Living Wage updated for 2025/26 - Cost of living increases push Living Wage to €15.40 per hour in 2025/26

The Living Wage is the minimum hourly pay required for a full-time worker (without dependents) to afford the goods and services that people have agreed are essential for enabling a basic, yet decent, standard of living. Its calculation by the Living Wage Technical Group (LWTG) is evidence-based, building on budget standards research undertaken by the Vincentian MESL Research Centre at SVP, and reflects the real costs faced by employees in Ireland. The change to the annual Living Wage rate is determined by changes in these living costs and income taxes.

Over the past year, minimum living costs increased by 5.8% for a working-age single adult. Rising rents contributed two thirds of the change, increasing by almost €20 per week (9.3%). Increases in food, home energy and insurance costs together account for a further fifth of the growth in the cost of living. While the cost of clothing fell partially offsetting some of the other increases.

Policy measures, including the Rent Tax Credit, have reduced the potential impact of rising living costs on the Living Wage rate required. Without the Rent Tax Credit, the rate needed to meet the cost of living would be €0.70 higher at €16.10 per hour. Other adjustments to the income tax and USC that would be paid by a living wage worker also contributed to limiting the rate adjustment required for 2025/26.

Robert Thornton, Research Manager with the Vincentian MESL Research Centre and a member of the Living Wage Technical Group said: “The latest Living Wage rate follows the continued rise in minimum living costs. Since 2020, the cost of living for a working age single adult have risen by over €120 per week (29%). While policy measures have limited the potential growth in the wage needed to meet the rising cost of living, the gap between the real Living Wage and National Minimum Wage remains substantial.”

Dr Nat O’Connor, lecturer in social policy at UCD and member of the Living Wage Technical Group said: “The rise in the Living Wage is entirely driven by the cost of living. Rents and other basic costs keep going up and the lowest paid workers risk being left behind unless their wages go up to the same extent. Remember that we have had 20% or more price inflation since 2019, and that affects low paid workers more acutely than others.”