The ancient capital of Nanjing is one of the largest cities in China and one of the country’s top 10 highest-paying.
It is also one of the key hubs of the Yangtze River Delta, along with other giants like Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Ningbo, and Wuxi.
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 Nanjing 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 Nanjing: Government Data
Nanjing Statistics Bureau
In July 2024, Nanjing’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: ¥154,206 RMB ($21,870 USD)
Average monthly income: ¥12,851 RMB ($1,822 USD)
Private Jobs
Average annual income: ¥82,311 RMB ($11,674 USD)
Average monthly income: ¥6,859 RMB ($972 USD)
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 seems to be a self-reported survey, likely required for submission by legal entities (as this is a government bureau after all):
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.
Nanjing’s Historic Salary Growth
In the 2023 bureau report (reflecting 2022 wages), the average annual salary in the public category was listed as ¥149,214 RMB ($21,162 USD), an increase of 3.35% from the previous year.
If we look further back into the bureau’s reports, the average wage in Nanjing has risen nearly 140% since the 2014 report:
Average Salary in Nanjing: Local HR Data
Nanjing 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.
Nanjing came in at the #5 spot with an average monthly salary of ¥11,142 RMB ($1,580 USD)/month. Nanjing’s median salary here is ¥9,001 RMB ($1,276 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.
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 (including Nanjing) all exceeded ¥9,000 RMB ($1,267 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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