The western city of Chengdu is one of the largest in China, with over 20 million people calling it their home.[1]
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 Chengdu 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 Chengdu: Government Data
Chengdu Statistics Bureau
In June 2024, Chengdu’s Municipal Bureau of Statistics[2] released its most recent data on salaries. The figures represent wage data collected throughout 2023.
All jobs
Average annual income: ¥100,606 RMB ($14,182 USD)
Average monthly income: ¥8,384 RMB ($1,181 USD)
Annual Increase: 4.3% (4.1% after inflation)
They further broke down the salary figures into private and non-private job categories:
Public jobs
Average annual income: ¥125,448 RMB ($17,684 USD)
Average monthly income: ¥10,454 RMB ($1,473 USD)
Annual Increase: 6.8%
Private Jobs
Average annual income: ¥67,834 RMB ($9,562 USD)
Average monthly income: ¥5,653 RMB ($796 USD)
Annual Increase: 4.2%
Data considerations
The first thing to consider here is what they deemed private vs public. From the report:
Private entities specifically include: private limited liability companies, private joint stock companies, sole proprietorships and partnerships among domestic enterprises.
Non-private entities specifically include: domestic-funded (including government agencies and public institutions) units other than private units, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan-invested enterprises, and foreign-invested enterprises.
The report also specifies what exactly the term ‘total wages‘ means here:
Total wages: It includes time wages, piece wages, bonuses, allowances and subsidies, overtime wages, wages paid under special circumstances, and is the sum of the total wages of on-the-job employees, the total wages of dispatched employees, and the total wages of other employees
The data collection method described in the report does leave this writer wanting a bit more clarification (a trend among city statistics bureaus). It seems to be a self-reported survey, likely required for submission by legal entities (as this is a government bureau after all). Here it is from the report:
A comprehensive survey method is adopted for legal entities that use one set of forms, and a sampling survey method is adopted for legal entities that do not use one set of forms.
Chengdu’s Historic Salary Growth
In the 2023 bureau report (reflecting 2022 wages), the average annual salary in the public category was listed as ¥96,413 RMB ($13,591 USD), an increase of 5.0% from the previous year (2.5% after inflation).
If we look further back into the bureau’s reports, the average wage in Chengdu has risen nearly 95% since the 2015 report:
Average Salary in Chengdu: Local HR Data
Chengdu Salary Data (Zhilian Zhaopin)
Local HR giant Zhaopin regularly releases salary data for cities across China. The above photo shows the top 38 cities’ average and median salary levels in Q2 2024.
Chengdu came in at the #17 spot with an average monthly salary of ¥9,813 RMB ($1,383 USD)/month. Chengdu’s median salary here is ¥8,001 RMB ($1,127 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.
Beijing ranked second with an average monthly salary of ¥13,351 RMB ($1,874 USD)/month.
Shenzhen comes in at the #3 spot with an average monthly salary of ¥12,799 RMB ($1,796 USD)/month.
Hangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, 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.
The median of the top 8 cities all exceeded ¥9,000 RMB ($1,267 USD)/month
The median of the top 19 cities (including Chengdu) all exceeded ¥8,000 RMB ($1,127 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.
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