An average-priced e-bike costs 13.2 days of work in Spain, 10.2 in Germany and 9.9 in France. That's the BikeRatio Index: the average selling price of each type of bike in 2025 divided by what an average employee in that country earns in one day. Spaniards pay fewer euros for an e-bike than Germans (about €2,100 versus €2,550), but they earn quite a bit less, so it costs them more days of pay.
This is a European study, so prices and wages are in euros (€). We don't convert them to dollars: the index compares each price with local pay in the same currency, so the exchange rate doesn't matter.
Wages: OECD, average gross annual wage 2025 ÷ 220 working days. Prices: ZIV, Union Sport & Cycle and AMBE. Analysis: BikeRatio, CC BY 4.0.
| Country | E-bike | Non-electric bike |
|---|---|---|
| Spain* | 13.2 days | 6.6 days |
| Germany | 10.2 days | 2.0 days |
| France | 9.9 days | 3.2 days |
- * Spain: BikeRatio calculation based on AMBE data (see methodology).
The results
- E-bike: 13.2 days in Spain, 10.2 in Germany and 9.9 in France. France is where an e-bike is most affordable, because its average price (€1,999) is the lowest of the three.
- Non-electric bike: 6.6 days in Spain, 3.2 in France and 2.0 in Germany. Here the gap isn't about wages, it's about which bikes people buy: the average non-electric bike sold in Spain costs about €1,060, more than twice the German figure (€500), because the Spanish market is dominated by mountain and road bikes.
- Any bike (average of all): 8.0 days in Spain, 6.3 in Germany and 5.0 in France.
| Country | Gross annual wage | One day of work | E-bike | Days | Non-electric | Days | All bikes | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spain* | €35,121 | €160 | €2,100 | 13.2 | €1,060 | 6.6 | €1,282 | 8.0 |
| Germany | €54,840 | €249 | €2,550 | 10.2 | €500 | 2.0 | €1,581 | 6.3 |
| France | €44,304 | €201 | €1,999 | 9.9 | €638 | 3.2 | €1,013 | 5.0 |
One day of work = average gross annual wage (OECD, 2025) ÷ 220. * Spain: e-bike and non-electric prices calculated from AMBE data. France: average price of all bikes = sales value ÷ units.
Same bike, different pay
To separate the effect of wages from the effect of which bikes get bought, we run a scenario: a €2,000 e-bike (roughly the French average price) in the five eurozone countries with OECD wage data. This is where Italy and Portugal come in.
Wages: OECD, average gross annual wage 2025 ÷ 220. Scenario with a fixed price, not real prices. Analysis: BikeRatio, CC BY 4.0.
| Country | €2,000 e-bike |
|---|---|
| Germany | 8.0 days |
| France | 9.9 days |
| Spain | 12.5 days |
| Italy | 12.7 days |
| Portugal | 17.0 days |
The same bike costs 8 days of work in Germany and 17 in Portugal, more than double. Spain (12.5) and Italy (12.7) are nearly tied, because their average wages are very close: €35,121 and €34,733 gross a year.
Method
Formula:
days of work = average bike price ÷ (average gross annual wage ÷ 220)
- Wages. We use the OECD's average annual wage per full-time equivalent employee (the Average annual wages database) for 2025, in current prices and national currency. It's the same indicator, with the same method, for all seven countries, so we avoid mixing national surveys (INE, Destatis, INSEE, ISTAT, ONS or the BLS) that measure different things. It's gross pay: before the employee's income tax and social security contributions.
- One day of work. We divide the annual wage by 220 working days, an approximation of a 52-week year of 5-day weeks (260) minus vacation and public holidays (Europeans typically get at least four weeks of paid vacation). We use the same number in every country so the comparison depends only on pay and price. If you prefer a different number of days, the ranking doesn't change: every result moves in the same proportion.
- Bike prices. The average 2025 selling price published by each country's bicycle industry association: ZIV in Germany (e-bike €2,550, non-electric €500, all bikes €1,581) and Union Sport & Cycle in France (e-bike €1,999, non-electric €638). For France, we calculated the average price of all bikes by dividing the value of sales (€1,861 million) by units (1.837 million).
- Spain. AMBE publishes the average price of all bikes (€1,281.71) and the e-bike share of units (21.5%) and of value (35.2%), but not the price of each type. We calculated it: e-bike ≈ €2,100 and non-electric ≈ €1,060 (details in the European bike market 2025 study).
| Country | Gross annual wage | One day (220 per year) | Average bike price published? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | €54,840 | €249 | Yes |
| France | €44,304 | €201 | Yes |
| Spain | €35,121 | €160 | Yes |
| Italy | €34,733 | €158 | No |
| Portugal | €25,826 | €117 | No |
| United Kingdom | £46,511 | £211 | No |
| United States | $86,977 | $395 | No |
Average wage per full-time equivalent employee, gross, at current prices and in national currency.
Limits of the index
- An average price isn't the price of the same bike. Each country buys a different mix. That's why we add the scenario of a €2,000 e-bike in every country.
- Gross, not net. With take-home pay, the number of days would be higher, and by different amounts depending on each country's taxes.
- Mean wage, not median. High earners pull the mean up; most people earn somewhat less than the average, so for a typical paycheck the number of days would be a bit higher.
- Italy, the UK, Portugal and the US don't publish 2025 average prices, so they have no index based on real prices. The UK and the US are also left out of the scenario because they don't use the euro.
If you want to run the numbers on your own bike, all our calculators are free with no sign-up. To spend fewer days of pay, a well-checked used bike is an option: what to inspect is in buying a used bike, and how much you save compared with driving is in the bike vs. car cost calculator.
Cite this study
You can use the data, tables and charts from this study in your publication, blog or work. All we ask is that you credit BikeRatio with a link to this page.
Citation
BikeRatio (2026). “BikeRatio Index: How Many Days of Work a Bike Costs.” Published October 19, 2026. https://bikeratio.com/studies/bikeratio-index-days-of-work/
Link for your website (HTML)
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Frequently asked questions
How many days of work does an e-bike cost in Spain?
About 13.2 days: an average e-bike of about €2,100 (calculated from AMBE's 2025 data) divided by an average gross day's pay of €159.64 (€35,121 a year according to the OECD, over 220 working days).
Why are regular bikes so expensive in Spain?
Because Spain mostly buys mid- and high-end mountain and road bikes: the average non-electric bike costs about €1,060, versus €500 in Germany. It's not that the same bike costs more; people buy different bikes.
Why are only Germany, France and Spain included?
Because they are the only ones of the seven countries studied whose associations publish (or let us calculate) the 2025 average price of both e-bikes and regular bikes. For Italy and Portugal we run a scenario with the same price everywhere.
Is it based on gross or net pay?
Gross: the OECD's average annual wage per full-time employee, the same indicator for every country. Net pay depends on taxes and family situation, and there is no comparable series this recent.