Unequal score: the difference in salaries of rich and poor decreased to 7.5 times
Russians with the lowest incomes earn 7.5 times less than the richest. In 2025, the gap has narrowed to a record: 20% of the least paid employees receive an average of 31 thousand rubles, while top specialists receive 233 thousand rubles, FinExpertiza calculated based on Rosstat data (Izvestia has it). The main reasons are the accelerated growth of salaries for workers and mass staff against the background of a shortage of personnel, as well as an increase in the minimum wage. However, the difference is still high — in developed countries it is usually 2-6 times. In which areas the spread is minimal and to whom the salary was cut this year, see the Izvestia article.
Why has wage inequality decreased?
In 2025, at large and medium—sized enterprises in Russia, 20% of the least paid employees received an average of 31 thousand rubles, while 20% of the most expensive specialists received 233 thousand rubles. The gap was 7.5 times, which is the minimum for the entire observation period since 2000, calculated by the FinExpertiza audit and consulting network based on Rosstat data (such statistics are published every two years).
For measurement, analysts used an approach in which the entire population is divided into five equal groups. The statistical series is arranged depending on the income level: the first 20% group includes citizens with the lowest income, and the fifth - with the highest.
Before the pandemic, the income gap was gradually decreasing, but in 2021, as the economy recovered, it increased again to eight times, the study says. By 2023, the convergence trend resumed (up to 7.7 times) and continues to this day.
Over the past two years, salaries of low—paid workers have increased by 38%, while those of top specialists have increased by 34%.
— The narrowing of the salary gap is due to the fact that in recent years the incomes of low-paid employees have been growing fastest. The shortage of blue—collar workers forces businesses to raise salaries in this segment, raising the entire bottom of the distribution," explained Elena Trubnikova, president of FinExpertiza.
In conditions of staff shortages, companies raise minimum wages to market levels, and scarce specialists are often offered even higher, said the research director. hh.ru Maria Ignatova. According to her, the salaries of those who have traditionally been on the bottom rung of income are growing most noticeably — it is easy to entice such employees by offering a little more. And the salaries of the most affluent over the past year have been indexed minimally (with the exception of rare specialists), since the motivation of this group is broader than just money.
An important role in reducing inequality was also played by an increase in the minimum wage — from 2025 it is 22.4 thousand, almost 17% more than a year earlier, the All-Russian Research Institute of Labor reminded Izvestia.
However, the 7.5-fold wage gap is still significant, said Yulia Dolzhenkova, a professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. For comparison, in developed countries — Sweden, France, Switzerland — it ranges from two to six times. According to her, the optimal range is considered to be no higher than four to seven times.
Who's salaries are growing the fastest in Russia
The income gap is most pronounced in the field of personal services (repairs, dry cleaners, beauty salons) — 11 times, the study showed. On average, employees of the lower segment receive 23 thousand rubles, and the most expensive specialists receive 260 thousand rubles. A similar situation is observed in IT and communications — 44 thousand against 494 thousand.
Inequality in the financial sector remains significantly higher than the Russian average: salaries there vary by 9.5 times — 50 thousand versus 474 thousand.
Minimal differentiation is typical for the branches of the real sector. The lowest level of inequality (about five times) was recorded in mining (60 thousand versus 292 thousand), agriculture (30 versus 157 thousand), housing and communal services (29 and 148 thousand) and manufacturing (44 and 224 thousand).
The All-Russian Research Institute of Labor confirmed the increase in salaries in manufacturing industries, specifying that the most noticeable increase occurred in the military-industrial complex.
The difference in salaries in the extraction of raw materials and manufacturing industries is small, because unified wage systems operate there, SuperJob explained. Incomes are also affected by the state, directly through state—owned companies and indirectly through the government procurement system. Employers try to ensure that the level of productivity of employees is approximately the same. But in housing and communal services and agriculture, the opposite is true: there are many low-paying jobs that do not require special competencies.
Agriculture also needs qualified personnel today, as salaries in the industry are growing due to their shortage, said Yulia Dolzhenkova, a professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. Automation and mechanization are changing the content of professions and require a higher level of knowledge, which is also why salaries are being raised.
In the IT and financial sectors, on the contrary, the gap between skill levels is particularly large. Experienced specialists have been developing unique skills for years, their competencies are highly focused and therefore difficult to replace, the expert added.
Today, the lowest salaries are usually received by employees in the personal services sector (cleaners, nurses), as well as unskilled workers in agriculture and trade, said the deputy General Director of "Work.<url>" by Alexander Veterkov. In contrast to them, there are top managers of large companies in oil and gas and finance, as well as IT specialists (leading developers, architects).
At the same time, in 2025, the largest salary increases were observed in the field of industrial equipment (+28%), the extractive industry (+22%) and the financial sector (+18%), shared Maria Ignatova from hh.ru . At the same time, salaries decreased in a number of areas: business services (-29%), IT (-9%), heavy machinery (-7%), housing and communal services (-3%) and government organizations (-2%), Ignatova added.
Which regions have the biggest salary differences?
The wage gap depends not only on the industry, but also on the region. The minimum inequality was recorded in Tuva — 3.6 times with a spread from 36 thousand to 131 thousand rubles. Kalmykia and Ingushetia are next, four times each, according to calculations by FinExpertiza.
The largest difference is typical for Moscow — 8.7 times, from 51 to 442 thousand rubles. A high level of inequality is also observed in the Astrakhan region (6.7 times), St. Petersburg and the Moscow region (6.6 times).
Such differences are related to the level of development of the regions and their specialization, explained the All-Russian Research Institute of Labor. Thus, low-income agriculture prevails in some regions, while large and high-tech industries are concentrated in others, where salaries are significantly higher.
The high disparity in salaries in the capital is explained by the fact that the head offices of the largest companies with top employees are concentrated here, said Olga Belenkaya, head of the Macroeconomic Analysis Department at Finam. At the same time, many Muscovites receive modest incomes — these are state employees and grassroots personnel in the service sector.
— The difference between the regions is also significant. In the raw material districts of the Yamalo—Nenets Autonomous District, Khanty—Mansi Autonomous Okrug, and Chukotka, where northern allowances are in effect, as well as in Moscow, salaries are consistently higher than the Russian average, and even more so compared to the "lagging" territories. In recent years, income growth has accelerated in industrial centers, where defense industry enterprises work in several shifts. And in a number of southern regions, shadow employment and, probably, incomplete reporting of actual salaries are added to high unemployment," the expert recalled.
SuperJob noted that the wage gap between the capital and the regions has been decreasing for several years in a row. Over the past year, it has decreased the most in Novosibirsk and Rostov-on-Don — by 4 percentage points, which brought incomes in these cities closer to the level of the capital's labor market.
A further increase in the minimum wage at a faster pace — to at least 35 thousand by 2030 (according to a presidential decree) — should reduce the gap at the bottom of the salary scale, the All-Russian Research Institute of Labor predicts. And the introduction of a progressive personal income tax system will curb inequality at the expense of upper incomes.
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