Minimum subsistence level in St. Petersburg in 2026: per adult, child and pensioner

2026-10-12 · Living standards

The minimum subsistence level in St. Petersburg for 2026 is 20,644 rubles per month per capita. A working adult is entitled to 22,502 rubles, a pensioner 17,754, a child 20,025. All four amounts are exactly 9% higher than the nationwide figures. These amounts affect the universal benefit, the supplement to a small pension, alimony in a fixed amount and the money that bailiffs must leave to the debtor. Below is a calculation for different families, the difference with Leningrad Oblast, the history of the minimum since 2013 and a comparison with the incomes of St. Petersburg residents. Rosstat figures, each chart has an interactive version on the website.

Minimum subsistence level in St. Petersburg in 2026: table

Group	St. Petersburg	Russia	St. Petersburg, 2025
Per capita	20,644	18,939	19,329
Working age	22,502	20,644	21,069
Pensioners	17,754	16,288	16,623
Children	20,025	18,371	18,749

Rubles per month. Source: Rosstat.

In rubles the St. Petersburg minimum per person exceeds the Russian one by 1,705, for workers by 1,858, for pensioners by 1,466, for children by 1,654. Over the year all four figures grew by 6.8%, the same as nationwide.

It is amusing that the per‑person minimum in St. Petersburg for the second year in a row is exactly equal to the nationwide minimum for the working‑age population: 19,329 rubles in 2025 and 20,644 in 2026. Open the minimum subsistence level for all regions and groups since 2013 →

How much this is per family: examples

The minimum is set for one person. To get the amount for a family, the minima of its members are added together.

Two working parents and two children. 2 × 22,502 + 2 × 20,025 = 85,054 rubles per month. A family of the same size by Russian standards would have 78,030 rubles, 7,024 less.

Mother with a child. 22,502 + 20,025 = 42,527 rubles.

A couple of non‑working pensioners. 2 × 17,754 = 35,508 rubles.

One working person. 22,502 rubles. A salary below this amount is considered insufficient for living in St. Petersburg.

Threshold of the single benefit

A single benefit for children is granted if the average per‑person income of the family is lower than the per‑person minimum in the region, i.e., 20,644 rubles. For a family of four the limit is 82,576 rubles of total income per month, for a family of three it is 61,932. The social fund also looks at assets and the employment of adults.

Fixed‑amount alimony

When the payer has irregular earnings, the court may set alimony as a fixed sum rather than a share of income. It is tied to the minimum for a child in the region where the child lives. In St. Petersburg half of that minimum is 10,012.5 rubles, the full minimum is 20,025. The amount is indexed each time the minimum is revised. There is a separate analysis of how the average salary affects alimony: average salary for alimony.

How much is left for the debtor

When a debt is collected, the person must retain at least the working‑age minimum for their region. For a St. Petersburg resident in 2026 this is 22,502 rubles per month. How the child amount is arranged across the country: subsistence minimum for a child in 2026.

Saint Petersburg or Leningrad Oblast: which minimum applies to you

For benefits and supplements the minimum of the region where a person lives is used. Murino, Kudrovo, Vsevolozhsk and Sertolovo belong to Leningrad Oblast, and there the regional amounts apply.

Group	Saint Petersburg	Leningrad Oblast	Difference
Per capita	20,644	20,265	379
Working‑age	22,502	22,089	413
Pensioners	17,754	17,428	326
Children	20,025	19,657	368

Rubles per month, 2026. Source: Rosstat.

The difference is small, about 2%. For a family of four the unified benefit threshold in the oblast is 1,516 rubles lower: 81,060 rubles versus 82,576 in the city. Series for the oblast by year: minimum subsistence level in Leningrad Oblast.

How the subsistence minimum changed in St. Petersburg over the years

In 2013 the per‑capita minimum in Petersburg was 6,923 rubles, lower than the Russian one (7,306) by 383 rubles. In 2026 it is 20,644, i.e., it grew almost threefold, by 2.98 times. The nationwide figure increased by 2.59 times over the same period.

Subsistence minimum per capita in St. Petersburg, Leningrad region and Russia, 2013–2026, rubles per month: the city overtook the country in 2015 and from 2021 moves further away, the 2022 figure shows the amount after indexing from 1 June

The city overtook the country in 2015: 9,995 rubles versus 9,701. Already in 2021 the gap was only 2.2%, then it grew: 5.0% in 2023, 7.0% in 2024 and 9.0% in 2025. The biggest jump came in 2025, when the Petersburg minimum rose by 16.9% (Russia 14.8%). Leningrad region in 2013 was below both the city and the country, and now has almost caught up with Petersburg.

The chart shows a step in 2022. From 1 January the per‑capita minimum in the city was 13,160.2 rubles, and from 1 June it was raised by 10% to 14,476. Until 2021 the figure was revised each quarter, now it is set for the whole year ahead. To compare the minimum of different years in today’s money, use the inflation calculator.

Open the per‑capita minimum in St. Petersburg by year →

Saint Petersburg among neighbors and in the regional ranking

For 2026, the minimum higher than Saint Petersburg's is set in 19 regions out of 89. In Buryatia the amount is exactly the same, 20,644 rubles. Moscow and Leningrad oblasts follow immediately: 20,286 and 20,265.

