Netherlands
Latest Average Wage
−2.0% · 5 years
$80,136
Country Comparison
Netherlands vs France
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Netherlands
vs
France
$80,1362025
Latest Average Wage
Netherlands +32.5%
(vs France)
$60,4832025
−2.0%2025
5-Year Wage Change
France +5.7 pts
(vs Netherlands)
+3.7%2025
−3.1%2025
10-Year Wage Change
France +4.8 pts
(vs Netherlands)
+1.7%2025
78.42024
Overall Price Level
Netherlands +8.0 index points
(vs France)
70.42024
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
France
Latest Average Wage
+3.7% · 5 years
$60,483
Wage Milestones
Netherlands
10 Years Ago
$82,711 (2015)
Historical Peak
$83,103 (2016)
Latest Wage
$80,136 (2025)
France
10 Years Ago
$59,485 (2015)
Historical Peak
$61,289 (2019)
Latest Wage
$60,483 (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
Netherlands (NLD)France (FRA)
Overall
+8.0 index points
100
78.4vs70.4
Food
−9.0 index points
100
84.4vs93.4
Clothing
−3.4 index points
100
82.7vs86.1
Housing
+4.8 index points
100
73.1vs68.3
Health
+17.4 index points
100
60.8vs43.4
Transport
+5.0 index points
100
119vs114
Recreation
+7.8 index points
100
90vs82.2
Restaurants & Accommodation
+9.1 index points
100
99.2vs90.1
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Netherlands' latest average wage is $80,136 for 2025, about 32.5% higher than France's $60,483 for 2025 — a relative difference calculated from the two reported values. In annual terms the gap comes to about $19,653 on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Netherlands shows the stronger movement at +1.9%, against +1.0% for France. The five-year horizon reverses the ordering — Netherlands at −2.0% and France at +3.7% — so the latest year is not the whole story. 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: 60.8 for Netherlands against 43.4 for France. Measured on the US=100 scale, the two readings for this category are 17.4 index points apart, Netherlands above France. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Clothing: Netherlands reads 82.7 and France 86.1 for 2024, just 3.4 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Housing at 4.8 index points apart. A gap this small leaves the category effectively tied on the shared US=100 scale.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
The wage levels in this pairing are far apart: Netherlands reports $80,136 for 2025, while France reports $60,483 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 32.5% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $19,653 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 Netherlands recorded −3.1% against France's +1.7%, so the current levels were reached on visibly different long-term paths.
Wage Direction
Opposite directions define this pairing, and they pull the two wage levels closer together. Netherlands is partway through a recovery: the latest year added +1.9%, though the level remains 3.6% below its peak. France stands just below its historical high of $61,289 in 2019, only 1.3% away, with a ten-year change of +1.7%. The side gaining in real terms is France, the lower of the two latest wage levels (+3.7% over five years against −2.0%), so on these measures the two are closing in rather than drifting apart. Each percentage is a real, PPP-adjusted change; nominal pay movements are outside what this dataset reports.
Price Profile
Netherlands' overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 78.4, and France's reads 70.4, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: Netherlands sits higher in 6 of the 8 comparable categories. Health separates the two most: Netherlands reads 60.8 and France 43.4, 17.4 index points apart. The two sit closest in Clothing (82.7 versus 86.1), only 3.4 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 1 of Netherlands' 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 1 of France's 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.
