4,217 euros gross per month - that was the average salary of workers in Germany in 2025. The increase is 204 euros compared to the previous year, according to data from the Federal Employment Agency.
It is clear from them that every fourth person receives between 3,000 and 4,000 euros gross per month. People with the highest salaries - over 8,000 euros - are 7.5 percent of workers.
Doctors are the best paid, beauticians the worst
Average incomes in Germany vary depending on place of residence, gender, education and qualifications. Statistical information shows that the best earnings are in the financial and insurance sectors - an average of 6,140 euros per month. Relatively poorly paid are those who work part-time or on a wage basis - they earn an average of 2,620 euros. In the hotel and restaurant industry, as well as in agriculture, people earn between 2,730 and 2,900 euros. At the bottom of the scale among professions are, for example, masseurs and beauticians - with an average of only 2,270 euros.
"Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" (FAZ) notes that despite this, salaries in these sectors have increased significantly over the past seven years. This also applies to caregivers and employees in nursing homes, where the salary increase reaches 40 percent compared to 2018. And the smallest increase over the same period was in teachers' salaries - only ten percent.
A more detailed look at the salary reveals that the highest salaries in 2025 were earned by doctors and dentists - an average of 7,846 euros. IT specialists also have good incomes - an average of 6,114 euros per month.
Men still earn better than women
Do these incomes allow Germans to save? A study by the insurance company R+V shows that 27 percent have no savings, and 47 percent say that they currently have no opportunity to save. Six percent reported that rising prices have forced them to reach into their savings, and almost one in five respondents in this study admitted to waking up at night with financial worries.
The data from the Federal Employment Agency also shows that in almost all professions, men continue to earn more than women - sometimes the difference reaches 1,000 euros, and the maximum recorded in management is almost 2,000. Otherwise, on a national scale, the difference is smaller - men earn 309 euros more than women, and in general, in recent years, the gap has been closing: from 15.1 percent in 2018 to 7.7 percent in 2025.
People with higher education and those working in large companies with over 250 employees are the ones who can count on higher salaries, according to the data published by the Federal Employment Agency. As for workers of foreign origin, they earn an average of 1,038 euros less than Germans. In this respect, the difference is not only not decreasing, but increasing, the explanation being that foreigners more often than Germans do low-skilled, low-paid work.
The most money goes to rent, especially if you live alone
Germans spend a large part of their salaries on rent - on average over a third if you live alone. In the Munich area, this amount can exceed half of the net salary. The situation in Berlin and the capital's surroundings is no different. Housing is cheaper in the so-called new federal states - in the former GDR, as well as in the Ruhr area and in the Bremen area. There, housing can cost less than a third of the salary.
In total, the cost of rent, energy and other overhead expenses is about 43 percent of the income of people who live alone. They spend 13 percent on food, 10.2 percent on transport. Statistics show that Germans spend an average of about eight percent of their earnings on leisure, culture and sports.
However, the place of residence plays a key role - those who have chosen to live in large cities or university centers pay more for housing, energy, food or mobility. In other words, the answer to the question of what Germans can afford with their salaries depends primarily on where they live, the FAC concludes.