United States
Latest Average Wage
+2.1% · 5 years
$86,977
Country Comparison
United States vs Canada
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
United States
vs
Canada
$86,9772025
Latest Average Wage
United States +28.1%
(vs Canada)
$67,9012025
+2.1%2025
5-Year Wage Change
United States +2.4 pts
(vs Canada)
−0.3%2025
+13.0%2025
10-Year Wage Change
United States +8.0 pts
(vs Canada)
+5.0%2025
1002024
Overall Price Level
United States +14.0 index points
(vs Canada)
862024
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
Canada
Latest Average Wage
−0.3% · 5 years
$67,901
Wage Milestones
United States
10 Years Ago
$76,999 (2015)
Historical Peak
$86,977 (2025)
Latest Wage
$86,977 (2025)
Canada
10 Years Ago
$64,667 (2015)
Historical Peak
$68,434 (2021)
Latest Wage
$67,901 (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
United States (USA)Canada (CAN)
Overall
+14.0 index points
100
100vs86
Food
−8.0 index points
100
100vs108
Clothing
−18.0 index points
100
100vs118
Housing
+16.9 index points
100
100vs83.1
Health
+37.8 index points
100
100vs62.2
Transport
−3.0 index points
100
100vs103
Recreation
+8.0 index points
100
100vs92
Restaurants & Accommodation
+2.4 index points
100
100vs97.6
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
United States' latest average wage is $86,977 for 2025, about 28.1% higher than Canada's $67,901 for 2025 — computed straight from the two reported values. That is roughly $19,077 a year on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, United States shows the stronger movement at +1.7%, against +0.2% for Canada. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +2.1% against −0.3%. 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: 100 for United States against 62.2 for Canada. United States sits on the higher side of that 37.8-point spread; Canada reads 37.8 index points lower on the US=100 scale. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Restaurants & Accommodation: United States reads 100 and Canada 97.6 for 2024, just 2.4 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Transport at 3.0 index points apart. Closeness here describes the index readings only, not the baskets behind them.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
United States holds a clear wage lead in this pairing: $86,977 for 2025, against Canada's $67,901 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 28.1% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $19,077 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 United States recorded +13.0% and Canada +5.0%, so the two series have been moving in the same long-term direction.
Wage Direction
The two wage series do not point the same way across the reported horizons. United States sits at the highest point of its series — $86,977 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +13.0%. Canada stands just below its historical high of $68,434 in 2021, only 0.8% away, with a ten-year change of +5.0%. The five-year changes — +2.1% for United States, −0.3% for Canada — resist a single-trend summary and are clearer read side by side. Each percentage is a real, PPP-adjusted change; nominal pay movements are outside what this dataset reports.
Price Profile
United States' overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 100, and Canada's reads 86, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: United States leads in 5 of the 8 comparable categories and Canada in 3, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. Health separates the two most: United States reads 100 and Canada 62.2, 37.8 index points apart. The two sit closest in Restaurants & Accommodation (100 versus 97.6), only 2.4 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 0 of United States' 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 3 of Canada's 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
