Living in comfortable surroundings means things for different people.
Euronews Business has calculated the net monthly incomes of the families needed to reach 150 percent of the average national income, the level that serves as the starting point for a middle class.
How much do you have to earn to live comfortably in Europe? That’s a pretty hard question to answer.
First, the concept of comfortable living is very subjective. Second, prices vary significantly from country to country.
Third, it also changes the size of families. Moreover, income does not take into account wealth or the fact that a person owns a household.
However, some income indicators may provide an idea of how much money people need to live comfortably.
One of them is the available equivalent of income.
All monetary incomes of one family members, including job revenues, investments, social benefits and other sources, are collected in this indicator. In turn, taxes and social contributions are lowered from the total amount.
The remaining amount is divided into the number of family members, adapted to an equivalent degree that takes into account the size and composition of the family. This means that the indicator does not directly represent individual income.
Middle – class income levels
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development ( O The ECD defines middle class as families with available incomes of between 75 and 200 percent of average national income.
This category is divided into three groups: from 75 to 100 percent of the average average is included in the lower middle class, from 100 to 150 percent in the middle class, and from 150 to 200 percent in the middle middle layer.
There is no definite standard indicating how much a family’s income should be in relation to the national average.
If the only data we have is about income, we can assume that most families who earn over 150 percent of the average have enough income to live relatively comfortable, Euronews Business Sebastian Königs, senior economist at the OECD, told the Euronews.
However, other researchers point out that income above 150 percent of the average does not necessarily guarantee financial security.
Euronews Business estimates 150 percent of average income per three types of families in order to show how much net income is needed to reach the high class threshold.
In 2025, the average available income equivalent to the European Union was 22.939 euros a year, or 1.912 euros a month. A single person living without other family members must have an income of 2,867 euros a month to reach 150 percent average.
In 34 European states, this amount ranges from 603 euros a month in northern Macedonia to 6,491 euros in Switzerland. Within the EU, the amount differs from 1,033 euros in Romania to 6,256 euros in Luxembourg.
This amounts to 4,000 euros a month in Norway, where it totals 5,240 euros, in Austria with 4.568 euros, in Denmark with 4.524 euros, in Ireland at 4.392 euros, and in the Netherlands at 4.308 euros.
Among the EU’s four largest economies, Germany has the highest threshold, with 3.611 euros per month. Next comes France with 3.307 euros, about 15 per cent above the EU level, while Italy ranks slightly lower, with 2.758 euros. Spain has the lowest threshold of these four states, with 2.546 euros.
The difference is huge: a single person in Germany needs 1.065 euros more per month than a person in Spain to achieve the same relative level of income.
The threshold is below 1,000 euros a month in Albania, where it totals 723 euros, in Turkey at 755 euros, in Montenegro at 825 euros and in Serbia at 975 euros. Along with Northern Macedonia, all five countries are candidates for EU membership.
In 11 EU countries, this amount is from 1,000 to 1,900 euros a month. These include Portugal with 1.808 euros, Poland at 1.799 euros, Greece at 1,463 euros, Bulgaria at 1.108 euros and Hungary at 1.099 euros.
Does a couple need twice as much income?
A couple without children do not need twice the income of a single person. Since the couple share expenses, such as rent and electricity, Eurostat estimates that it needs 1.5 times as much income.
Thus, in the EU, a couple need net income of 4,301 euros a month to reach that threshold. For a couple with two children under the age of 14, the amount rises to 6,021 euros per month.
The ranking of countries does not change for couples or families, as each country’s figure is multiplied by the same cofficiency: 1.5 for couples and 2.1 for families with two children.
Interactive graph presents the figures for all three types of households in each country.
Buying Power Permits Better Comparison
The euro sums do not reflect price differences between states. A better basis for comparison are purchasing power standards ( PPS, an artificial monetary unit that eliminates differences in price levels.
Differences decrease, but remain big. According to purchasing power, the threshold for one single person in the EU is 2.830 PPS a month.
This figure ranges from 1,031 PPS in Albania to 4.709 PPS in Luxembourg. The difference is about 4.6 times, compared to 10.8 times when income measures in euros.
Within the EU, Hungary has lower threshold, with 1.495 PPS. This means that the threshold in Luxembourg is slightly more than three times higher, while in the euro the gap amounts to six times.
Relatively comfortable income enables various living standards
These differences show that living comfortably can mean very different things from one country to another. Figures based on purchasing power show what people can buy with these incomes in each country.
THE same relative income position can enable very different living standards in various countries. A 150 percent income in one country does not mean the same purchasing power as having the same level of income in another country, Professor Cohen Caminada from Leiden University told Euronews Business.
Regional differences within states
The figures adapted to purchasing power would improve the comparison, but national averages continue to hide regional differences, especially in terms of residential costs, he added.
Königs also stressed that many OECD member states have major regional differences, both on income levels and on living costs.
Income is only a part of history, and wealth matters
Königs said that income shows only part of the reality. Inequality in wealth, especially the possibility of having a home owned, is an important issue in many OECD states.
Some people can do very well with low incomes, because they own the house and perhaps live in a place where prices are lower, he said.
Caminada also stressed the importance of wealth and savings. According to him, a modest but inexpensive family can cope better with unexpected spending or losing a job than with a higher income but with no savings and large debts.
How should comfortable living be defined?
Caminada noted that living comfortably should mean more than simply being able to pay the bills.
A family should be able to afford adequate housing, food, energy, and transportation, to share in social life, to enjoy some leisure activities, and to put aside some of its income. Above all, it must be able to afford an unexpected spending or a temporary loss of income without falling into financial difficulties immediately, he explained.
He warned that neither the 150 percent nor the 200 percent level of average national income constitutes jobs designed for a comfortable life.
According to him, O ranking The ECD for middle income shows a family’s relative position in income distribution, but not if its budget is sufficient to afford living expenses.
Marcus M. Grabka, researcher at the German Institute for Economic Research ( DIW Berlin suggested that income above 150 percent of the average does not automatically guarantee financial security.
Incomes exceeding 150 percent of the average offer financial security only when associated with a certain level of private wealth, he told Euronews Business. /Telegraphy/