Average salary of an employee in urban China 2012-2022

In 2022, an employee working for a not privately held company or organization in urban areas of China earned around 114,029 yuan annually on average. That year, the year-on-year growth rate of the average salary ranged at 6.7 percent nominally and 4.6 percent real.

Regional differences in salary levels

Salary levels in urban China have seen a significant rise between 2012 and 2022. During that period, average annual salaries of employees in non-private urban units have grown from 46,800 to 114,000 yuan per year. Yet as of 2021, large income disparities still existed between different regions in China. While employees in Beijing enjoyed the highest annual salaries on average, Henan province and Heilongjiang province in central and northeastern China displayed the lowest average annual salaries. Regions with lower income levels are mainly located in central China or in the former centers of steel and heavy industry in Northeast China, whereas the coastal regions and municipalities in general still provide comparatively higher salaries.

Occupational salary differences

Moreover, a considerable salary discrepancy exists between different occupational groups in China. As of 2022, people working in IT services were atop the list earning about 220,400 yuan per year on average, whereas people in the hotels and catering sector reached approximately 111,400 yuan. Agricultural industries ranked at the lower end with an average annual salary of around 54,000 yuan.