Five republics of the North Caucasus Federal District (NCFD) rank last in the national rankings for provincial salaries.

Chechnya (82nd place) leads the negative rankings, with an average salary in small and medium-sized cities of 29,800 rubles. The wage gap between large and small cities in the region is 35%.

Ingushetia (81st place) showed an average salary of 32,700 rubles, with salaries in small towns lagging 12% behind those in large cities. Dagestan (80th place), with an average salary of 34,700 rubles, demonstrates a 31.1% gap between provincial and urban salaries. Kabardino-Balkaria (79th place) has an average salary of 37,300 rubles, with a 21% difference. Karachay-Cherkessia (78th place) rounds out the bottom five with 40,600 rubles, a 17.7% gap.

The RIA study also notes that the ratio of the average salary in small and medium-sized cities to the cost of a fixed set of goods and services in these regions ranges from 1.98 to 1.45. North Ossetia (74th place) ranked slightly higher with 40,400 rubles, and Stavropol Krai (68th place) with 51,200 rubles. In these regions, the gap between urban and provincial salaries is 11.8% and 20.3%, respectively.