Best net take-home pay
Where does an average worker keep the most of their gross pay? On the net personal average tax rate, Colombia leads — a single average worker keeps about 100% of gross — ahead of Chile (92.8%) and Costa Rica (89.3%). This counts only income tax and the employee's own contributions; employer social security still adds to the total wedge. Modelled averages — not tax advice.
Source: OECD Taxing Wages. Data as of June 2026 (OECD Taxing Wages, 2023 data year).
Take-home pay ranked, best first
| # | Country | Keeps (% of gross) | Net avg tax rate | Total tax wedge | Net take-home (USD PPP) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colombia | 100% | 0% | 0% | $16,615 |
| 2 | Chile | 92.8% | 7.2% | 7.2% | $27,228 |
| 3 | Costa Rica | 89.3% | 10.7% | 28.6% | $24,740 |
| 4 | Mexico | 89% | 11% | 20% | $14,998 |
| 5 | Korea | 83.8% | 16.2% | 24.6% | $55,956 |
| 6 | Switzerland | 81.4% | 18.6% | 23.5% | $81,465 |
| 7 | Israel | 81.2% | 18.8% | 23.2% | $39,975 |
| 8 | Estonia | 81.2% | 18.9% | 39.4% | $29,254 |
| 9 | Czechia | 80% | 20% | 40.2% | $30,492 |
| 10 | New Zealand | 79% | 21.1% | 21.1% | $40,381 |
| 11 | Spain | 77.9% | 22.1% | 40.2% | $38,064 |
| 12 | Japan | 77.4% | 22.6% | 33% | $41,562 |
| 13 | Poland | 76.4% | 23.6% | 34.3% | $32,636 |
| 14 | United Kingdom | 76.3% | 23.6% | 31.3% | $52,790 |
| 15 | Sweden | 76.1% | 23.9% | 42.1% | $43,556 |
| 16 | United States | 75.8% | 24.3% | 29.9% | $50,954 |
| 17 | Slovak Republic | 75.7% | 24.3% | 41.6% | $22,614 |
| 18 | Greece | 75.2% | 24.8% | 38.5% | $32,983 |
| 19 | Australia | 75.1% | 24.9% | 29.2% | $52,668 |
| 20 | Canada | 74.4% | 25.6% | 31.9% | $54,408 |
| 21 | Latvia | 72.9% | 27.1% | 41.1% | $25,533 |
| 22 | Netherlands | 72.7% | 27.4% | 35.1% | $56,816 |
| 23 | Iceland | 72.6% | 27.4% | 31.7% | $55,620 |
| 24 | France | 72.5% | 27.5% | 46.8% | $44,152 |
| 25 | Türkiye | 72.4% | 27.6% | 38.4% | $33,314 |
| 26 | Italy | 72.3% | 27.7% | 45.1% | $38,114 |
| 27 | Ireland | 72% | 28% | 35.1% | $55,475 |
| 28 | Norway | 71.9% | 28.1% | 36.4% | $59,594 |
| 29 | Portugal | 71.5% | 28.6% | 42.3% | $29,328 |
| 30 | Finland | 68.4% | 31.6% | 43.5% | $44,359 |
| 31 | Austria | 67.4% | 32.6% | 47.2% | $51,288 |
| 32 | Luxembourg | 66.8% | 33.2% | 41.3% | $55,929 |
| 33 | Hungary | 66.5% | 33.5% | 41.1% | $26,544 |
| 34 | Slovenia | 65.8% | 34.2% | 43.3% | $29,918 |
| 35 | Denmark | 64% | 36% | 36.4% | $52,734 |
| 36 | Germany | 62.6% | 37.4% | 47.9% | $50,959 |
| 37 | Lithuania | 62.2% | 37.8% | 38.9% | $28,683 |
| 38 | Belgium | 60.1% | 39.9% | 52.7% | $48,922 |
Source: OECD Taxing Wages. Data as of June 2026 (OECD Taxing Wages, 2023 data year).
Take-home vs the full wedge
Keeping a big share of your gross wage feels great, but the employer also pays social-security contributions on top — money that could otherwise be wages. To see the full picture, compare this with the total tax wedge and employer social security rankings.
Frequently asked questions
Which OECD country lets workers keep the most take-home pay?
On the net personal average tax rate (income tax plus employee social security as a share of gross wage), Colombia lets a single average worker keep the most — about 100% of gross — followed by Chile (92.8%) and Costa Rica (89.3%). Note this measure excludes employer social security, which still adds to the total tax wedge.
Why doesn't take-home pay match the tax wedge?
The net personal average tax rate only counts what the worker visibly loses — income tax and the employee's own social-security contributions. The tax wedge also includes employer contributions, which sit on top of gross pay. So a country can let a worker keep a large share of gross (high take-home) while still having a high total tax wedge because of a big employer-side contribution.
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Last updated: 2026-06-29