Are salaries higher in Paris? Yes. The proof, INSEE brings it by revealing the gap of each department with the average salary at the national level. And in Paris or in the Hauts-de-Seine, departments carried by a large handful of high salaries, the averages are soaring. But who is the other end of the scale?
Average salary, in France? 2520euros net per month, in full-time equivalent, which corresponds to an average of full-time, 39 hours. Be careful, however, not to confuse average and median, especially for the salary scale: if the average is 2520 euros net in 2021, in the private sector, the median is 2012 euros. Translation? 50% of French employees in the private sector earn more than 2,012 euros, the other half earn less. Why is the average significantly higher? Because the very large salaries weigh very heavily in the balance and boost the average … while at the other end of the scale, the minimum wage (currently 1383 euros, net) limits the phenomenon of too low salaries.
INSEE publishes this week the basics on… wages with lots of key figures. To measure wage inequality, INSEE focuses on averages. Example: 4330euros net monthly on average for executives, against 1800euros for employees and 1860euros for workers. Or: In the civil service, employees, whether civil servants or not, earn an average of 2,380 euros net per month in full-time equivalent.
The 92: +58% compared to the national average!
INSEE also provides a tour of France of average wages in the departments. First observation: a handful of departments are above the average, and this very largely… when the vast majority of departments are sailing below the average of 2520 euros. In other words: if you earn less than 2500euros and you live in Lozrewhere the average is 23% lower (about 1940euros), you certainly earn less than the national average but more than the average for your department.
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Like Lozre, in light blue on the graph below, most French departments (also in light) show lower averages reduced by more than 12% compared to the national average.
Source: INSEE. Difference compared to the national average net salary, in 2021.
And only a few departments, in dark blue, are comfortably above the national average of 2,520 euros net full-time in the private sector: the Rhine (+5%)Essonne (+8%), Seine-Saint-Denis (+10.5%), Val-de-Marne (+11.5%), Yvelines (+21.2%), Paris (+42.5%) and Hauts-de-Seine (+58%). In the 92the average wage – and not the median wage – in the private sector therefore flirts with 4000 euros per month.
| Departments | deviation from the national average |
| Aïn | -8.9% |
| aisne | -16.4% |
| Combine | -18.2% |
| Alpes de Haute Provence | -17.7% |
| High mountains | -19.5% |
| Alpes-Maritimes | -1.8% |
| Arche | -15.9% |
| Ardennes | -14.9% |
| Arige | -19.6% |
| Dawn | -15.2% |
| Aude | -20.8% |
| Aveyron | -17.7% |
| Bouches-du-Rhne | -1.3% |
| Calvados | -14.3% |
| Cantal | -22.3% |
| Charente | -13.2% |
| Charente Maritime | -17.5% |
| Dear | -13.6% |
| Corrze | -18.4% |
| Cte-d’Or | -9.8% |
| Ctes-d’Armor | -16.8% |
| Dig | -22.8% |
| Dordogne | -20.1% |
| Doubs | -11.7% |
| Drm | -9.9% |
| Eure | -10.6% |
| Eure-et-Loir | -11.8% |
| finister | -13.9% |
| South Corsica | -14.1% |
| Upper Corsica | -17.0% |
| Gard | -12.7% |
| Upper Garonne | +1.9% |
| Gers | -20.2% |
| Gironde | -6.0% |
| Hrault | -11.2% |
| Ille-et-Vilaine | -8.8% |
| Indre | -18.4% |
| Indre et Loire | -10.5% |
| isre | +0.1% |
| Jura | -13.7% |
| Landes | -17.5% |
| Loir et Cher | -14.3% |
| Loire | -10.6% |
| Upper Loire | -19.2% |
| Loire Atlantique | -6.3% |
| Loiret | -9.3% |
| Batch | -17.7% |
| Lot et Garonne | -18.7% |
| Lozre | -23.0% |
| Maine et Loire | -14.0% |
| Sleeve | -13.6% |
| Marl | -9.2% |
| Haute Marne | -17.9% |
| Mayenne | -14.5% |
| Meurthe et Moselle | -11.1% |
| Meuse | -16.2% |
| Morbihan | -16.0% |
| Moselle | -12.4% |
| Nivre | -19.0% |
| North | -7.3% |
| oise | -9.8% |
| adorns | -18.8% |
| Pas-de-Calais | -16.3% |
| Puy de Dme | -7.9% |
| Pyrenees-Atlantiques | -10.6% |
| Hautes-Pyrnes | -19.0% |
| Pyrenees-Orientales | -18.7% |
| Lower Rhine | -5.8% |
| Upper Rhine | -9.1% |
| Rhne metropolis of Lyon | 5.0% |
| Upper Sane | -17.7% |
| Sane et Loire | -13.4% |
| Sarthe | -14.4% |
| Savoy | -7.9% |
| Haute-Savoie | -5.3% |
| Paris | +42.5% |
| Seine Maritime | -7.1% |
| Seine et Marne | -5.2% |
| Yvelines | +21.2% |
| Two-Svres | -10.4% |
| Sum | -14.0% |
| Tarn | -15.4% |
| Tarn et Garonne | -17.9% |
| Var | -14.7% |
| Vaucluse | -13.9% |
| sell | -16.9% |
| Vienna | -15.4% |
| Haute-Vienne | -14.9% |
| Vosges | -16.2% |
| Yonne | -16.3% |
| Territory-of-Belfort | -3.1% |
| Essone | +8.0% |
| Hauts-de-Seine | +58.0% |
| Seine-Saint-Denis | +10.2% |
| Val de Marne | +11.5% |
| Val d’Oise | -0.7% |
| Guadeloupe | -9.7% |
| Martinique | -10.3% |
| Guyana | -7.4% |
| Reunion | -15.7% |
Source: INSEE. Salaries in EQTP in the private sector at departmental level in 2021.
How to read this table? In 2021, in Paris, in the private sector, the average full-time equivalent salary (EQTP) exceeds the national average by 42.5%.
Median net salary: 2012 euros
Source: INSEE. The highest blue bar, for those who earn between 1,500 and 1,599 euros net, concerns 1.16 million salaries.
2012euros net salary per month: do you earn more than half of the French?