The official median monthly wage of employees in Hong Kong was HK$21,200 in May - June 2025, 3.5% above the median of HK$20,500 recorded in May - June 2024 (Census and Statistics Department, 2025 Annual Earnings and Hours Survey, released 23 March 2026). The release does not publish an arithmetic mean; on that point, the official page does not state this. The headline statistic Hong Kong reports is the median, defined by C&SD as the value that delineates the lowest 50% of employees, so half of employees earned below HK$21,200 and half above. This guide therefore works in medians and percentiles rather than averages: the distribution tables below show the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentile monthly wages, and the corresponding hourly figures, together with breakdowns by age group, educational attainment, occupational group and industry section, the statutory minimum wage of HK$43.1 per hour with effect from 1 May 2026, and the published civil service Master Pay Scale.
What the median wage includes and excludes
The survey wage is a defined concept, not a pay-slip total (Census and Statistics Department, 2025 Annual Earnings and Hours Survey). It includes basic wage, commission and tips not of gratuitous nature, guaranteed bonuses and allowances, and overtime allowance paid during the survey period. It excludes bonuses and allowances of gratuitous nature, end of year payment, and payments in kind. Wage figures are rounded to the nearest hundred dollars.
Coverage is equally specific. The survey sampled about 10,000 business undertakings and covers all industries except agriculture, forestry and fishing. Government employees are excluded, as are student interns, work experience students and live-in domestic workers. Anyone benchmarking against the HK$21,200 median should therefore note that the public sector pay bill is not part of the statistic; civil service pay is published separately on the Master Pay Scale, set out below.
The reference period is May - June 2025. The figures are not current-quarter wages, and the official page does not state any more recent survey result.
Wage distribution: monthly and hourly percentiles
| Percentile | Monthly wage (HK$) | Change on May - June 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | 11,000 | +2.8% |
| 25th | 15,300 | +3.4% |
| 50th (median) | 21,200 | +3.5% |
| 75th | 33,000 | +3.3% |
| 90th | 51,300 | +2.7% |
| Percentile | Hourly wage (HK$) |
|---|---|
| 5th | 47.2 |
| 10th | 51.1 |
| 25th | 61.3 |
| 50th (median) | 85.7 |
| 75th | 135.9 |
| 90th | 214.2 |
The median hourly wage in May - June 2025 was HK$85.7, 3.4% higher than HK$82.9 in May - June 2024 (Census and Statistics Department, 2025 Annual Earnings and Hours Survey). The spread between the 10th percentile monthly wage of HK$11,000 and the 90th percentile of HK$51,300 indicates that the median alone conveys little about the shape of the market.
Median monthly wage by age group
| Age group | Median monthly wage (HK$) | Change on May - June 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| 15 - 24 | 15,200 | +3.6% |
| 25 - 34 | 22,900 | +4.0% |
| 35 - 44 | 25,000 | +5.1% |
| 45 - 54 | 21,500 | +3.6% |
| 55 and above | 17,000 | +3.0% |
Median pay peaks in the 35 - 44 band at HK$25,000 and declines in the older bands (Census and Statistics Department, 2025 Annual Earnings and Hours Survey). On an hourly basis, the median was highest at ages 35 - 44 (HK$100.0), followed by 25 - 34 (HK$90.0) and 45 - 54 (HK$86.4).
Median monthly wage by educational attainment
| Educational attainment | Median monthly wage (HK$) | Change on May - June 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Primary and below | 15,000 | +4.3% |
| Lower secondary | 16,500 | +3.8% |
| Upper secondary | 18,800 | +2.5% |
| Post-secondary | 31,500 | +0.7% |
The post-secondary median of HK$31,500 was the highest of the four levels and recorded the smallest year-on-year increase, at 0.7% (Census and Statistics Department, 2025 Annual Earnings and Hours Survey).
