Data · October 2026

Pay and prices across the EU-27

Take-home pay and price levels in the 27 EU member states, with a closer look at Ireland.

There are public sector strikes in Ireland this week (12 October 2026), which got me interested in how Ireland's pay compares with our EU peers. There are no opinions here, just publicly available data from the CSO and Eurostat. Sources are linked at the bottom.

Take-home pay

Annual net earnings in 2025 for a single person with no children on the national average wage, after income tax and employee social contributions.

€29,954

EU-27 average

€55,877

Highest: Luxembourg

€13,877

Lowest: Romania

Annual net pay, 2025

Euro, thousands.

Net payEU-27 average

Price levels

A price level index compares what the same basket costs in each country, with the EU average set to 100. A country at 110 pays €110 for what costs €100 at EU-average prices.

Two baskets are shown: food and non-alcoholic drinks, and everything households buy.

Price level index, 2025 (EU-27 = 100)

Sorted by all household consumption.

All household consumptionFood & non-alcoholic drinksEU-27 = 100

Pay adjusted for price levels

Net pay relative to the EU average, divided by the country's price level. At 100, average pay buys the same as the EU-average pay.

price-adjusted pay = (net pay ÷ €29,954) ÷ (price level ÷ 100) × 100

Price-adjusted net pay, 2025 (EU-27 = 100)

Adjusted for all household consumption prices.

Price-adjusted payEU-27 = 100

Full table, including adjustment for food prices only

Ireland: prices by category

Irish net pay is % of the EU average. The chart shows Ireland's price level in each of the twelve main spending categories against that figure. A bar shorter than the line means pay buys more of that category than the EU average does.

Ireland price level by category, 2025 (EU-27 = 100)

Irish price levelIrish net pay, % of EU average

Table

Ireland: earnings and inflation, 2022–2026

CSO average weekly earnings for all employees, Q1 2022 and Q1 2026, against the change in the consumer price index over the same quarters.

Change, Q1 2022 to Q1 2026

Average weekly earningsConsumer prices

Annual CPI inflation

Percent.

December to December12 months to September 2026

Method and limitations

Averages. Pay figures are means, not medians.
One household type. EU pay figures describe a single person with no children. Other households would show different results.
National prices. Price levels are national averages; costs vary within countries.
Discretionary spending. The all-consumption basket includes restaurants, recreation and other non-essential spending.
Approximation. Price-adjusted pay divides by a country's price level. Eurostat also publishes net earnings in purchasing power standards, which use a slightly different calculation.
Category basis. Category price levels cover actual individual consumption, which includes services provided by government. Health prices largely reflect what those services cost to provide, mainly staff pay, not what patients pay.
CSO earnings. CSO averages cover all employees, including part-time, so they are not comparable with Eurostat's figure for a full-time worker. Average earnings also change when the mix of employees changes, not only when pay rates do.
Dates. Data retrieved 13 October 2026. Real-terms changes are calculated for this page.