Average salary by country, gross and net 2026
Switzerland has the highest net average salary of the 31 countries in this table, at $93,092 a year at the exchange rate of 2 November 2026, ahead of the United States ($70,018) and Singapore ($64,436). Gross pay gives a different order: Switzerland also leads there, at $119,974, but tax moves Singapore up 7 places and Belgium down 6. Every wage comes from an official statistic: the OECD for its members, Eurostat, the statistical offices of Singapore and Hong Kong, the ILO for Brazil and Thailand. Each one then runs through its country's real 2026 tax table, with local taxes and employee contributions: Singapore leaves 95% of gross, Belgium 61%. That is what no table of this kind gives from public figures: the net of an average salary, for a single person. Hong Kong publishes a median, marked as such. We could read no official figure for the UAE, Qatar or Saudi Arabia: they stay out of the table, with no private survey figure in their place.
Your net pay, against the net of the reference wage
100%
$70,018 a year
| Reference wage, gross | $86,977 |
|---|---|
| Reference wage, net | $70,018 |
| Your net a month | $5,835 |
Average salary, country by country
Each country’s average salary, before and after tax
In dollars at the exchange rate of 2 November 2026, from the highest net to the lowest. Under each country, the published figure in local currency and its year.
| Country | Gross | Net | Kept |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. SwitzerlandCHF 98,334, 2025 | $119,974 | $93,092 | 78% |
| 2. United States$86,977, 2025 | $86,977 | $70,018 | 81% |
| 3. SingaporeSGD 86,376, 2025 | $67,539 | $64,436 | 95% |
| 4. Luxembourg€86,017, 2025 | $96,477 | $64,186 | 67% |
| 5. NorwayNOK 734,712, 2025 | $79,408 | $58,831 | 74% |
| 6. AustraliaA$105,478, 2025 | $73,921 | $57,134 | 77% |
| 7. DenmarkDKK 540,516, 2025 | $81,117 | $53,308 | 66% |
| 8. Ireland€63,379, 2025 | $71,086 | $52,387 | 74% |
| 9. Netherlands€61,492, 2025 | $68,970 | $50,284 | 73% |
| 10. United Kingdom£46,511, 2025 | $62,415 | $49,662 | 80% |
| 11. CanadaCA$85,588, 2025 | $61,248 | $45,866 | 75% |
| 12. Austria€58,754, 2025 | $65,899 | $45,355 | 69% |
| 13. SwedenSEK 546,171, 2025 | $55,957 | $44,465 | 79% |
| 14. Belgium€61,747, 2025 | $69,256 | $41,949 | 61% |
| 15. Finland€50,569, 2025 | $56,718 | $41,826 | 74% |
| 16. New ZealandNZ$93,116, 2025 | $52,392 | $39,881 | 76% |
| 17. Germany€54,840, 2025 | $61,509 | $39,136 | 64% |
| 18. France€44,304, 2025 | $49,692 | $36,067 | 73% |
| 19. South Korea₩53,915,741, 2025 | $40,149 | $33,553 | 84% |
| 20. Cyprus€34,692, 2025 | $38,911 | $32,499 | 84% |
| 21. Hong KongHK$254,400, 2025, median | $32,424 | $30,318 | 94% |
| 22. Spain€35,121, 2025 | $39,392 | $30,181 | 77% |
| 23. Italy€34,733, 2025 | $38,957 | $28,608 | 73% |
| 24. Malta€32,868, 2025 | $36,865 | $28,200 | 76% |
| 25. Japan¥5,185,703, 2025 | $32,842 | $25,791 | 79% |
| 26. Portugal€25,826, 2025 | $28,967 | $21,976 | 76% |
| 27. PolandPLN 101,248, 2025 | $25,701 | $18,524 | 72% |
| 28. Greece€18,801, 2025 | $21,087 | $16,623 | 79% |
| 29. MexicoMX$276,648, 2025 | $14,778 | $12,424 | 84% |
| 30. BrazilR$40,718, 2025 | $7,488 | $6,856 | 92% |
| 31. ThailandTHB 200,382, 2025 | $5,935 | $5,639 | 95% |
Net calculated by this site: single person, no children, employed all year, place assumptions on each country page. A 2025 wage run through the 2026 tax table. No row for lack of a readable official figure: United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Monaco.
Mean, median, full-time equivalent
A mean rises with very high pay: half of employees earn less, often by a wide margin. The OECD computes its figure in full-time equivalents, Singapore also counts part-timers paying CPF, and Hong Kong gives a monthly median. The rows are therefore comparable only as orders of magnitude, and each one carries its year and source.
Why the net ranking differs from gross
Moving from gross to net shifts several countries. An employee keeps 81% of $86,977 in the United States, on our Texas assumption with no state tax, 64% of $61,509 in Germany and 78% of $119,974 in Switzerland. The wages date from 2025 at the latest and the tax table from 2026, so the net is an estimate at today's table, and the exchange rate moves the dollar column.
Other rankings
Questions
Which country has the highest average salary?
On gross, Switzerland, with $119,974 at the exchange rate of 2 November 2026, ahead of Luxembourg ($96,477). After tax and contributions, it stays first at $93,092, with the United States next at $70,018. The exchange rate matters: these amounts do not correct for local prices, so a high salary can buy less than it seems.
What is the average salary in Germany and the UK?
Germany: €54,840 gross a year in 2025 according to the OECD, or €34,893 net. United Kingdom: £46,511 gross, or £37,008 net. Both are for a single person with no children, on a full year's pay, with the assumptions shown on each country page.
Is there an official average salary in Dubai?
We could read no official figure. The UAE federal statistics centre refused our requests, and the amounts in circulation come from private sites or reports we could not check at the source. We therefore show none. With no income tax, a salary there stays gross equal to net, apart from contributions paid by nationals.
Why do these figures differ from salary websites?
Salary websites often publish job adverts or voluntary reports, which lean towards managers and big cities. These rows come from public statistics covering employees as a whole. They run lower and slower, but their method is published. The simulator above places you against them, in net terms.
Sources
- OECD, Average annual wages, current prices in national currency (read 3 November 2026)
- Eurostat, Annual net earnings (earn_nt_net): gross earnings of a single worker at 100% of the average wage (read 3 November 2026)
- Department of Statistics Singapore, SingStat Table Builder M182941: average monthly nominal earnings per employee (read 3 November 2026)
- Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, 2025 Annual Earnings and Hours Survey, release of 23 March 2026: median monthly wage
- ILOSTAT, Average monthly earnings of employees (EAR_EMTA_SEX_NB_A), from national labour force surveys (read 3 November 2026)
Figures 2026, checked on