South Korea
Latest Average Wage
+3.1% · 5 years
$61,259
Country Comparison
South Korea vs Japan
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
South Korea
vs
Japan
$61,2592025
Latest Average Wage
South Korea +22.1%
(vs Japan)
$50,1832025
+3.1%2025
5-Year Wage Change
South Korea +5.3 pts
(vs Japan)
−2.2%2025
+18.3%2025
10-Year Wage Change
South Korea +20.0 pts
(vs Japan)
−1.6%2025
60.12024
Overall Price Level
South Korea +0.9 index points
(vs Japan)
59.22024
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
Japan
Latest Average Wage
−2.2% · 5 years
$50,183
Wage Milestones
South Korea
10 Years Ago
$51,769 (2015)
Historical Peak
$61,259 (2025)
Latest Wage
$61,259 (2025)
Japan
10 Years Ago
$51,027 (2015)
Historical Peak
$52,662 (1997)
Latest Wage
$50,183 (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)Japan (JPN)
Overall
+0.9 index points
100
60.1vs59.2
Food
+24.0 index points
100
136vs112
Clothing
+32.0 index points
100
103vs71
Housing
−10.5 index points
100
38vs48.5
Health
+3.1 index points
100
37vs33.9
Transport
−10.6 index points
100
73.8vs84.4
Recreation
−6.8 index points
100
71.6vs78.4
Restaurants & Accommodation
+9.8 index points
100
82.4vs72.6
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
South Korea's latest average wage is $61,259 for 2025, about 22.1% higher than Japan's $50,183 for 2025 — computed straight from the two reported values. Per year, that works out to roughly $11,077 on the shared purchasing-power basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, South Korea shows the stronger movement at +0.6%, against −0.5% for Japan. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +3.1% against −2.2%. Both percentages are real, PPP-adjusted changes from the reported wage series.
03
Largest Price Gap
Clothing shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 103 for South Korea against 71 for Japan. South Korea sits on the higher side of that 32.0-point spread; Japan reads 32.0 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 Japan 59.2 for 2024, just 0.9 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Health at 3.1 index points apart. A gap this small leaves the category effectively tied on the shared US=100 scale.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
A clear separation shows in the latest wage figures — South Korea at $61,259 for 2025, and Japan at $50,183 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 22.1% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $11,077 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 South Korea recorded +18.3% against Japan's −1.6%, so the current levels were reached on visibly different long-term paths.
Wage Direction
This pairing shows two wage paths pulling apart rather than tracking each other. 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%. Japan continues to drift below its peak, with a one-year change of −0.5% and a five-year change of −2.2%. With South Korea gaining in real terms at +3.1% over five years and Japan at −2.2%, the five-year measures move away from each other rather than closing in. 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 Japan's reads 59.2, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: South Korea leads in 5 of the 8 comparable categories and Japan in 3, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. The widest separation is in Clothing: 103 for South Korea against 71 for Japan, a gap of 32.0 index points. At the other end, Overall brings the two closest — 60.1 versus 59.2, a gap of just 0.9 index points. Relative to the US benchmark, South Korea reads above 100 in 2 of its 8 reported categories, and Japan in 1 of its 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
