Sweden
Latest Average Wage
−1.7% · 5 years
$61,443
Country Comparison
Sweden vs Germany
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Sweden
vs
Germany
$61,4432025
Latest Average Wage
Germany +24.2%
(vs Sweden)
$76,2852025
−1.7%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Germany +3.7 pts
(vs Sweden)
+2.0%2025
+3.2%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Germany +3.9 pts
(vs Sweden)
+7.1%2025
81.52024
Overall Price Level
Sweden +10.0 index points
(vs Germany)
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
Sweden
10 Years Ago
$59,542 (2015)
Historical Peak
$63,923 (2021)
Latest Wage
$61,443 (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
Sweden (SWE)Germany (DEU)
Overall
+10.0 index points
100
81.5vs71.5
Food
+2.1 index points
100
90.8vs88.7
Clothing
+18.6 index points
100
109vs90.4
Housing
+0.1 index points
100
64.2vs64.1
Health
+20.7 index points
100
71.4vs50.7
Transport
+3.0 index points
100
117vs114
Recreation
+11.8 index points
100
98.4vs86.6
Restaurants & Accommodation
+5.9 index points
100
97vs91.1
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Germany's latest average wage is $76,285 for 2025, about 24.2% higher than Sweden's $61,443 for 2025 — a relative difference calculated from the two reported values. In annual terms the gap comes to about $14,841 on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Germany shows the stronger movement at +1.9%, against +0.9% for Sweden. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +2.0% against −1.7%. 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: 71.4 for Sweden against 50.7 for Germany. Measured on the US=100 scale, the two readings for this category are 20.7 index points apart, Sweden above Germany. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Housing: Sweden reads 64.2 and Germany 64.1 for 2024 — effectively the same relative price level on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Food at 2.1 index points apart. Closeness here describes the index readings only, not the baskets behind them.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
Germany holds a clear wage lead in this pairing: $76,285 for 2025, against Sweden's $61,443 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 24.2% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $14,841 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 Sweden recorded +3.2% and Germany +7.1%, so the two series have been moving in the same long-term direction.
Wage Direction
The two wage series are currently moving in opposite directions, and the separation between them is growing. Sweden is partway through a recovery: the latest year added +0.9%, though the level remains 3.9% below its peak. 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%. Germany is the side gaining in real terms (+2.0% over five years), while Sweden records −1.7%, so the five-year measures point away from each other instead of converging. Each percentage is a real, PPP-adjusted change; nominal pay movements are outside what this dataset reports.
Price Profile
Sweden's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 81.5, and Germany's reads 71.5, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: Sweden sits higher in 7 of the 8 comparable categories. Health separates the two most: Sweden reads 71.4 and Germany 50.7, 20.7 index points apart. The two sit closest in Housing (64.2 versus 64.1), only 0.1 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 2 of Sweden'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.
