Poland
Latest Average Wage
+16.4% · 5 years
$49,074
Country Comparison
Poland vs Hungary
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Poland
vs
Hungary
$49,0742025
Latest Average Wage
Poland +25.4%
(vs Hungary)
$39,1452025
+16.4%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Hungary +2.4 pts
(vs Poland)
+18.8%2025
+42.0%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Hungary +6.3 pts
(vs Poland)
+48.3%2025
45.72024
Overall Price Level
Poland +0.6 index points
(vs Hungary)
45.12024
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
Hungary
Latest Average Wage
+18.8% · 5 years
$39,145
Wage Milestones
Poland
10 Years Ago
$34,551 (2015)
Historical Peak
$49,074 (2025)
Latest Wage
$49,074 (2025)
Hungary
10 Years Ago
$26,390 (2015)
Historical Peak
$39,145 (2025)
Latest Wage
$39,145 (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)Hungary (HUN)
Overall
+0.6 index points
100
45.7vs45.1
Food
−7.1 index points
100
74.5vs81.6
Clothing
+14.8 index points
100
91.2vs76.4
Housing
−7.9 index points
100
27.7vs35.6
Health
+10.1 index points
100
29.3vs19.2
Transport
−2.5 index points
100
81.9vs84.4
Recreation
+2.4 index points
100
58.1vs55.7
Restaurants & Accommodation
+20.5 index points
100
77.2vs56.7
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Poland's latest average wage is $49,074 for 2025, about 25.4% higher than Hungary's $39,145 for 2025 — computed straight from the two reported values. That is roughly $9,929 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 +3.4% for Hungary. The five-year horizon reverses the ordering — Poland at +16.4% and Hungary at +18.8% — 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
Restaurants & Accommodation shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 77.2 for Poland against 56.7 for Hungary. Poland sits on the higher side of that 20.5-point spread; Hungary reads 20.5 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: Poland reads 45.7 and Hungary 45.1 for 2024, just 0.6 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Recreation at 2.4 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 — Poland at $49,074 for 2025, and Hungary at $39,145 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 25.4% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $9,929 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 Hungary +48.3%, so the two series have been moving in the same long-term direction.
Wage Direction
The five-year direction is shared here: both series rise, with different momentum on each side. 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%. Hungary sits at the highest point of its series — $39,145 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +48.3%. The shared direction still leaves room for different speeds: +18.8% for Hungary against +16.4% for Poland, 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
Poland's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 45.7, and Hungary's reads 45.1, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: Poland leads in 5 of the 8 comparable categories and Hungary in 3, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. The widest separation is in Restaurants & Accommodation: 77.2 for Poland against 56.7 for Hungary, a gap of 20.5 index points. At the other end, Overall brings the two closest — 45.7 versus 45.1, a gap of just 0.6 index points. Relative to the US benchmark, Poland reads above 100 in 0 of its 8 reported categories, and Hungary in 0 of its 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
