Subsistence Minimum in Samara Oblast in 2026: per Adult, Child and Pensioner
The subsistence minimum in Samara Oblast for 2026 is 17,803 rubles per month per capita. For working‑age persons it is 19,405 rubles, for pensioners 15,311 rubles, for children 17,269 rubles. All four amounts equal 94 % of the nationwide figures. No region in the Volga Federal District has a higher minimum than Samara’s; only Nizhny Novgorod Oblast has the same level. These figures affect the universal child benefit, pension supplements, fixed‑amount alimony and the sums that bailiffs must leave for debtors. Below is a calculation for families, the minimum by year, neighboring regions and the incomes of Samara residents. The numbers are from Rosstat, the charts are available on the website in interactive form.
Subsistence Minimum in Samara Oblast in 2026: Table
| Group | Samara Oblast | Russia | 2025, Oblast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per capita | 17,803 | 18,939 | 16,669 |
| Working‑age | 19,405 | 20,644 | 18,169 |
| Pensioners | 15,311 | 16,288 | 14,335 |
| Children | 17,269 | 18,371 | 16,169 |
Rubles per month. Source: Rosstat.
Each of the four figures rose by 6.8 % over the year. Per capita increased by 1,134 rubles, for working‑age persons by 1,236 rubles, for pensioners by 976 rubles, for children by 1,100 rubles. Compared with the Russian amounts, a working‑age resident of Samara lacks 1,239 rubles, a child 1,102 rubles, a pensioner 977 rubles.
Exactly the same amounts in all four groups are approved in eight other regions: Nizhny Novgorod, Ivanovo, Rostov and Kurgan oblasts, Ingushetia, Karachay‑Cherkessia, the DPR and the LPR.
Open the subsistence minimum for all regions and groups since 2013 →
How much a family needs at minimum
Minimum is set per person. For a family they take the minimum of each member by his group and sum.
Two working parents and two schoolchildren: 2 × 19,405 + 2 × 17,269 = 73,348 rubles per month. According to all‑Russian standards the same family would get 78,030 rubles, 4,682 more.
Mother with child: 19,405 + 17,269 = 36,674 rubles.
Couple of non‑working pensioners: 2 × 15,311 = 30,622 rubles.
Unified child benefit
The right to the unified benefit appears when the family income per person is below the regional per‑capita minimum. In Samara region this is 17,803 rubles. A family of four qualifies if all its incomes are less than 71,212 rubles per month, a family of three if less than 53,409. How many such families exist in the country is examined in the article about low‑income families.
Fixed‑amount alimony
When the payer’s income is irregular or hard to prove, the court may set alimony as a fixed amount. It is calculated as a share of the child minimum of the region where the child lives. In Samara region half of the child minimum is 8,634.5 rubles, the full minimum 17,269 rubles. How the average salary enters such a calculation is explained in the article average salary for alimony.
How much is left for the debtor
When collecting debts, the person must retain an amount not less than the working‑age minimum in his region. In Samara region in 2026 this is 19,405 rubles per month. For each dependent child one may ask to leave another 17,269 rubles.
Subsistence minimum in Samara Oblast by year
In 2013 the per‑capita minimum in the region was 7,282 rubles, and across the country it was 7,306: a difference of 24 rubles. The working‑age minimum at that time even exceeded the Russian figure, 7,954 rubles versus 7,871. For 2026 the regional minimum is 17,803 rubles, 2.44 times higher than in 2013. The Russian figure grew by 2.59 times over the same period, and the gap reached 1,136 rubles.
The deepest drop occurred in 2015: 8,786 rubles versus 9,701 nationwide, or 90.6%. The following year the region almost made up the loss. The minimum rose by 10.4% to 9,703 rubles, which is 98.7% of the Russian figure. Then the share slowly slipped: about 97% in 2017 and 2018, about 96% in 2019 and 2020, 94.2% in 2021. Since 2022 it has held at 94.0%, and from 2023 it is exactly 94% across all four groups simultaneously.
In 2022 the minimum was revised twice. From 1 January the region allocated 11,895 rubles per capita, and from 1 June after a 10% indexation it was already 13,085. You can compare the 2013 minimum with the current one in today’s money using the inflation calculator.
Open the per‑capita minimum in Samara Oblast by year →
The working‑age minimum fell behind the most
In 2013 the working‑age minimum was 83 rubles higher than the Russian figure; by 2026 it is 1,239 rubles lower. The pensioners' minimum was also lower than the Russian one in 2013, at 95.2% of it.
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Samara Oblast among its neighbors
Rosstat publishes the subsistence minimum for 2026 for 89 territories. In 50 of them it is higher than Samara's, in 30 lower, and in eight it is the same.
All four bordering neighbors are lower. In Ulyanovsk Oblast the minimum per capita is 16,856 rubles, in Orenburg 16,477, in Tatarstan 16,098, in Saratov Oblast 15,909. In Moscow the minimum per capita is 25,342 rubles, 7,539 more than Samara's.
