Ranked: European Countries by Income, Adjusted for Living Costs

Pallavi Rao
2025-06-20 01:40:00
www.visualcapitalist.com

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

Ranked: European Countries by Income, Adjusted for Living Costs

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Key Takeaways

This graphic compares 30 European countries by income, before and after cost of living adjustments.
Family income in Switzerland is the highest in Europe at €179,000 a year, after taxes and social security contributions
It’s lowest in Türkiye at €23,000 a year.
However when adjusting for living costs, family income falls considerably in Switzerland, and grows 3x in Türkiye.

Trying to compare incomes without accounting for local prices is like trying to draw half a map. Useful for seeing where people are (earn), but not where they can actually go (spend).

The infographic compares 30 European countries by income, after taxes and social contributions, and then adjusts these figures for local prices by re-calculating the income in Purchasing Power Standard (PPS).

PPS is an artificial currency, created by the EU for country comparisons. Theoretically 1 PPS buys the same goods and services everywhere.

The data for this visualization comes from Eurostat, as of 2024.

This annual household income is derived from assuming two parents are earning the average wage per country, with two dependent children.

Ranked: European Countries With the Highest Incomes in 2025

Switzerland ranks first with the highest euro income at €178,553. But when adjusted for cost of living, its purchasing power income falls to 100,777 PPS.

This reflects the high prices of goods and services in Switzerland, which eat into real spending power.

Ranked by Euro Income	Countries	Euro Income (2024)	PPS Income (2024)
1	Switzerland	€178,553	100,777
2	Iceland	€116,411	73,988
3	Luxembourg	€110,438	82,439
4	Netherlands	€101,465	86,753
5	Norway	€97,580	79,979
6	Ireland	€95,776	69,833
7	Austria	€93,722	83,870
8	Denmark	€91,712	63,283
9	Germany	€86,372	79,606
10	Belgium	€80,070	68,222
11	Finland	€76,150	61,224
12	Sweden	€75,076	65,425
13	France	€68,228	60,801
14	Italy	€54,472	55,696
15	Spain	€50,060	54,978
16	Cyprus	€49,273	53,005
17	Malta	€48,048	52,795
18	Greece	€41,142	47,990
19	Estonia	€39,965	39,598
20	Poland	€39,120	54,982
21	Slovenia	€38,209	42,679
22	Czechia	€36,076	40,725
23	Portugal	€35,394	40,804
24	Lithuania	€34,128	41,570
25	Slovakia	€32,940	39,294
26	Latvia	€31,500	38,393
27	Hungary	€29,788	41,718
28	Croatia	€29,523	39,508
29	Romania	€26,766	44,043
30	Bulgaria	€23,375	39,515
31	Türkiye	€22,880	72,731
N/A	EU	€63,523	62,169

Still, it remains the top-ranked country even in PPS terms.

Meanwhile, Türkiye ranks last in pure euro terms with €22,880. However, its PPS-adjusted income is 72,731—more than triple its nominal value.

This catapults it near the top in real income terms, close to Ireland.

In fact, Ireland earns €95,776, over four times Türkiye’s nominal income. But both countries end up around 70,000 PPS.

This parity reveals that Turkish and Irish households have essentially the same purchasing power in their countries.

Why is this interesting?

Because beneath that parity lies a tale of two very different economies.

What Ireland and Türkiye’s Incomes Tell Us About Their Economies

Ireland’s high nominal income is inflated by its role as a global tax haven.

Multinational tech and pharma companies book massive profits there, distorting national income figures that don’t trickle evenly into the hands of local households.

Türkiye, meanwhile, has seen the opposite: incomes suppressed by runaway inflation and a devalued currency, even as daily essentials—from street food to local transit—remain affordable by global standards.

Despite economic turbulence, the country has some of the lowest grocery prices in Europe.

Even lifestyle patterns reflect this contrast. In Dublin, much of a middle-class income can be absorbed by rent, childcare, and other high fixed costs.

In Istanbul, while wages are lower, day-to-day expenses like food, transport, and housing tend to be more affordable, allowing for a more comfortable standard of living than the raw numbers might suggest.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Wondering how much this same list of countries are giving up in taxes? Check out: The World’s Big Tax Map for a quick overview.

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