Japan
Latest Average Wage
−2.2% · 5 years
$50,183
Country Comparison
Japan vs United States
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Japan
vs
United States
$50,1832025
Latest Average Wage
United States +73.3%
(vs Japan)
$86,9772025
−2.2%2025
5-Year Wage Change
United States +4.3 pts
(vs Japan)
+2.1%2025
−1.6%2025
10-Year Wage Change
United States +14.6 pts
(vs Japan)
+13.0%2025
59.22024
Overall Price Level
United States +40.8 index points
(vs Japan)
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
Japan
10 Years Ago
$51,027 (2015)
Historical Peak
$52,662 (1997)
Latest Wage
$50,183 (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
Japan (JPN)United States (USA)
Overall
−40.8 index points
100
59.2vs100
Food
+12.0 index points
100
112vs100
Clothing
−29.0 index points
100
71vs100
Housing
−51.5 index points
100
48.5vs100
Health
−66.1 index points
100
33.9vs100
Transport
−15.6 index points
100
84.4vs100
Recreation
−21.6 index points
100
78.4vs100
Restaurants & Accommodation
−27.4 index points
100
72.6vs100
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
United States' latest average wage is $86,977 for 2025, about 73.3% higher than Japan's $50,183 for 2025 — a percentage worked out directly from the two reported figures. In annual terms the gap comes to about $36,794 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 −0.5% for Japan. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +2.1% against −2.2%. 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: 33.9 for Japan against 100 for United States. That is a separation of 66.1 index points on the US=100 scale, with United States on the higher side and Japan on the lower one. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Food: Japan reads 112 and United States 100 for 2024, just 12.0 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Transport at 15.6 index points apart. Closeness here describes the index readings only, not the baskets behind them.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
The wage levels in this pairing are far apart: United States reports $86,977 for 2025, while Japan reports $50,183 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 73.3% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $36,794 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 Japan recorded −1.6% against United States' +13.0%, so the current levels were reached on visibly different long-term paths.
Wage Direction
The two wage series are currently moving in opposite directions, and the separation between them is growing. Japan continues to drift below its peak, with a one-year change of −0.5% and a five-year change of −2.2%. 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 is the side gaining in real terms (+2.1% over five years), while Japan records −2.2%, 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
Japan's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 59.2, 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. Health separates the two most: Japan reads 33.9 and United States 100, 66.1 index points apart. The two sit closest in Food (112 versus 100), only 12.0 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 1 of Japan'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.
