Online tool reveals how your salary measures up in France

A new online tool that shows how your salary income compares to others in France has been launched, based on the latest official data.

The Observatoire des inégalités published its new salary comparison tool, based on the latest data from Insee (2024), on November 12. It is free to use.

The Observatoire is an independent institution, founded in 2003, and mainly funded by public donations. It aims to show an accurate picture of inequality in French society.

To use the tool, enter your monthly salary before tax at the source in a box, and hit the ‘Go’ button (see the screenshot below). The tool will then compare your income to place you within the “hierarchy of salaried workers”, and show you the percentage of other salaried workers that earn less than you do.

It will also show you a graph to demonstrate where you fall on the curve, from €0 a month to €2,500, up to €10,000.

The figures are the net salary for a full-time position, before income tax is deducted at source.

The Observatoire notes that the tool is accurate for:

• Private sector income only

• Full-time work (e.g. 35-hour week or more)

It also states that someone’s monthly salary does not necessarily equate to their disposable income. This is – of course – also affected by a household’s total income, taxes and expenses, age, and family situation etc.

The Observatoire has also drawn up an overall picture of the results, including the following:

• A quarter of employees earn less than €1,750 net per month (for full-time work)

• Half earn less than €2,200 per month 

• If you earn €3,000 per month, you are among the top 25% of private sector employees in terms of pay

• If you earn €4,350, you are in the top 10% of high earners. 

• To reach the top 1%, you need to earn at least £10,300 per month

The data also shows that there is still a gender pay gap, with the wage threshold for the top 10% of women €3,920 per month, compared to €4,630 for men.

In terms of socio-professional categories, senior managers earn the highest salaries, with an average net monthly salary of €4,629, compared to €2,051 for skilled manual workers, and €1,941 for unskilled workers.

Explaining its reasons for launching the tool, the Observatoire said: “It is very difficult to get an accurate picture of pay levels in France, the extent of pay gaps or, quite simply, to know where one stands on the pay scale.”

The tool has been used over three million times since its launch.