Netherlands
Latest Average Wage
−2.0% · 5 years
$80,136
Country Comparison
Netherlands vs United Kingdom
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Netherlands
vs
United Kingdom
$80,1362025
Latest Average Wage
Netherlands +20.9%
(vs United Kingdom)
$66,2992025
−2.0%2025
5-Year Wage Change
United Kingdom +3.2 pts
(vs Netherlands)
+1.2%2025
−3.1%2025
10-Year Wage Change
United Kingdom +6.4 pts
(vs Netherlands)
+3.3%2025
78.42024
Overall Price Level
United Kingdom +5.9 index points
(vs Netherlands)
84.32024
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 Kingdom
Latest Average Wage
+1.2% · 5 years
$66,299
Wage Milestones
Netherlands
10 Years Ago
$82,711 (2015)
Historical Peak
$83,103 (2016)
Latest Wage
$80,136 (2025)
United Kingdom
10 Years Ago
$64,199 (2015)
Historical Peak
$66,480 (2019)
Latest Wage
$66,299 (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)United Kingdom (GBR)
Overall
−5.9 index points
100
78.4vs84.3
Food
−0.7 index points
100
84.4vs85.1
Clothing
+3.8 index points
100
82.7vs78.9
Housing
−22.3 index points
100
73.1vs95.4
Health
−11.3 index points
100
60.8vs72.1
Transport
+8.0 index points
100
119vs111
Recreation
−0.2 index points
100
90vs90.2
Restaurants & Accommodation
+12.0 index points
100
99.2vs87.2
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Netherlands' latest average wage is $80,136 for 2025, about 20.9% higher than United Kingdom's $66,299 for 2025 — a relative difference calculated from the two reported values. Per year, that works out to roughly $13,837 on the shared purchasing-power basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Netherlands shows the stronger movement at +1.9%, against +0.7% for United Kingdom. The five-year horizon reverses the ordering — Netherlands at −2.0% and United Kingdom at +1.2% — 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
Housing shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 73.1 for Netherlands against 95.4 for United Kingdom. Measured on the US=100 scale, the two readings for this category are 22.3 index points apart, United Kingdom above Netherlands. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Recreation: Netherlands reads 90 and United Kingdom 90.2 for 2024 — effectively the same relative price level on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Food at 0.7 index points apart. Closeness here describes the index readings only, not the baskets behind them.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
Netherlands holds a clear wage lead in this pairing: $80,136 for 2025, against United Kingdom's $66,299 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 20.9% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $13,837 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 Netherlands recorded −3.1% against United Kingdom's +3.3%, 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. United Kingdom stands just below its historical high of $66,480 in 2019, only 0.3% away, with a ten-year change of +3.3%. The side gaining in real terms is United Kingdom, the lower of the two latest wage levels (+1.2% 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 United Kingdom's reads 84.3, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: Netherlands leads in 3 of the 8 comparable categories and United Kingdom in 4, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. Housing separates the two most: Netherlands reads 73.1 and United Kingdom 95.4, 22.3 index points apart. The two sit closest in Recreation (90 versus 90.2), only 0.2 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 1 of Netherlands' 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 1 of United Kingdom's 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
