The city of Chongqing is one of the (or the[1]) largest in China.
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 Chongqing 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 Chongqing: Government Data
Chongqing Statistics Bureau
In June 2024, Chongqing’s Statistics Bureau[2] released its most recent data on salaries. The figures represent wage data collected throughout 2023.
They specifically split up the data into private and non-private categories.
Non-Private Jobs
Average annual income: ¥113,653 RMB ($16,112 USD)
Average monthly income: ¥9,471 RMB ($1,342 USD)
Annual Increase: 6.2%
Private Jobs
Average annual income: ¥63,941 RMB ($9,064 USD)
Average monthly income: ¥5,328 RMB ($755 USD)
Annual Increase: 5.9%
Personnel Categories
The Bureau further dove into average salaries in the city with ‘personnel’ categories. Here is the annual average wage for each of these-
Middle-level and above managers: ¥169,106 RMB ($23,974 USD)
Professional and technical personnel: ¥115,723 RMB ($16,405 USD)
Office and related personnel: ¥75,372 RMB ($10,685 USD)
Social production and life service personnel: ¥62,067 RMB ($8,799 USD)
Production and manufacturing and related personnel: ¥69,709 RMB ($9,882 USD)
Just a note that only ‘Enterprises above a designated size’ were used for these categories.
Data considerations
The report also specifies what exactly the term ‘total wages‘ means here:
Total wages refer to the total amount of labor remuneration directly paid to employees of the unit during the reporting period (quarter or year). It includes time wages, piece wages, bonuses, allowances and subsidies, overtime wages, and wages paid under special circumstances.
The total wage is the pre-tax wage, including personal income tax, social insurance funds, housing provident fund and other personal contributions.
On private vs non-private categories:
Private legal entities specifically include: private limited liability companies, private joint stock companies, sole proprietorships and partnerships among domestic enterprises.
Non-private legal entities in urban areas 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 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.
Average Salary in Chongqing: Local HR Data
Chongqing 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.
Chongqing came in at the #22 spot with an average monthly salary of ¥9,266 RMB ($1,313 USD)/month. Chongqing’s median salary here is ¥7,501 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, Guangzhou, Suzhou, and Ningbo round out the top 8.
Chongqing has a similar salary level to Qingdao (#21) and Tianjin (#24).
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 28 cities (including Chongqing) all exceeded ¥7,500 RMB ($1,057 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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