Poland
Latest Average Wage
+16.4% · 5 years
$49,074
Country Comparison
Poland vs Germany
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Poland
vs
Germany
$49,0742025
Latest Average Wage
Germany +55.4%
(vs Poland)
$76,2852025
+16.4%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Poland +14.4 pts
(vs Germany)
+2.0%2025
+42.0%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Poland +35.0 pts
(vs Germany)
+7.1%2025
45.72024
Overall Price Level
Germany +25.8 index points
(vs Poland)
71.52024
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
Germany
Latest Average Wage
+2.0% · 5 years
$76,285
Wage Milestones
Poland
10 Years Ago
$34,551 (2015)
Historical Peak
$49,074 (2025)
Latest Wage
$49,074 (2025)
Germany
10 Years Ago
$71,244 (2015)
Historical Peak
$76,285 (2025)
Latest Wage
$76,285 (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
Poland (POL)Germany (DEU)
Overall
−25.8 index points
100
45.7vs71.5
Food
−14.2 index points
100
74.5vs88.7
Clothing
+0.8 index points
100
91.2vs90.4
Housing
−36.4 index points
100
27.7vs64.1
Health
−21.4 index points
100
29.3vs50.7
Transport
−32.1 index points
100
81.9vs114
Recreation
−28.5 index points
100
58.1vs86.6
Restaurants & Accommodation
−13.9 index points
100
77.2vs91.1
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Germany's latest average wage is $76,285 for 2025, about 55.4% higher than Poland's $49,074 for 2025 — a relative difference calculated from the two reported values. That is roughly $27,210 a year on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Poland shows the stronger movement at +4.6%, against +1.9% for Germany. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +16.4% against +2.0%. 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: 27.7 for Poland against 64.1 for Germany. Measured on the US=100 scale, the two readings for this category are 36.4 index points apart, Germany above Poland. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Clothing: Poland reads 91.2 and Germany 90.4 for 2024, just 0.8 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Restaurants & Accommodation at 13.9 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: Germany reports $76,285 for 2025, while Poland reports $49,074 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 55.4% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $27,210 a year. Both figures are expressed in USD PPP at constant 2025 prices, so they can be set side by side without any further conversion. 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 Poland recorded +42.0% and Germany +7.1%, so the two series have been moving in the same long-term direction.
Wage Direction
Both wage series rise over the five-year horizon, though not at the same pace. Poland sits at the highest point of its series — $49,074 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +42.0%. Germany sits at the highest point of its series — $76,285 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +7.1%. Poland's five-year change of +16.4% outpaces Germany's +2.0% in magnitude, so the common direction does not mean the two levels are holding a fixed distance. Each percentage is a real, PPP-adjusted change; nominal pay movements are outside what this dataset reports.
Price Profile
Poland's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 45.7, and Germany's reads 71.5, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: Germany sits higher in 7 of the 8 comparable categories. Housing separates the two most: Poland reads 27.7 and Germany 64.1, 36.4 index points apart. The two sit closest in Clothing (91.2 versus 90.4), only 0.8 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 0 of Poland's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 1 of Germany'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.
