Visualized: How Much A Family in Europe Earns in a Year, Adjusted for Living Costs

Key Takeaways

• Family income in Switzerland is the highest in Europe at €179,000 a year
• 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

❗Data Notes

This data is sourced from Eurostat which no longer publishes comparative UK figures.

A family is considered as two earning parents, both making exactly the average wage, with two dependent children.

Figures are rounded.

Purchasing Power Parity—Literally.

Comparing Ireland and Türkiye reveals the need to account for purchasing power vs nominal earnings.

An Irish family makes about €96,000 a year after taxes and social security contributions.

It’s ranked 6th in the region.

Meanwhile Türkiye is ranked last in euro earnings (at €23,000/year.)

However, by PPS standards (which is an artificial value created by the EU that takes into account living costs), both countries average around 70,000 PPS.

Which means residents in both countries have around the same purchasing power, despite wildly different euro earnings.