South Africans are, on average, earning about half of what they must to live an average life.
A family of four could face monthly costs of more than R42,000 for a relatively basic basket of food, housing, utilities, transport, education, healthcare, communications and a little leisure – almost twice the average monthly net salary tracked by PayInc, highlighting the gap between household costs and individual earnings.
The PayInc Net Salary Index, which tracks the average nominal net salary of about 2.1 million salary earners in South Africa, stood at R21,598 in June 2026, only 0.5% higher than a year earlier. In real terms, after accounting for inflation, the average net salary was R20,198 – down 3.6% year-on-year.
This comes as headline inflation has started to ease, with Statistics South Africa reporting that consumer inflation slowed to 4.3% in July from 5% in June. But the headline rate does not mean that every household expense is increasing at the same pace.
Housing and utilities inflation was 5.2% in July, transport inflation was 8.9% and insurance and financial services rose 5.7%, while food and non-alcoholic beverage inflation was just 0.9%.
