Money Atlas · Map 06

What does a European salary buy?

Compare the standard wage after tax, social contributions and family benefits—adjusted for what money can buy in each country.

Official Eurostat data27 EU countries2024 purchasing power

Choose a standard household

One adult earning 100% of the national average-worker wage.

Choose the comparison

Eurostat’s published annual net earning in PPS for the selected standard household.

2024 · purchasing-power adjusted

What does the standard salary leave?

PPS adjusts for national price levels. It is built for comparisons, not currency conversion.

Country positions are approximate. Select a tile to inspect the published estimate.

DE · Single, no children

Germany

27,749 PPS

Annual net income

Gross earnings: 42,281 PPS
Income tax: 5,632 PPS
Employee social contributions: 8,900 PPS
Family allowance: 0 PPS
Net reconciliation*: 0 PPS

From gross to net

Follow the standard calculation.

Annual PPS · Germany · Single, no children

Starts at42,281Gross earnings

Less5,632Income tax

Less8,900Social contributions

Plus0Family allowance

Plus0Net reconciliation*

Leaves27,749Net income

*The reconciliation is a derived difference: published net income minus gross earnings, plus published tax and social contributions, less the published family allowance. It makes the displayed 2024 components add back to Eurostat’s net result and should not be interpreted as a standalone benefit. Housing, childcare, consumption taxes and in-kind public services are not included.

Country ranking

The same lens, all 27 countries.

Annual net income

How to read it

Three comparisons—not a payslip calculator.

PPS changes the question

The map compares what incomes can buy locally, so it deliberately does not show exchange-rate euros.

Household type matters

Tax credits and cash family benefits can change both the level of net income and the country ranking.

Standard cases are not people

Local taxes, pensions, childcare and individual deductions can make a real household’s result very different.

Exact snapshot

The published standard case.

2024 annual PPS · rounded to nearest PPS

Country	Gross	Income tax	Social	Reconciliation*	Net	Net / gross
Luxembourg	58,448	12,086	7,195	0	39,166	67.0%
Austria	44,382	4,864	7,946	173	31,745	71.5%
Ireland	39,557	7,558	1,622	308	30,685	77.6%
Netherlands	41,028	3,929	7,594	0	29,505	71.9%
Sweden	37,211	5,748	2,607	1	28,857	77.5%
Belgium	46,017	10,861	6,423	0	28,732	62.4%
Denmark	42,817	15,422	111	802	28,086	65.6%
Germany	42,281	5,632	8,900	0	27,749	65.6%
France	36,636	5,353	4,195	0	27,088	73.9%
Spain	34,524	5,331	2,192	0	27,000	78.2%
Finland	36,798	6,808	3,293	0	26,697	72.6%
Malta	34,859	5,674	3,030	0	26,154	75.0%
Cyprus	28,821	901	3,300	0	24,620	85.4%
Italy	31,991	6,305	1,117	1	24,570	76.8%
Slovenia	37,417	5,045	8,735	0	23,637	63.2%
Portugal	27,624	2,926	3,039	0	21,659	78.4%
Lithuania	34,868	6,712	6,799	0	21,357	61.3%
Poland	28,681	3,924	3,932	0	20,824	72.6%
Croatia	30,361	3,529	6,072	0	20,760	68.4%
Czechia	26,058	2,520	3,023	0	20,515	78.7%
Estonia	24,993	4,888	400	0	19,705	78.8%
Romania	33,078	2,150	11,577	0	19,351	58.5%
Latvia	26,469	4,798	2,779	0	18,892	71.4%
Slovakia	23,403	2,584	3,136	0	17,683	75.6%
Hungary	24,548	3,682	4,541	0	16,324	66.5%
Greece	20,313	1,503	2,817	0	15,992	78.7%
Bulgaria	13,111	1,130	1,807	0	10,174	77.6%

Important boundary

Comparable spending power—not a cost-of-living promise.

PPS is an artificial comparison unit; it cannot be paid, saved or exchanged.
The average-worker wage is country-specific, so the gross salary is not held constant.
The 2024 model reflects legislated tax and benefit rules captured by Eurostat.

Primary sourceEurostat

Annual net earnings and tax rates, dataset earn_nt_net, 2024. Values use purchasing power standards and four standard household cases.

Explore the dataset Method and metadata