Japan's Average Private-Sector Salary Rises 1.9% to 4.87 Million Yen in 2025 Survey

Japan’s National Tax Agency released the findings of its 2025 Private-Sector Salary Survey, reporting that the average annual wage for employees who worked throughout the year rose 1.9% from the previous year to 4.87 million yen, an increase of 91,000 yen.

Breakdown by Gender and Employment Status

The total number of year-round salaried employees reached 51.63 million, up 0.5% (260,000 workers) year on year.

• Men: 29.34 million workers (up 0.3%), with an average annual wage of 5.97 million yen (up 1.7%, or 100,000 yen).
• Women: 22.29 million workers (up 0.8%), with an average annual wage of 3.42 million yen (up 2.6%, or 86,000 yen).
• Regular Employees: Averaged 5.59 million yen, a 2.6% increase (up 144,000 yen).
• Non-Regular Employees: Averaged 2.10 million yen, a 1.6% increase (up 32,000 yen).

In terms of wage distribution, the largest income bracket for men was over 4 million yen to 5 million yen, accounting for 4.87 million workers (16.6%). For women, the most common bracket was over 2 million yen to 3 million yen, representing 4.17 million workers (18.7%).

Total Payroll and Withheld Income Tax

As of December 31, 2025, the total number of salaried workers stood at 60.80 million. Aggregate private-sector payroll payments increased by 2.6% to 247.65 trillion yen, an addition of 6.21 trillion yen from the previous year.

Withheld income tax surged 17.4% to 13.13 trillion yen, bringing the tax-to-payroll ratio to 5.30%. Among all salaried workers, 41.75 million individuals (80.9%) paid income tax through withholding.

Of the 47.44 million workers who completed year-end tax adjustments, 11.22 million claimed spousal or dependent deductions, marking a 4.5% decline from the previous year.