The average salary of employees is a very significant index of financial well-being of the inhabitants of a state. It is certainly not the only one and you have to take into account the different costs of living, but it is certainly interesting to analyze and can offer many insights.
The following ranking shows the average salaries of employees of the member countries of the ' OECD , ie the ' Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development . The table shows net salaries, gross and the resulting tax burden. The reference currency is the U.S. dollar (USD).
Top 20 countries with highest per capita income
| # | State | Net salary | Tax levy | Gross salary |
| 1 | United States of America | 42050 | 22.8% | 54 450 |
| 2 | Ireland | 41170 | 18.9% | 50 764 |
| 3 | Luxembourg | 37 997 | 28.1% | 52 847 |
| 4 | Switzerland | 35 471 | 29.4% | 50 242 |
| 5 | Australia | 34 952 | 22.3% | 44 983 |
| 6 | UK | 33 513 | 25.1% | 44 743 |
| 7 | Canada | 32 662 | 22.7% | 42 253 |
| 8 | Norway | 31 101 | 29.3% | 43990 |
| 9 | South Korea | 31 051 | 12.3% | 35 406 |
| 10 | Holland | 29269 | 37.8% | 47 056 |
| 11 | Austria | 29008 | 33.4% | 43 555 |
| 12 | Sweden | 28 301 | 25% | 37 734 |
| 13 | Denmark | 27 974 | 38.6% | 45560 |
| 14 | Japan | 27763 | 21% | 35143 |
| 15 | France | 27 452 | 28% | 38 128 |
| 16 | Spain | 26856 | 21.9% | 34 387 |
| 17 | Finland | 25 747 | 29.8% | 36 676 |
| 18 | Belgium | 25 642 | 42.2% | 44 364 |
| 19 | Germany | 24174 | 39.9% | 40 223 |
| 20 | Italy | 23194 | 30.8% | 33517 |