Living minimum per capita for 2026 in Saint Petersburg, Moscow, the Moscow region and the Northwest regions, rubles per month: Saint Petersburg is more expensive than Leningrad oblast and the Moscow region, but cheaper than Moscow and the northern neighbors

In the Northwest, only the north is more expensive than Saint Petersburg: Murmansk oblast (26,406 rubles), Arkhangelsk without the Nenets district (21,969), Komi (21,780), Karelia (21,022). Further south the minimum is lower: in Kaliningrad oblast 19,507, in Pskov oblast 18,750, in Novgorod oblast 18,560.

The capital's minimum per capita is 25,342 rubles, 4,698 more than Saint Petersburg's. Details are in the article living minimum in Moscow in 2026, the full list is in the regional ranking by living minimum.

Minimum and real incomes of St. Petersburg residents

The subsistence minimum describes the lower bound. The average St. Petersburg income is far from it.

The average accrued salary in St. Petersburg in 2025 was 123,341 rubles. This is 5.9 times higher than the working-age minimum of that year (21,069). Across Russia the salary was 101,784 rubles and exceeds the minimum by 5.3 times. The median in the city was 99,944 rubles: half of workers earned more. The median equals 78.2% of the average, versus 74.3% for the country. This means that salaries in St. Petersburg are distributed more evenly than the Russian average.

Open median salary by region →

Rosstat also calculates the direct ratio: how many times the per‑capita monetary income exceeds the subsistence minimum. In 2025 in St. Petersburg it was 537.2%, more than five minima per person. Across Russia it was 422.6%. Only the Yamalo‑Nenets Autonomous Okrug (703.3%), Moscow (693.8%) and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (567.3%) were higher than St. Petersburg. In Leningrad Oblast it was 343.4%: the minimum there is almost the same as in the city, while incomes are noticeably lower.

Per‑capita monetary incomes as a percentage of the subsistence minimum, St. Petersburg and Russia, 2013–2025: after 2020 the city pulled away from the country by more than one hundred points

In 2013 incomes of St. Petersburg residents exceeded the minimum by 4.36 times, versus 3.51 times for the country. The lowest point was in 2015, 367.8%. Since 2021 the indicator has stayed above 450%, and in the second quarter of 2026 the city recorded 546.6% against 405.1% for Russia. The per‑capita income itself in St. Petersburg in 2025 was 103,838 rubles per month, versus 74,932 for the country.

Open income‑to‑minimum ratio by quarter →

The lowest poverty level in the country

In 2025 incomes below the poverty line were recorded for 3.2% of St. Petersburg residents. This is the lowest share among all Russian regions. It is followed by Tatarstan, Chukotka and the Yamalo‑Nenets Autonomous Okrug (each 3.3%), Moscow (3.8%). Across the country it was 6.7%, and in Leningrad Oblast 4.6%.

Share of population with incomes below the poverty line in St. Petersburg and Russia, 1995–2025, %: in 1999 every third resident of St. Petersburg was below the line, in 2025 about three out of a hundred

In 1999 the share of people below the poverty line in the city was 33.1%, higher than the national average (28.4%). By 2005 the share fell to 10.3%, by 2013 to 8.3%, and in 2024 it was 3.4%.

Workers whose salary did not reach the subsistence minimum accounted for 1.1% in St. Petersburg in 2025. Across Russia it was 2.3%. Ten years earlier, in 2015, the figures were 4.8% in the city and 10.7% nationwide.

Open share of population below the poverty line in St. Petersburg →

Minimum pensioner and pension supplement

A non‑working pensioner whose pension together with other payments is below the pension minimum in the region receives a supplement equal to the difference. In Saint Petersburg for 2026 this threshold is 17,754 rubles, a year ago it was 16,623, an increase of 1,131 rubles. In 2013 the supplement threshold in the city was 5,593 rubles.

How the social supplement works and how many people receive it are explained in the article about the pensioner’s subsistence minimum. Row for the city: pensioner’s minimum in Saint Petersburg by year.

Questions and answers

What is the subsistence minimum in Saint Petersburg in 2026?

Per capita 20,644 rubles per month. For able‑bodied persons 22,502, for pensioners 17,754, for children 20,025.

What is the subsistence minimum per child in Saint Petersburg in 2026?

20,025 rubles per month, 1,276 rubles more than in 2025.

By how much did the minimum increase compared with 2025?

By 6.8% in all four groups. Per capita it was 19,329 rubles, now 20,644.

Why is the minimum higher in Saint Petersburg than in Russia overall?

Since 2021 the region calculates the minimum from the median income of its residents, not from the cost of a food basket. Incomes in Saint Petersburg are higher than the Russian average, so the minimum is higher, by 9%.

I live in Murino. Which minimum should I use?

Leningrad Oblast: Murino belongs to it, not to the city. Per capita there it is 20,265 rubles, per child 19,657, for able‑bodied persons 22,089.

In short

Subsistence minimum in Saint Petersburg for 2026: 20,644 rubles per capita, 22,502 for able‑bodied, 17,754 for pensioners, 20,025 for children.
That is 9% higher than Russia overall, and 2% higher than Leningrad Oblast.
A family with two workers and two children needs 85,054 rubles per month at the minimum, the threshold for a single benefit for it is 82,576 rubles of income.
Since 2013 the minimum has grown 2.98 times. Back then Saint Petersburg was below the national average; since 2015 it has been above.
In 2025 the incomes of Saint Petersburg residents were 5.37 times the minimum, 3.2% of residents were below the poverty line, less than in any other region.