Median monthly wage by occupational group
| Occupational group | Median monthly wage (HK$) | Change on May - June 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Elementary occupations | 14,900 | +4.0% |
| Services and sales workers | 15,800 | +3.6% |
| Clerical support workers | 17,500 | +3.9% |
| Craft and related trades workers, plant and machine operators and assemblers | 25,000 | +4.1% |
| Managers, professionals and associate professionals | 32,700 | +3.4% |
Median monthly wage by industry section
| Industry section | Median monthly wage (HK$) | Change on May - June 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing (excluding food processing and production) | 20,200 | +3.1% |
| Electricity and gas supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation | 32,200 | +4.0% |
| Construction | 26,300 | +2.4% |
| Import and export trade | 21,400 | +2.9% |
| Wholesale | 17,700 | +3.2% |
| Retail trade | 15,000 | +3.4% |
| Land transport | 22,200 | +4.2% |
| Other transportation, storage, postal and courier services | 21,600 | +4.0% |
| Food and beverage services | 15,800 | +3.4% |
| Accommodation services | 18,800 | +4.4% |
| Information and communications | 28,600 | +4.7% |
| Financing and insurance | 34,000 | +3.8% |
| Real estate activities | 25,000 | +3.2% |
| Estate management, security and cleaning services | 15,500 | +5.1% |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities | 28,900 | +3.6% |
| Administrative and support services activities | 20,000 | +2.0% |
| Travel agency, reservation service and related activities | 17,000 | +5.0% |
| Education and public administration (excluding the Government) | 34,100 | +3.9% |
| Human health activities and beauty and body prettifying treatment | 22,400 | +4.1% |
| Other activities not classified above | 19,700 | +4.2% |
The two highest industry medians in May - June 2025 were education and public administration (excluding the Government) at HK$34,100 and financing and insurance at HK$34,000; the lowest were retail trade at HK$15,000 and estate management, security and cleaning services at HK$15,500 (Census and Statistics Department, 2025 Annual Earnings and Hours Survey).
Median wages by sex
| Measure | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
| Median monthly wage (HK$) | 24,200 | 18,700 |
| Year-on-year change | +3.4% | +3.4% |
| Median hourly wage (HK$) | 96.8 | 75.8 |
Both monthly medians rose by 3.4% on May - June 2024 (Census and Statistics Department, 2025 Annual Earnings and Hours Survey). The release does not explain the composition of the gap, and the official page does not state any decomposition by occupation, hours or age.
Statutory floor and the published civil service scale
Statutory minimum wage
The statutory minimum wage is HK$43.1 per hour with effect from 1 May 2026 (Labour Department, Statutory Minimum Wage page). It is a floor expressed as an hourly rate, not a monthly wage and not a median, and it takes effect after the May - June 2025 survey period to which the wage statistics above relate. The statutory floor and the surveyed median hourly wage of HK$85.7 are different measures from different dates.
Civil service Master Pay Scale
The civil service Master Pay Scale is published by the Civil Service Bureau as a monthly salary scale marked “For Reference Only”, showing salaries as at 31 March 2026 and with effect from 1 April 2026 (Civil Service Bureau, Master Pay Scale page). Selected points follow.
| Master Pay Scale point | Monthly salary as at 31.3.2026 (HK$) | Monthly salary w.e.f. 1.4.2026 (HK$) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 14,280 | 14,570 |
| 5 | 19,535 | 19,930 |
| 10 | 26,590 | 27,120 |
| 15 | 35,080 | 35,780 |
| 20 | 44,765 | 45,660 |
| 25 | 56,450 | 57,580 |
| 30 | 71,010 | 72,430 |
| 33 | 81,510 | 83,140 |
| 34 (33A) | 82,330 | 83,975 |
| 35 (33B) | 83,150 | 84,815 |
| 36 (33C) | 85,130 | 86,835 |
| 40 | 101,775 | 103,810 |
| 45 (44A) | 127,700 | 130,255 |
| 49 | 147,125 | 150,070 |
Government employees are excluded from the C&SD survey, so the scale is the only official published pay reference for that sector. Further detail on pay and conditions sits alongside the wider employment law guide.
What the figures do not tell you
The medians are survey outcomes for a defined reference period, not offers. They are not broken down by company, job title, contract type or district, and the official page does not state any such breakdown. They are medians, not means, so a small number of very high earners does not move the median in the way it would move an average. The wage definition excludes bonuses and allowances of gratuitous nature, end of year payment and payments in kind, so a package that relies heavily on discretionary bonus is not fully captured. The survey period is May - June 2025, and the release was published on 23 March 2026. Government employees, student interns, work experience students and live-in domestic workers fall outside coverage, as do agriculture, forestry and fishing.
From gross wage to take-home: salaries tax and MPF
Statutory deductions sit between the surveyed wage and disposable income. Under salaries tax, progressive rates apply to net chargeable income after deductions and allowances: 2% on the first HK$50,000, 6% on the next HK$50,000, 10% on the next HK$50,000, 14% on the next HK$50,000 and 17% on the remainder. The standard rate is 15% on the first HK$5,000,000 of net income and 16% on the remainder, applicable from 2024/25, and tax payable is the lower of the progressive-rate and standard-rate computations (Inland Revenue Department, Pamphlet PAM 61(e), August 2026).