A high minimum does not mean the region is richer. Tatarstan is a good example: the minimum there is 1,705 rubles lower than Samara's, but incomes are higher. The average salary in the republic in 2025 was 91,494.9 rubles versus 79,036.3 in Samara Oblast, income per person 74,504 rubles versus 59,390. The regional minimum is tied to local prices, not wages.
All regions sorted in descending order are collected in the regional subsistence minimum rating, the overall picture for the country is described in the article subsistence minimum 2026 by region.
Minimum and actual incomes of Samarians
The average accrued salary in Samara Oblast in 2025 was 79,036.3 rubles. This is 4.35 times the working-age minimum for the same year (18,169). Across Russia the average salary was 101,784 rubles and exceeds the Russian minimum by 5.27 times. According to monthly data for July 2026 the average salary in the region was 85.9 thousand rubles, in the country 109.5 thousand.
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Half of the region's workers in 2025 earned more than 64,400 rubles, the median for Russia was 73,871 rubles. By median the region lags less than by average: in Samara Oblast the median is 83.3% of the average salary, in the country 74.3%. Earnings in the region are distributed more evenly.
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By per‑person income, which includes pensions and benefits, the region’s position is clear. In 2013 the average per‑capita income in Samara Oblast was 26,280 rubles per month, higher than the Russian figure (25,631). In 2025 it was 59,390 rubles, and across the country 74,932.
Rosstat also calculates the direct ratio of per‑person income to the minimum. In 2013 this ratio was 360.9% in Samara Oblast, 350.8% for Russia. In 2025 it was 356.3% in the region, 422.6% nationwide.
The turning point came in 2016: the minimum rose by 10.4%, while per‑person income fell from 27,799 to 26,819 rubles, and the ratio dropped from 316.4% to 276.4%. The bottom was in 2020, 273.6%. For the second quarter of 2026 the ratio in the region was 350.1%, in Russia 405.1%.
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How many people live below the minimum
In 2025 incomes below the poverty line affected 7.5% of Samara Oblast residents, 6.7% across Russia. For the region this is the lowest share since 1995, when the series begins. The worst year was 2000: 31.2% of Samarians were below the poverty line, almost one in three, compared with 29.0% nationally.
In the second half of the 1990s Samara Oblast lived noticeably better than the country: in 1998 18.0% of its residents were below the poverty line versus 23.4% in Russia. Then the lines switched places. Since 2006 the share of the poor in the region has been almost every year higher than the Russian figure. Exceptions: 2015 and 2018, when the shares coincided.
The picture is different for the employed. In 2025, 2.2% of workers in regional organisations earned less than the subsistence minimum, compared with 2.3% in Russia. Poverty in the region now is more linked to total family income: a single earnings source is shared among children and non‑working adults.
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Minimum pensioner and pension supplement
If an unemployed pensioner receives a pension together with other payments that is less than the regional minimum pensioner, the state pays the difference. In Samara Oblast for 2026 the threshold is 15,311 rubles, a year ago it was 14,335, an increase of 976 rubles. It has not always been like this: in 2018 and 2019 the threshold for the supplement was the same 8,413 rubles.
How the social supplement works is explained in the article about pensioner subsistence minimum. Regional row: minimum pensioner in Samara Oblast by year.
Questions and answers
What is the subsistence minimum in Samara Oblast in 2026?
Per capita 17,803 rubles per month. For working‑age people 19,405, for pensioners 15,311, for children 17,269.
What is the subsistence minimum per child in Samara Oblast in 2026?
17,269 rubles per month. In 2025 it was 16,169.
Why is the minimum in Samara Oblast lower than the Russian average?
Since 2021 the nationwide minimum is calculated from the median income in the country, not from the cost of the consumer basket. Regions apply their own coefficients to it, which take price differences into account. The region's own incomes do not directly affect the amount: the median income per person in Tatarstan in 2025 was 56,516.3 rubles, higher than Samara's (46,236.8), yet the minimum there is lower. For 2026 the Samara minimum in all groups equals 94% of the nationwide figure.
Briefly
- The subsistence minimum in Samara Oblast for 2026: 17,803 rubles per capita, 19,405 for able‑bodied, 15,311 for pensioners, 17,269 for children.
- This is 94% of the nationwide amounts and together with Nizhny Novgorod Oblast the highest minimum in the Volga Federal District. It is lower than all four bordering neighbours.
- A family with two working adults and two children needs 73,348 rubles per month at the minimum, the threshold for a single benefit for such a family is 71,212 rubles of income.
- In 2013 the minimum in the region almost matched the Russian level, and incomes were above the national average. Since then the minimum has increased by 2.44 times, slower than across Russia, and incomes have lagged.
- Below the poverty line are 7.5% of residents, fewer than ever since 1995, but higher than the national average.