Income earned in 2024Published September 2025

What does ¥4.78 million a year mean in Japan?

See where an annual salary sits among 51.37 million private-sector workers, then compare pay by sex, industry, company size, age, and years with the same employer.

¥4,775,000average gross annual salary2024

Source: 2024 Private-Sector Salary Survey

01

A salary means more when you can place it

¥5 million is above the middle of the national distribution, but the comparison changes sharply by industry, employer size, and sex.

Enter a gross yearly salary, then choose the comparison group. The estimate uses the NTA's published ¥1 million salary bands; it does not assume access to individual tax records.

Annual salary distribution

Share of full-year workers in each gross salary band. Change the group to redraw the distribution.

51,365,699 people

7.7%Up to ¥1m
11.1%¥1m–2m
13.2%¥2m–3m
16.1%¥3m–4m
15.3%¥4m–5m
11.8%¥5m–6m
7.6%¥6m–7m
5.3%¥7m–8m
3.4%¥8m–9m
2.4%¥9m–10m
4.5%¥10m–15m
1.1%¥15m–20m
0.3%¥20m–25m
0.3%Over ¥25m

Salary position

Where does your salary sit?

Use actual gross annual pay before deductions, including bonuses.

Approximate because the source publishes salary bands, not individual salaries.

Age cannot be used for this percentile because the NTA does not publish salary-band counts crossed with age.

Source: 2024 Private-Sector Salary Survey

02

Age changes average pay, but differently for each group

The national average peaks for men aged 55–59, while women's average remains much flatter across working ages.

Switch from sex to industry or employer size to see how the age curve changes. These are group averages, separate from the salary-band percentile above.

Average annual salary by age

Gross salary plus bonus among people employed throughout the year.

¥1,183,000Under 20
¥2,771,00020–24
¥4,069,00025–29
¥4,487,00030–34
¥4,821,00035–39
¥5,161,00040–44
¥5,400,00045–49
¥5,594,00050–54
¥5,716,00055–59
¥4,730,00060–64
¥3,699,00065–69
¥3,047,00070+

Source: 2024 Private-Sector Salary Survey

03

Years at the same employer have their own pay curve

Workers with 30–34 years at the same employer average about ¥7.51 million across all industries.

Tenure means years with the current employer, not total career experience. Industry selection shows where the relationship is steepest or weakest.

Average annual salary by employer tenure

Select an industry to compare pay by completed years with the current employer.

¥3,477,0001–4 years
¥4,169,0005–9 years
¥4,703,00010–14 years
¥5,517,00015–19 years
¥6,115,00020–24 years
¥6,883,00025–29 years
¥7,509,00030–34 years
¥6,431,00035+ years

Source: 2024 Private-Sector Salary Survey