South Korea
Latest Average Wage
+3.1% · 5 years
$61,259
Country Comparison
South Korea vs Spain
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
South Korea
vs
Spain
$61,2592025
Latest Average Wage
South Korea +6.0%
(vs Spain)
$57,7792025
+3.1%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Spain +1.2 pts
(vs South Korea)
+4.3%2025
+18.3%2025
10-Year Wage Change
South Korea +15.8 pts
(vs Spain)
+2.6%2025
60.12024
Overall Price Level
South Korea +0.7 index points
(vs Spain)
59.42024
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
Spain
Latest Average Wage
+4.3% · 5 years
$57,779
Wage Milestones
South Korea
10 Years Ago
$51,769 (2015)
Historical Peak
$61,259 (2025)
Latest Wage
$61,259 (2025)
Spain
10 Years Ago
$56,334 (2015)
Historical Peak
$58,456 (2009)
Latest Wage
$57,779 (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
South Korea (KOR)Spain (ESP)
Overall
+0.7 index points
100
60.1vs59.4
Food
+54.0 index points
100
136vs82
Clothing
+22.4 index points
100
103vs80.6
Housing
−16.5 index points
100
38vs54.5
Health
−5.7 index points
100
37vs42.7
Transport
−18.3 index points
100
73.8vs92.1
Recreation
−2.0 index points
100
71.6vs73.6
Restaurants & Accommodation
+13.2 index points
100
82.4vs69.2
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
South Korea's latest average wage is $61,259 for 2025, about 6.0% higher than Spain's $57,779 for 2025 — computed straight from the two reported values. Per year, that works out to roughly $3,480 on the shared purchasing-power basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Spain shows the stronger movement at +1.2%, against +0.6% for South Korea. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +4.3% against +3.1%. Both percentages are real, PPP-adjusted changes from the reported wage series.
03
Largest Price Gap
Food shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 136 for South Korea against 82 for Spain. South Korea sits on the higher side of that 54.0-point spread; Spain reads 54.0 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 Overall: South Korea reads 60.1 and Spain 59.4 for 2024, just 0.7 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Recreation at 2.0 index points apart. Closeness here describes the index readings only, not the baskets behind them.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
South Korea's latest PPP-adjusted average wage is $61,259 for 2025, moderately higher than Spain's $57,779 for 2025. In relative terms the gap is 6.0% — calculated from the two reported values — equivalent to about $3,480 a year on the same purchasing-power basis. No extra conversion is needed here: each figure is already a purchasing-power-adjusted annual amount in constant prices. Over ten years South Korea recorded +18.3% and Spain +2.6%, so the two series have been moving in the same long-term direction. The wage milestones above show how each side arrived at its current level, year by year.
Wage Direction
The five-year direction is shared here: both series rise, with different momentum on each side. South Korea sits at the highest point of its series — $61,259 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +18.3%. Spain stands just below its historical high of $58,456 in 2009, only 1.2% away, with a ten-year change of +2.6%. The shared direction still leaves room for different speeds: +4.3% for Spain against +3.1% for South Korea, 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
South Korea's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 60.1, and Spain's reads 59.4, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: South Korea leads in 4 of the 8 comparable categories and Spain in 4, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. The widest separation is in Food: 136 for South Korea against 82 for Spain, a gap of 54.0 index points. At the other end, Overall brings the two closest — 60.1 versus 59.4, a gap of just 0.7 index points. Relative to the US benchmark, South Korea reads above 100 in 2 of its 8 reported categories, and Spain in 0 of its 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
