How much do you need to earn to live comfortably across Europe? This is a very challenging question.
Firstly, “comfortable” is very subjective. Secondly, price levels vary widely both across and within countries. Thirdly, household size also varies. Income also does not take wealth or homeownership into account.
Still, some income indicators can give an idea of how much people may need to live comfortably.
The equivalised disposable income is one of them.
All monetary income received by household members is added together. This includes income from work, investments and social benefits, as well as other household income. Taxes and social contributions are then deducted from the total.
It is then divided by the number of household members converted into equalised adults, meaning this is not directly individual income.
Middle class income bands
The OECD defines the middle class as households with equivalised disposable income between 75% and 200% of the national median.
It divides this into three groups: 75% to 100% of median income is “lower-middle”, 100% to 150% is “mid-income” and 150% to 200% is “upper-middle”.
There is no established benchmark for how much of the national median income a household should have.
“If information on incomes is all we have, one could probably assume that most households above 150% should have a sufficient income to live relatively comfortably.” Sebastian Königs, senior economist at the OECD, told Euronews Business.
However, other scholars note that an income above 150% of the median does not necessarily guarantee financial security.
Euronews Business calculated 150% of the median income for three household types to show how much net income a household needs to reach the start of the upper-middle-income group.
In 2025, the EU’s median equivalised disposable income is €22,939 a year, or €1,912 a month. A single adult living alone needs €2,867 a month to reach 150% of the median.
Across 34 European countries, this figure ranges from €603 a month in North Macedonia to €6,491 in Switzerland. Within the EU, it ranges from €1,023 in Romania to €6,256 in Luxembourg.
This figure is also above €4,000 a month in Norway (€5,240), Austria (€4,568), Denmark (€4,524), Ireland (€4,392) and the Netherlands (€4,308).
Among the EU’s four largest economies, Germany has the highest benchmark at €3,611. France follows at €3,307, about 15% above the EU figure, while Italy is just below at €2,758. Spain has the lowest of the four at €2,546.
The gap is wide: a single adult in Germany needs €1,065 a month more than one in Spain.
The benchmark is also below €1,000 a month in Albania (€723), Turkey (€755), Montenegro (€825) and Serbia (€975). With North Macedonia, all five are EU candidate countries.
This figure is between €1,000 and €1,900 a month in 11 EU countries, including Portugal (€1,808), Poland (€1,799), Greece (€1,463), Bulgaria (€1,108) and Hungary (€1,099).
Does a couple need twice the income?
A couple without children does not need double the income of a single adult. Because they share costs such as rent and energy, Eurostat assumes they need 1.5 times as much.
So, in the EU, a couple needs €4,301 a month in net income to reach the benchmark. This rises to €6,021 for a couple with two children under 14.
The country ranking does not change for couples or families because every country’s figure is multiplied by the same factor: 1.5 for a couple and 2.1 for a family with two children.
The buttons on the chart show the figures for all three household types in every country.
Purchasing power improve comparison
Euro figures do not reflect price differences between countries. Purchasing power standards (PPS), an artificial currency that removes these differences, offer a better basis for comparison.
The gap narrows, but it remains wide. In PPS terms, the benchmark for a single adult in the EU is 2,830 PPS a month. It ranges from 1,031 PPS in Albania to 4,709 PPS in Luxembourg, a gap of about 4.6 times, compared with 10.8 times in euros.
Within the EU, Hungary has the lowest benchmark at 1,495 PPS. This makes Luxembourg’s benchmark just over three times higher, compared with six times in euros.
Relatively comfortable income can buy different things
These gaps suggest that living comfortably means very different things. PPS figures show what this relatively comfortable income can buy in each country.
“The same relative income position can also buy very different living standards across countries. Being at 150% of the median in one country does not imply the same purchasing power as being at 150% elsewhere,” Prof. Koen Caminada from Leiden University told Euronews Business.
Regional differences within countries
“Purchasing-power-adjusted figures would improve the comparison, but national averages still conceal regional differences, particularly in housing costs,” he added.
Königs also pointed out that many OECD countries have large regional differences in both income levels and the cost of living.
Income is only part of the story, wealth matters too
Königs said income tells only part of the story. Wealth inequality, especially access to homeownership, is a pressing issue in many OECD countries.
“Some people may get by on low incomes just fine because they own their home and maybe live in a place where prices are lower,” he said.
Caminada also pointed to the role of wealth and savings. He said a household with a modest income and savings it can easily use may cope better with an unexpected bill or job loss than a higher-income household with no savings and large debts.
How to define living comfortably
Caminada noted that ‘living comfortably’ should mean more than being able to pay the bills: “A household should be able to afford adequate housing, food, energy and transport, participate in social life, enjoy some leisure, and put money aside. Crucially, it should be able to absorb an unexpected expense or a temporary loss of income without immediately falling into financial difficulty.”
He cautioned that neither 150% nor 200% of the national median income is an established threshold for comfortable living. He underlined that the OECD’s middle-income classification describes a relative position in the income distribution, not the adequacy of a household’s budget.
Dr Markus M. Grabka from the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) also suggested that an income above 150% of the median does not in itself guarantee financial security.
“An income exceeding 150% of the median provides financial security only when combined with a certain level of private wealth,” he told Euronews Business.