Allowances from 2026/27 onwards are a basic allowance of HK$145,000, a married person’s allowance of HK$290,000 and a child allowance of HK$140,000 per child. The deduction cap for mandatory MPF contributions is HK$18,000 (Inland Revenue Department, PAM 61(e)).
On MPF, employees and employers each contribute 5% of relevant income. The minimum relevant income is HK$7,100 per month and the maximum is HK$30,000 per month, so the maximum mandatory contribution is HK$1,500 per month on each side. New employees have a 30-day contribution holiday, and mandatory coverage runs from age 18 to under 65. For self-employed persons, the yearly relevant income range is HK$85,200 to HK$360,000, with a maximum contribution of HK$18,000 (Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority, Mandatory Contributions page).
The official pages do not state a take-home figure for the median wage. Readers who want to run their own figures against the published parameters may use the salaries tax calculator, the MPF calculator and the fuller salaries tax guide.
Common misunderstandings
HK$21,200 is Hong Kong’s average salary. It is the median monthly wage for May - June 2025, defined by C&SD as the value delineating the lowest 50% of employees; the release does not publish an arithmetic mean (Census and Statistics Department, 2025 Annual Earnings and Hours Survey).
The median is what an employer will offer. The medians are survey results for a reference period and are not broken down by company or job title; the official page does not state offer levels for any role.
The figure includes the year-end bonus or double pay. The wage definition excludes bonuses and allowances of gratuitous nature, end of year payment and payments in kind, although it does include guaranteed bonuses and allowances and commission and tips not of gratuitous nature (Census and Statistics Department, 2025 Annual Earnings and Hours Survey).
Half of employees earn exactly HK$21,200. The median separates the lowest 50% of employees from the rest; the distribution table shows the 10th percentile at HK$11,000 and the 90th at HK$51,300 (Census and Statistics Department, 2025 Annual Earnings and Hours Survey).
The minimum wage tells you what a typical worker earns. The statutory minimum wage of HK$43.1 per hour is a floor with effect from 1 May 2026, not a typical or median rate, and it post-dates the May - June 2025 survey period (Labour Department, Statutory Minimum Wage page).
Civil service salaries are inside the median. Government employees are excluded from the survey; civil service pay is published separately on the Master Pay Scale (Census and Statistics Department; Civil Service Bureau).
FAQ
Is Hong Kong’s median salary HK$21,200 a month or an hour? A month. The median monthly wage in May - June 2025 was HK$21,200; the median hourly wage in the same period was HK$85.7 (Census and Statistics Department, 2025 Annual Earnings and Hours Survey).
Does the official release give an average salary figure? No. The headline statistic is the median, and the official page does not state an arithmetic average wage.
Which industry sections recorded the highest median monthly wage? Education and public administration (excluding the Government) at HK$34,100 and financing and insurance at HK$34,000, followed by electricity and gas supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation at HK$32,200 (Census and Statistics Department, 2025 Annual Earnings and Hours Survey).
What is the statutory minimum wage? HK$43.1 per hour, with effect from 1 May 2026 (Labour Department, Statutory Minimum Wage page).
How much of a salary goes to MPF? Employees and employers each contribute 5% of relevant income, subject to a minimum relevant income of HK$7,100 per month and a maximum of HK$30,000 per month, giving a maximum mandatory contribution of HK$1,500 per month each (Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority, Mandatory Contributions page).
Do the figures cover domestic workers and interns? No. Government employees, student interns, work experience students and live-in domestic workers are excluded from the survey (Census and Statistics Department, 2025 Annual Earnings and Hours Survey).
Wage statistics, the statutory minimum wage rate, tax bands, allowances and contribution ceilings are subject to change without notice, and the official pages prevail.
Sources
- Census and Statistics Department: Survey results of 2025 Annual Earnings and Hours Survey (press release and Tables 1-3), released 2026-03-23
- Labour Department: Statutory Minimum Wage, page Last-Modified 30 Apr 2026
- Civil Service Bureau: Master Pay Scale (For Reference Only), salaries as at 31.3.2026 and w.e.f. 1.4.2026
- Inland Revenue Department: Allowances, Deductions and Tax Rate Table (PAM 61(e), August 2026)
- Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority: Mandatory Contributions, fetched 2026-10-07