USA and Norway Price and Income Comparisons
A quick and dirty comparison of salaries and cost of various consumer goods and services
A LOT OF people visiting Norway get sticker shock because our prices tend to be quite high. Many Americans ask questions about salaries, spending power, prices and taxes. This is just a quick and dirty comparison I made based on current exchange rate 16th of June 2022. The Norwegian currency can fluctuate quite a lot, which can change these comparisons quite a lot. I know many are under the false impression that exchange rates are very stable. They are not so much for small countries like Norway with big commodity exports.
Median wage in Norway is $55 000. The median wage in the US is $51,480. This is based on people working full time. Norwegian numbers are from Norwegian Statistical Bureau (SSB) published March 2022. American numbers from PolicyAdvice in March 2022 as well.
I tend to jokingly say that cheap things are expensive in Norway and expensive things are cheap. What I mean by that is that the small items you generally see when you enter a store such as food items, beverages, pencils, rubber bands, note books or whatever will generally cost a lot more in Norway. While the things that really put a big hole in your budget such as health care, legal aid and child care…
