The minimum wage in Russia

You might have read our blog post about the normal Russian salary. But, of course, also many people in Russia make less money than what is considered normal. The minimum wage in Russia is provided for by law. The law that arranges the minimum wage in Russia is entitled the Federal Law on Minimum Pay for Labour (Federal Law Number 83-FZ from 19 June 2000 (Further to be called the law on minimum wages).

So what is the minimum wage in Russia? According to Article 1 of the law on minimum wages, the minimum wage in Russia from 1 January 2020 may not be lower than 12,130 rubles per month. According to the current exchange rate this is the equivalent of about $196 USD or about €175 euro.

Usually, the minimum wage in Russia is enlarged every year, to at least compensate for inflation. At the moment of writing the minimum wage for 2020 has not yet been confirmed, but according to the current proposal, it is planned to enlarge the minimum wage in Russia 2020 with 7,5% to 12,130 rubles ($190 USD or €172 euro, according to the current exchange rate).

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The minimum wage in the Russian regions

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Russian regions are not allowed to have a lower minimum wage than provided for by Article 1 of the law on minimum wage. They are, however, allowed to have a higher minimum wage. Some, but not many, Russian regions have made use of this opportunity to install a higher minimum wage.

Name of Russian RegionMinimum Monthly Wage in RublesMinimum Monthly Wage if Converted in USDMinimum Monthly Wage if Converted in Euro
Adygea11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Altai Krai13,000 $204 USD €185 euro
Altai Republic11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Amur Oblast11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Arkhangelsk Oblast11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Astrakhan Oblast11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Bashkortostan11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Belgorod Oblast11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Bryansk Oblast12,000$188 USD€170 euro
Buryatia11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Chechnya11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Chelyabinsk Oblast11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Chuvashia11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Dagestan11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Vladimir Oblast11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Voronezh Oblast11,280
$177 USD €160 euro
Ingushetia11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Irkutsk Oblast11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Ivanovo Oblast11,280
$177 USD €160 euro
Jewish Autonomous Oblast11,280
$177 USD €160 euro
Kabardino-Balkaria11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Kaliningrad Oblast12,500 $196 USD €178 euro
Kalmykia11,280
$177 USD €160 euro
Kaluga Oblast11,280
$177 USD €160 euro
Kamchatka Krai11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Karachay-Cherkessia11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Kemerovo Oblast11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Khabarovsk Krai11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Khakassia11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Kirov Oblast11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Komi Republic11,280
$177 USD €160 euro
Kostroma Oblast11,280
$177 USD €160 euro
Krasnodar Krai11,565 $182 USD €164 euro
Krasnoyarsk Krai11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Kurgan Oblast11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Kursk Oblast11,280
$177 USD €160 euro
Leningradskaya Oblast (the ‘province around the city of Saint Petersburg’)12,000 $188 USD €170 euro
Lipetsk Oblast11,280
$177 USD €160 euro
Magadan Oblast11,280
$177 USD €160 euro
Mari El11,280
$177 USD €160 euro
Mordovia11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Moscow (city)19,351 $304 USD€275 euro
Moscow Oblast14,200$223€202 euro
Murmansk Oblast11,280
$177 USD €160 euro
Nenets Autonomous Okrug11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
North Ossetia–Alania11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Novgorod Oblast11 834 $186 USD €168 euro
Novosibirsk Oblast11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Omsk OblastBetween 11,280 and 11, 580Between $177 USD and $182 USDBetween €160 euro and €165 euro
Orenburg Oblast11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Oryol Oblast



11,280
$177 USD €160 euro
Penza Oblast11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Perm Krai11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Primorsky Krai11,280 $177 USD €160 euro
Pskov OblastBetween 11,280 до 11,620Between $177 USD and $183 USDBetween €160 euro and €165 euro.
Republic of Crimea11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Republic of Karelia11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Rostov Oblast11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Ryazan Oblast11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Saint Petersburg18,000$283 USD €256 euro
Sakhalin Oblast11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Samara Oblast11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Saratov Oblast11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Sevastopol (city)11,300$177 USD €160 euro
Smolensk Oblast11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Stavropol Krai11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Sverdlovsk Oblast11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Tambov Oblast11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Tatarstan11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Tomsk Oblast11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Tver Oblast11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Tyumen Oblast11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Tula Oblast13,520$212 USD€192 euro
Tuva11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Udmurtia11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Ulyanovsk Oblast11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Yakutia11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Yaroslavl Oblast11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Volgograd Oblast11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Vologda Oblast11,280$177 USD €160 euro
Zabaykalsky Krai11,280$177 USD €160 euro

How Minimum Wage in Russia Changed Over the Years

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Maybe it would be interesting to have a small overview of how the minimum monthly wage in Russia has developed over the years. If you look at the numbers in the table below, you probably can’t help but notice the fallback in Russian minimum wage if converted in dollars or euros starting from 2015. This was the impact of the fall the ruble. Only in 2018 minimum wage in Russia converted in dollars or in euros back on pre-crisis levels.

