Beijing is the second highest-paying city in China (second only to Shanghai).
Today we’re breaking down multiple sources of public, local data to see what the average salary level really is in this megacity.
So let’s get to it! A dive into some 2024 Beijing salary data…
💡 Why not use data from international sources, you ask? When it comes to salary figures in China, we’ve found a big discrepancy in the data provided by most outlets.
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Average Salary in Beijing: Government Data
Human Resources Bureau Stats
In July 2024, Beijing’s Human Resources & Social Security Bureau[1] released its most recent data on urban salaries. Here are the figures they put out:
Average annual income: ¥141.132 RMB ($19,865 USD)
Average monthly income: ¥11,761 RMB ($1,655 USD)
Public, Private, and Corporate Salaries
In this same release, the bureau broke down average wages for public (government) workers, private (all non-government workers), and corporate (specific section of private) workers:
Public jobs
Average annual income: ¥188,413 RMB ($26,520 USD)
Average monthly income: ¥15,701 RMB ($2,210 USD)
Private Jobs
Average annual income: ¥105,931 RMB ($14,910 USD)
Average monthly income: ¥8,828 RMB ($1,242 USD)
Corporate Jobs
Average annual income: ¥186,020 RMB ($26,183 USD)
Average monthly income: ¥15,502 RMB ($2,182 USD)
Data considerations:
Coming from an official government bureau, this release uses data reported by firms for Social Insurance purposes.
In practice, firms may compensate employees in other ways that are not considered in these figures. Examples of this include things like commissions, bonuses, alternative perks, and offering extra social insurances.
Beijing Historic Salary Growth
In the 2023 bureau report, the average monthly salary was listed as ¥11,297 RMB ($1,590 USD), an increase of 4.11% from the previous year into 2024.
If we look further back into the bureau’s reports, the average wage in Beijing has risen rapidly over the last several years:
Average Salary in Beijing: Local HR Data
Beijing Salary Data (Zhilian Zhaopin)
Local HR giant Zhaopin regularly releases salary data for 38 core cities across China. The above photo shows these top cities’ average and median salary levels in Q2 2024.
Beijing has held the second spot on this list for quite some time and comes in at the #2 spot again with an average monthly salary of ¥13,351 RMB ($1,879 USD)/month. Beijing’s median salary for Zhaopin’s data set is ¥11,001 RMB ($1,548 USD)/month.
Compared to Other Top Cities
Shanghai took the first spot with an average monthly salary of ¥13,732 RMB ($1,933 USD)/month.
Shenzhen ranked third with an average monthly salary of ¥12,774 RMB ($1,780 USD)/month.
Hangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, Guangzhou, and Ningbo round out the top 8.
We also have median salary data here and can see the median of the top 3 cities – Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen – all exceeded ¥10,000 RMB ($1,393 USD)/month.
It’s also interesting to note that there is a 59% difference in the median salary between the first (Shanghai) and last (Harbin) cities on this list.
Related Resources:
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