EU comparison of minimum wage (net) with cost of living/rent for a single person (2025)
The Gisma University of Applied Sciences has compared minimum and average incomes in the EU member states with the average cost of living and rents. In each case, the net income for a full-time job (40 hours a week) was assumed. Countries without a standardised statutory minimum wage (Denmark, Austria, Finland, Sweden and Italy) were not included in the minimum wage ranking. The data on net minimum and average income comes from publicly available overviews of European wage statistics. These overviews are based on information from sources such as Eurostat, the OECD and national statistical offices and were retrieved via the corresponding consolidated Wikipedia entries (as at June 2025). The cost of living and rental costs are based on data from Numbeo.com and reflect the average requirements for urban living near the city centre. A one-bedroom flat was assumed for individuals and a three-bedroom flat for families. For families, it was also assumed that two adults are in full-time employment. The difference between the net income and the combined monthly expenditure gives the monthly surplus or shortfall - an indicator of whether an income is sufficient to live on in real terms or not. This shows how large the financial gap still is in many countries despite working.