How your salary's purchasing power has changed, 2026

Your net rises and so do prices: how the real value of your salary in Austria has changed over the years. The tax brackets were cut and, since 2023, indexed to inflation every year, yet prices rose faster over the same period. This page weighs the two against each other, using the same rule set as the calculators and Statistik Austria's consumer price index.

Your net pay 2021 and 2026

+€31.04 purchasing power
€2,831.50
per month 2026
€2,173.88
per month 2021
Purchasing power 2021 98.90% Purchasing power gained 1.10%
Net change
30.25%
net 2026 ÷ net 2021
Prices
28.82%
CPI 2021 → 2026, provisional

2021 and 2026 compared

Value20212026
Gross€3,257.00€4,230.00
per year€45,598.00€59,220.00
Net€2,173.88€2,831.50
per year€31,198.63€40,610.13
Prices–+28.82% (provisional)
Purchasing power–+€31.04 · +1.11%
per year–+€419.13 · +1.04%
Gross for equal purchasing power–€4,173.65

Your gross rose 5.37% a year, prices 5.20% · price index still provisional

Nominal against real

Net per year
Net (as paid)
Purchasing power (2026 euros)

Your salary 2026

€

2021 ⇄ 2026 · 5 yearsPurchasing power +€419.13 a year

Your salary 2021

€

Why your net moved as it did

Your salary from 2021 to 2026

In 2021 you earned €3,257.00 gross a month, which was €2,173.88 net. In 2026 it is €4,230.00 gross and €2,831.50 net: a pay rise of 29.87%, 5.37% a year on average.

Prices rose 28.82% over that time (2026 price index provisional). Your 2021 net would be worth €2,800.46 today. With €2,831.50 you can afford €31.04 a month more than then, a gain of 1.11% in purchasing power.

What moved your net most, per year: How your pay moved +€7,382, Tax brackets (§ 33 EStG) +€1,984 and Tax credits +€96. Prices take €8,992 of it; that leaves +€419 in purchasing power a year (+1.04%, with the 13th and 14th salary).

€4,173.65 gross a month would keep your 2021 purchasing power; your salary is €56.35 above that.

The table beside this shows your net for every year, per year and in that year's euros. Identical figures in consecutive years are not a bug, and at high salaries the net can even fall: the card “Why your net moved as it did” says why. Purchasing power measures each row against 2021, which therefore reads 100.00%. Real restates every year in 2026 euros so the rows compare: a large figure in an early year means that year's net would be worth that much today. The CPI is the consumer price index (2020 = 100), the price level itself: it rises as purchasing power falls. From 2026 the price index is not final yet (provisional for a year still running, a forecast for a future one); the tax rules are settled. Clicking a row makes that year the newer one of the comparison.

Calculated for: Employee, Vienna, no children, with 13th and 14th salary, no commuter allowance, benefit in kind or one-off payments. Your net with every option: the gross-to-net calculator.

Year
Purchasing power
Net/year
Real (2026 euros)
CPI
2027 (forecast)
98.98%
€40,816
€39,783
135.9
2026 (provisional)
101.04%
€40,610
€40,610
132.4
2025
100.04%
€38,924
€40,209
128.2
2024
98.65%
€37,065
€39,649
123.8
2023
95.56%
€34,889
€38,407
120.3
2022
96.82%
€32,792
€38,913
111.6
2021
100.00%
€31,199
€40,191
102.8
2020
102.88%
€31,224
€41,350
100.0
2019
103.17%
€30,874
€41,467
98.6
2018
104.77%
€30,874
€42,107
97.1
2017
106.86%
€30,874
€42,948
95.2
2016
109.03%
€30,874
€43,822
93.3
2015
104.91%
€29,420
€42,166
92.4
2014
105.83%
€29,420
€42,534
91.6
2013
107.59%
€29,420
€43,242
90.1
2012
109.79%
€29,420
€44,124
88.3
2011
112.46%
€29,420
€45,199
86.2
2010
116.10%
€29,420
€46,660
83.5
2009
118.36%
€29,420
€47,572
81.9
2008
116.11%
€28,754
€46,666
81.6
2007
120.01%
€28,774
€48,235
79.0
2006
122.49%
€28,774
€49,232
77.4
2005
124.42%
€28,774
€50,007
76.2
2004
125.01%
€28,302
€50,241
74.6
2003
128.10%
€28,380
€51,484
73.0
2002
129.70%
€28,380
€52,127
72.1

Frequently asked questions

Your 2021 net was €31,199 a year. Restated in 2026 euros that is €40,191 — what you would need today to afford the same things. You actually have €40,610, so €419 more purchasing power than back then.
Because two things move at once. Your net rose from €31,199 to €40,610, which is more euros. Over the same period prices rose 28.82%. What decides the outcome is not which number grew, but which grew faster: here it was your pay, so you end up buying more than before.
To have the same purchasing power in 2026 as in 2021, you would need €4,174 gross a month. Your current gross is already €56 above it. That figure is NOT simply your old gross times the price rise. Tax and social insurance do not scale proportionally: part of every raise goes to them, while the brackets have been indexed to inflation since 2023 and several tax credits are fixed amounts. Depending on the income, the amount needed therefore lands above or below the price rise alone.
The nominal wage is the figure in the account, in the money of that particular year. The real wage is the same figure converted into the money of one single year, so that two years can be compared at all. That conversion is what purchasing power means: when the nominal wage rises more slowly than prices, the real wage falls, and that fall is the loss of purchasing power. Without the conversion you are comparing two different currencies that happen to share a name: 1,000 euros from 2020 and 1,000 euros today are not the same thing, because they buy different amounts.
For each year the net is computed with that year's real tax and social insurance rules, using the same engine as the gross-to-net calculator. That net is then converted into 2026 euros with Statistik Austria's consumer price index (VPI): net × VPI(2026) ÷ VPI(that year). Nothing is estimated and nothing is modelled — both ingredients are published figures.
The tax rules for 2026 are settled; the price index is not. A year still running has monthly figures only, and a future one has none. The VPI for 2026 is therefore provisional and marked as such in the table. For a figure resting entirely on measured data, set the current year to 2025.
  • Prices · Consumer price index (Statistik Austria, base 2020 = 100)
  • Median · Jährliche Personeneinkommen (Statistik Austria)
  • Net · §§ 33 and 67 EStG 1988 (RIS)
  • Net · Each year's ASVG contribution law
  • Years with no published index · Tariflohnindex (Statistik Austria)
  • Years with no published index · WIFO economic forecast 3/2026 (14 Oct 2026)

Computed with the same engine as the gross-to-net calculator. The tax rules are settled for every year shown; the price index is not, and the table marks which years are provisional or forecast.