Same salary, different country: where do you rank?
The same paycheck ranks very differently depending on a country's wage distribution. salary.gg scores one salary against 14 countries at once — Korea, Japan, the U.S., the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Australia, Singapore, the Netherlands, Canada, Germany, Taiwan and Hong Kong — using each government's official wage data. The examples below are illustrative; enter your own salary to see your exact multi-country ranking.
Approximate, age 33, nominal exchange rates (not purchasing-power parity — cost of living differs). Read as a ranking signal, not a pay or living-standard equivalence.
Calculate your own multi-country percentile →
Data sources: Statistics Korea (KOSIS, 2024), Japan MHLW/NTA (2024), U.S. Census ACS 1-year PUMS (2024), UK ONS ASHE (2025), France INSEE (2024), Spain INE (2024), Italy INPS (2024), Australia ABS EEH (2025), Singapore MOM (2025), Netherlands CBS (2024), Canada StatCan CIS (2024), Germany Destatis (2025), Taiwan DGBAS (2024), Hong Kong C&SD (2025). Official government statistics only.
Frequently asked questions
- What does salary.gg compare across countries?
- Every result page shows the entered salary's percentile rank in all 14 covered countries simultaneously, computed from each country's official wage distribution. Because wage levels and exchange rates differ, the same salary can rank near the top in one country and around the middle in another — see your exact per-country figures on the compare page or your result page. This cross-country view is the primary differentiator vs. single-country calculators like SmartAsset, PayScale, or Levels.fyi.
- Does the same percentile mean the same standard of living across countries?
- No. The site uses nominal exchange rates to convert salaries, not purchasing-power parity (PPP). A U.S. salary at the same percentile as a Korean salary may purchase different amounts of housing, healthcare, or food. PPP-based comparison is a planned follow-up. Use nominal percentile as a rough ranking signal, not a cost-of-living equivalence.
- Which countries are covered and which are planned?
- Currently covered: Korea (KOSIS), Japan (MHLW), the United States (Census ACS PUMS, 50 states + D.C., 22 occupation groups), the United Kingdom (ONS ASHE), France (INSEE), Spain (INE), Italy (INPS), Australia (ABS), Singapore (MOM), the Netherlands (CBS), Canada (Statistics Canada), Germany (Destatis), Taiwan (DGBAS) and Hong Kong (C&SD) — 14 countries in total. Each requires an open official wage-distribution dataset with cohort-level granularity; further expansion depends on equivalent official data.
- How is user input handled — is anything stored?
- Salary and birth year inputs are processed entirely in the user's browser. Results are encoded into the shareable URL (base64), not stored on a server. No account or login required. No personally identifiable information is collected beyond standard anonymous web analytics (Google Analytics 4).
- How recent are the wage statistics?
- Each country's wage statistics are its most recently published official release — for example Korea's 2024 KOSIS data (released 2026-02-23), Japan's 2024 MHLW data, and the U.S. 2024 Census ACS 1-year PUMS (released 2025-10-16); the same 'latest official release' principle applies to all 14 countries. Tax rates and social insurance rates reflect 2026 applicable values (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, SSA 2026 wage base, Korean NTS 간이세액표 2026, Japanese NTA 月額表 2026).