — computed straight from the two reported values. That is roughly $33,113 a year on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, United States shows the stronger movement at +1.7%, against +1.2% for Italy. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +2.1% against +1.8%. 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: 50.8 for Italy against 100 for United States. United States sits on the higher side of that 49.2-point spread; Italy reads 49.2 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: Italy reads 99.9 and United States 100 for 2024 — effectively the same relative price level on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Clothing at 4.7 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
The wage levels in this pairing are far apart: United States reports $86,977 for 2025, while Italy reports $53,864 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 61.5% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $33,113 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 Italy recorded −3.9% against United States' +13.0%, 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 States sits at the highest point of its series — $86,977 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +13.0%. United States' five-year change of +2.1% outpaces Italy's +1.8% 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 States' reads 100, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: United States sits higher in 7 of the 8 comparable categories. Housing separates the two most: Italy reads 50.8 and United States 100, 49.2 index points apart. The two sit closest in Transport (99.9 versus 100), only 0.1 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 0 of Italy's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 0 of United States' 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.
