Most people place themselves in the middle class whether they are there or not. The middle class has a definition, though, and it is a number you can check against your own payslip in a minute: 75% to 200% of your country's median income after tax, per adult. Below the lower line you are, statistically, lower income; above the upper line, upper income. The word is the OECD's, the figures below are Eurostat's, and the surprise is how far the line moves at each border.
The band, per country and per month
The table shows the median income after tax and benefits that Eurostat measured for each country in its 2025 survey (income year 2024), turned into the middle-class band per month. The first column is for a single adult. The second is for a couple with two children under 14, which on the household scale counts as 2.1 adults, so every figure is the single figure times 2.1. All figures are rounded to the euro.
| Country | Single adult, € a month | Couple + 2 children, € a month |
|---|---|---|
| Luxembourg | 3,128 to 8,341 | 6,569 to 17,516 |
| Austria | 2,284 to 6,091 | 4,796 to 12,791 |
| Denmark | 2,262 to 6,032 | 4,750 to 12,667 |
| Ireland | 2,196 to 5,856 | 4,612 to 12,298 |
| Netherlands | 2,154 to 5,744 | 4,523 to 12,062 |
| Belgium | 1,956 to 5,216 | 4,108 to 10,954 |
| Finland | 1,859 to 4,957 | 3,904 to 10,410 |
| Germany | 1,806 to 4,815 | 3,793 to 10,111 |
| Sweden | 1,786 to 4,762 | 3,751 to 10,000 |
| France | 1,654 to 4,410 | 3,473 to 9,261 |
| EU average | 1,434 to 3,823 | 3,011 to 8,028 |
| Cyprus | 1,379 to 3,678 | 2,896 to 7,724 |
| Italy | 1,379 to 3,677 | 2,896 to 7,722 |
| Malta | 1,377 to 3,672 | 2,892 to 7,711 |
| Slovenia | 1,276 to 3,403 | 2,680 to 7,146 |
| Spain | 1,273 to 3,394 | 2,673 to 7,127 |
| Estonia | 1,072 to 2,858 | 2,251 to 6,002 |
| Czechia | 950 to 2,533 | 1,995 to 5,319 |
| Croatia | 941 to 2,510 | 1,976 to 5,271 |
| Portugal | 904 to 2,411 | 1,898 to 5,063 |
| Poland | 900 to 2,399 | 1,890 to 5,038 |
| Latvia | 874 to 2,330 | 1,835 to 4,893 |
| Lithuania | 874 to 2,330 | 1,835 to 4,893 |
| Slovakia | 812 to 2,165 | 1,705 to 4,546 |
| Greece | 731 to 1,950 | 1,535 to 4,095 |
| Bulgaria | 554 to 1,477 | 1,163 to 3,102 |
| Hungary | 550 to 1,465 | 1,155 to 3,076 |
| Romania | 512 to 1,364 | 1,075 to 2,864 |
Source: Eurostat, EU-SILC table ilc_di03, median equivalised net income, survey year 2025 (income reference year 2024), dataset updated June 2026. Band definition: OECD, Under Pressure: The Squeezed Middle Class, 2019.
How to read your row
Take what lands in the household's accounts in a normal month after tax and contributions, add any benefits or pension that arrive, and compare it with the row for your country and your household type. A single adult in Germany with 1,700 a month after tax is just under the German line; the same person with 1,900 is inside the band. A couple in Spain with two small children and 4,000 a month between them is in the middle; with 7,500 they are at the top of it.
Two things people get wrong. The band is about income after tax, so a gross salary has to be turned into net first. And it is a household measure divided by household size, which is why a family needs about twice the income of a single person to sit at the same point.
Why the same pay is upper class in one country and lower in the next
The band is set by each country's own median, so it does not travel. In Bulgaria, a single adult is upper income from 1,477 a month. In Luxembourg, middle income does not even start until 3,128. The same 1,477 a month is upper class in Sofia and lower class in Luxembourg City, before anyone has compared the price of a flat or a coffee.
That is the honest reading of the table: it tells you where you stand among the people you share a country, a tax system and a housing market with. It does not tell you how far your money goes, which is the next question, and a different table.
What the number leaves out
- Prices. Everything above is in euros at market rates. Purchasing power adjustments narrow the gap between countries considerably; they do not move you across your own country's line.
- Wealth. Income is what arrives each month. A paid-off flat, savings or debt are not in it, and they change what a given income feels like more than anything else.
- Housing costs. Two households with the same income and rents of 600 and 1,400 are not living the same life. The band cannot see rent.
- The year. Income year 2024 is the newest complete data. Wages and medians have moved since, roughly in step, so the shape of the table holds while the exact euro lines drift up.
If you had to look up your row to know, that is the point of the table. Most people do.
Where to go from here
The one number that is yours to change in this picture is the net line on your own payslip, and the first step is knowing it exactly rather than roughly. Gen Finance's free calculators do that sum for 30 European countries on this year's rules, with no signup: what your gross becomes after each deduction, and what a monthly amount grows into. They are the tools the videos point to, and they are free to keep using.
Common questions
Where does the 75% to 200% band come from?
From the OECD, which defines the middle-income class as households earning between 75% and 200% of the national median income (Under Pressure: The Squeezed Middle Class, 2019). Below 75% is lower income, above 200% is upper income. It is a statistical band, not a judgement about anyone's life.
Which income is this: gross salary or take-home pay?
Neither exactly. It is equivalised disposable income: everything a household has left after tax and social contributions, including pensions and benefits, divided by the number of people in it on a scale where the first adult counts 1.0, every further adult 0.5 and every child under 14 0.3. For a single adult it is simply the household's income after tax. That is why the table has a second column for a family of four.
Does the table account for how much things cost in each country?
No. These are euros at market exchange rates, before price differences. A Bulgarian upper-class income buys more in Sofia than the same euros buy in Luxembourg, and less than a Luxembourg middle-class income buys there. The band is a ranking within each country; comparing across countries needs purchasing power adjustments, which change the numbers but not which side of the line you sit on at home.