Top Earners in Russia: Identifying the Regions with the Highest Worker Salaries
In a recent study, it has been revealed that Moscow is home to a significant number of high-income earners in Russia. According to data from Rosstat, 28,097 residents of Moscow earn over one million rubles per month, accounting for 62% of the total number of such highly paid specialists in the country.
Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the Moscow region are the regions with the highest concentration of high-income earners in Russia. Moscow, in particular, stands out due to its economic scale and labor productivity. The city alone accounts for more than 20% of Russia's GDP and has the largest economy among Russia’s federal subjects, driven by innovation, IT, and services sectors. The labor productivity in Moscow is on average 2.5 times higher than the national average, supporting the presence of many high-paid jobs.
The study also highlights the IT and telecommunications sectors as among the highest paying industries in Russia. The sector has seen rapid growth in employee numbers by 50% over four years to 850 thousand people, with many specialists likely located in Moscow and the Moscow region.
St. Petersburg and the Moscow region also feature many well-paid employees but to a lesser extent compared to Moscow. The Sverdlovsk region and Tatarstan are included in the top five regions with the highest number of employees earning over one million rubles per month, although the total number is not specified in the provided data. As of April 2024, the total number of people in Russia earning over one million rubles per month is 45,428, which is almost double the number from two years ago.
However, the data does not provide information about the industries or sectors where these highly paid employees work, the average salary or the minimum wage in these regions, or the number of employees earning between 500,000 and one million rubles per month in these regions. The study was based on a sample of 28.4 million employees in 95,000 organizations across the country.
It is worth noting that Moscow hosts a large number of high-net-worth individuals and billionaires, with 90 billionaires as of 2025 and about 30,000 individuals with wealth over $1 million. This high concentration of wealth is a contributing factor to the high-paid workforce in the city.
The data was published by RIA Novosti and obtained from Rosstat. Other regions, such as the Jewish Autonomous Region and Kalmykia, have no workers with such incomes, according to the statistics.
In conclusion, the study reveals that Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the Moscow region have the highest number of employees earning over one million rubles per month in Russia. The city's outsized share of national GDP, high labor productivity, and concentration of wealth make it the primary center for top incomes in the country.
The IT and telecommunications sectors, experienced growth in Moscow and the Moscow region, hosting many high-paid employees. finance and business activities in these sectors contribute significantly to the high-income earnings in Moscow.
The economic strength and productivity of the city, coupled with its concentration of wealth, make it a business hub for finance and high-paying jobs in Russia.
