Portugal
Latest Average Wage
+13.9% · 5 years
$44,937
Country Comparison
Portugal vs United Kingdom
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Portugal
vs
United Kingdom
$44,9372025
Latest Average Wage
United Kingdom +47.5%
(vs Portugal)
$66,2992025
+13.9%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Portugal +12.7 pts
(vs United Kingdom)
+1.2%2025
+23.1%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Portugal +19.8 pts
(vs United Kingdom)
+3.3%2025
55.72024
Overall Price Level
United Kingdom +28.6 index points
(vs Portugal)
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
Portugal
10 Years Ago
$36,520 (2015)
Historical Peak
$44,937 (2025)
Latest Wage
$44,937 (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
Portugal (PRT)United Kingdom (GBR)
Overall
−28.6 index points
100
55.7vs84.3
Food
+2.5 index points
100
87.6vs85.1
Clothing
+3.5 index points
100
82.4vs78.9
Housing
−50.7 index points
100
44.7vs95.4
Health
−32.6 index points
100
39.5vs72.1
Transport
−19.0 index points
100
92vs111
Recreation
−23.7 index points
100
66.5vs90.2
Restaurants & Accommodation
−25.5 index points
100
61.7vs87.2
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
United Kingdom's latest average wage is $66,299 for 2025, about 47.5% higher than Portugal's $44,937 for 2025 — a percentage worked out directly from the two reported figures. In annual terms the gap comes to about $21,362 on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Portugal shows the stronger movement at +1.8%, against +0.7% for United Kingdom. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +13.9% against +1.2%. 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: 44.7 for Portugal against 95.4 for United Kingdom. That is a separation of 50.7 index points on the US=100 scale, with United Kingdom on the higher side and Portugal on the lower one. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Food: Portugal reads 87.6 and United Kingdom 85.1 for 2024, just 2.5 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Clothing at 3.5 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: United Kingdom reports $66,299 for 2025, while Portugal reports $44,937 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 47.5% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $21,362 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 Portugal recorded +23.1% and United Kingdom +3.3%, 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. Portugal sits at the highest point of its series — $44,937 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +23.1%. 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%. Portugal's five-year change of +13.9% outpaces United Kingdom's +1.2% 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
Portugal's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 55.7, and United Kingdom's reads 84.3, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: United Kingdom sits higher in 6 of the 8 comparable categories. Housing separates the two most: Portugal reads 44.7 and United Kingdom 95.4, 50.7 index points apart. The two sit closest in Food (87.6 versus 85.1), only 2.5 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 0 of Portugal's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 1 of United Kingdom'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.
