United States
Latest Average Wage
+2.1% · 5 years
$86,977
Country Comparison
United States vs Luxembourg
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
United States
vs
Luxembourg
$86,9772025
Latest Average Wage
Luxembourg +13.3%
(vs United States)
$98,5302025
+2.1%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Luxembourg +6.2 pts
(vs United States)
+8.3%2025
+13.0%2025
10-Year Wage Change
United States +1.9 pts
(vs Luxembourg)
+11.0%2025
1002024
Overall Price Level
United States +3.4 index points
(vs Luxembourg)
96.62024
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
Luxembourg
Latest Average Wage
+8.3% · 5 years
$98,530
Wage Milestones
United States
10 Years Ago
$76,999 (2015)
Historical Peak
$86,977 (2025)
Latest Wage
$86,977 (2025)
Luxembourg
10 Years Ago
$88,737 (2015)
Historical Peak
$98,530 (2025)
Latest Wage
$98,530 (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)Luxembourg (LUX)
Overall
+3.4 index points
100
100vs96.6
Food
−6.0 index points
100
100vs106
Clothing
+0.3 index points
100
100vs99.7
Housing
+0.6 index points
100
100vs99.4
Health
+22.9 index points
100
100vs77.1
Transport
−1.0 index points
100
100vs101
Recreation
+2.9 index points
100
100vs97.1
Restaurants & Accommodation
−1.0 index points
100
100vs101
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Luxembourg's latest average wage is $98,530 for 2025, about 13.3% higher than United States' $86,977 for 2025 — a percentage worked out directly from the two reported figures. That is roughly $11,553 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 +1.1% for Luxembourg. The five-year horizon reverses the ordering — United States at +2.1% and Luxembourg at +8.3% — 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
Health shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 100 for United States against 77.1 for Luxembourg. That is a separation of 22.9 index points on the US=100 scale, with United States on the higher side and Luxembourg on the lower one. Index points are not percentages; the two scales answer different questions.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Clothing: United States reads 100 and Luxembourg 99.7 for 2024 — effectively the same relative price level on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Housing at 0.6 index points apart. Closeness here describes the index readings only, not the baskets behind them.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
Luxembourg's latest PPP-adjusted average wage is $98,530 for 2025, moderately higher than United States' $86,977 for 2025. In relative terms the gap is 13.3% — calculated from the two reported values — equivalent to about $11,553 a year on the same purchasing-power basis. 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 Luxembourg +11.0%, 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. 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%. Luxembourg sits at the highest point of its series — $98,530 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +11.0%. The shared direction still leaves room for different speeds: +8.3% for Luxembourg against +2.1% for United States, 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
United States' overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 100, and Luxembourg's reads 96.6, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: United States leads in 4 of the 8 comparable categories and Luxembourg in 3, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. The widest separation is in Health: 100 for United States against 77.1 for Luxembourg, a gap of 22.9 index points. At the other end, Clothing brings the two closest — 100 versus 99.7, a gap of just 0.3 index points. Relative to the US benchmark, United States reads above 100 in 0 of its 8 reported categories, and Luxembourg in 3 of its 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
