Average monthly disposable income in Polish households increased to PLN 3,500 per person in 2025 and was 6.7% higher in real terms than a year earlier. Spending rose more slowly, to PLN 2,015 per person, up 3.6% in real terms. The improvement was uneven: among the lowest-income 20% of households, spending was equivalent to 117.9% of income.
Income grew faster than spending
Disposable income increased by 10.5% in nominal terms, while household spending rose by 7.3%. As a result, the average share of spending in disposable income fell from 59.3% in 2024 to 57.6% in 2025.
The median shows a less favourable picture than the average. Median disposable income was PLN 3,064 per person, PLN 436 below the mean, while median spending amounted to PLN 1,657.
Average monthly income and spending per person
2021: income PLN 2,103; spending PLN 1,300
2023: income PLN 2,678; spending PLN 1,636
2024: income PLN 3,167; spending PLN 1,878
2025: income PLN 3,500; spending PLN 2,015
Source: Statistics Poland, Household Budgets in 2025
Self-employed households reported the highest average income
Households of self-employed people outside agriculture recorded the highest average disposable income, at PLN 4,198 per person per month, with spending of PLN 2,270. Their income was 19.9% above the average for all households.
Farm households reported average income of PLN 4,159 and spending of PLN 1,359. Income from agricultural activity increased particularly strongly, by 47.5% in nominal terms.
Disability-pension households were at the other end of the distribution, with average disposable income of PLN 2,541 and spending of PLN 1,832, equal to 72.1% of income.
The poorest 20% spend more than they receive
Among the lowest-income quintile, average disposable income was PLN 1,192 per person per month, while spending reached PLN 1,405. This means expenditure was 117.9% of income.
Statistics Poland notes that households in this situation must partly rely on savings, loans or other forms of financing. In the highest-income quintile, income averaged PLN 6,910 and spending PLN 3,214, or 46.5% of income.
Income among the richest 20% was 5.8 times higher than among the poorest 20%, compared with a ratio of 5.3 a year earlier. The top quintile accounted for 39.4% of all income in the surveyed population, while the bottom quintile accounted for 6.8%.
Food, housing and energy absorb nearly 45% of spending
Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the largest household spending category, accounting for 25.1% of total expenditure, or around PLN 507 per person per month.
Housing, utilities and energy represented another 19.4%, or roughly PLN 391. Together, these two categories accounted for 44.5% of average spending. In the lowest-income quintile their combined share reached 50%, compared with 37.1% in the highest-income group.
Health and recreation spending grew fastest
Health expenditure recorded the strongest nominal increase in 2025, rising by 13.8%. Recreation and culture spending increased by 12.5%, other expenditure by 11.8%, and housing and energy costs by 10.9%.
Transport was the only major category to record a nominal decline, with spending falling by 2%.
More households rate their financial situation positively
Some 59.2% of households described their financial situation as good or fairly good, compared with 57.7% a year earlier. Another 56.1% said their income covered everyday needs but larger purchases required saving.
Debt was reported by 22.3% of households. Among indebted households, 51.6% said their obligations were not a significant burden and were being repaid on time, while 45% described them as a burden but also reported timely payments.
Extreme poverty edged higher
Despite rising average incomes, the share of people below the extreme-poverty threshold increased slightly, from 5.2% in 2024 to 5.3% in 2025. The relative-poverty rate rose from 13.3% to 13.5%.
The statutory poverty measure increased much more sharply, from 2.6% to 8.1%, but GUS notes that this was strongly affected by higher income thresholds used to determine eligibility for social assistance.
Source: Statistics Poland, Household Budgets in 2025.