YearMinimum Monthly Wage in RublesMinimum Wage if Converted in USD, according to the average exchange rate in that yearMinimum Wage if Converted in Euro, according to the average exchange rate in that year
20124 611 $148 USD€116 euro
20135 205$163 USD€124 euro
20145 554$144 USD€109 euro
20155 965$97 USD€88 euro
20166 204$93 USD€84 euro
20177 500$129 USD€114 euro
20189 489 $151 USD€128 euro
201911,280$177 USD €160 euro

Changes to Minimum Wage in Moscow Over the Years

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As is clear from the overview in the big table, Moscow has the highest minmum wage of the whole country. But how has the minimum wage in Moscow changed over the years? Have a look:

YearMinimum Monthly Wage in RublesMinimum Wage if Converted in USD, according to the average exchange rate in that yearMinimum Wage if Converted in Euro, according to the average exchange rate in that year
201311,700$367 USD€276 euro
201412,600$326 USD€247 euro
201514,500$236 USD€213 euro
201616,500$247 USD€223 euro
201717,300$297 USD€262 euro
201817,642$280 USD€238 euro
201919,351$304 USD€275 euro
202020,195$325 USD€291 euro (exchange rate end of December 2019)

By looking at this table we can conclude that minimum wage in Moscow is currently still a bit below crisis level.

New apartments being built in the center of Moscow, on Tverskaya Street. They cost around a million dollar a piece. How many months do you have to work for minimum Moscow wage in order to buy such a unit? Just 3,076 months or 256 years. Easy peasy.

Changes to Minimum Wage in Saint Petersburg

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From the tables above it is clear that Saint Petersburg has a higher minimum wage than the minimum for the country. But how has the minimum wage in Russia’s northern capital developed over the years?

YearMinimum Monthly Wage in RublesMinimum Wage if Converted in USD, according to the average exchange rate in that yearMinimum Wage if Converted in Euro, according to the average exchange rate in that year
20138,326$261 USD€196 euro
20148,868$230 USD€174 euro
20159,445$154 USD€139 euro
201611,700$175 USD€158 euro
201716,000$274 USD€242 euro
201817,000$270 USD€229 euro
201918,000$279 USD€249 euro
202019,000$306 USD (exchange rate end of December 2019)€274 euro (exchange rate end of December 2019)

Recently Aleksandr Beglov, the Governor of Saint Petersburg, announced that the minimum wage in Saint Petersburg will be raised to 19 thousand rubles (source). This means that the minimum wage in Saint Petersburg will be 36% higher than the nationwide minimum wage.

By looking at the table above we can clearly see that the minimum wage in Saint Petersburg was back on pre-crisis levels already in 2017, whereas in Moscow current minimum wage is still below pre-crisis levels in 2020! On the other hand, obviously in absolute numbers the minimum wage in Moscow is still higher than the minimum wage in Saint Petersburg.

If we look of the percentage of the increase of the minimum wage in rubles in Saint Petersburg we get a significant number: 19,000 – 8,326 = 10,624/8,326 x 100= a 127,6% increase in the minimum wage in Saint Petersburg (between 2013 and 2020)! Now, obviously the numbers look less impressive when taking into account the equivalent in dollars or euro, but still, not so bad. If we compare this with the increase of the minumum wage in Moscow: 20,195 – 11,700= 8495/11,700 x 100 = a 72,6% percentage of the minimum wage in Moscow in the period 2013-2020. So the percentage increase of the minimum wage in Saint Petersburg was over 55% larger in the period 2013-2020 than it was in Moscow! I understand this can be explained by the fact that the numbers of the minimum wage in Moscow were larger to begin with. Still numbers don’t lie.

But can one actually support oneself while earning minimum wage in Saint Petersburg? Probably not. Not if you don’t have rent a place to live at least. Check out my blog post about whether Saint Petersburg is expensive if you would like to see some more details about this.

There is not much one can buy at Saint Petersburg shopping mall Galeria when you earn the minimum wage in the city

Working For the Minimum Wage is Not Normal

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As I explained in my blog post about the normal salary in Russia, the minimum wage is not the same as the normal salary. Russia is not such a cheap country. The country imports a lot, which makes many products and food in Russia more expensive than in other countries. So, logically not many people are prepared to work for minimum wage.

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