A factor that affects a lot of expats is Blue Card vs Work Permit salary requirements. Sometimes as an expat you must be paid higher than colleagues in the team you’re joining because of immigration requirements - more often an issue in small-medium size companies where pay equity hasn’t been figured out yet. Nice video roundups here on pay topics!
Taxes are crazy in Germany. People argue that you get a lot of social benefits because of that. But still they are too much. You pay a big chunk of your salary for health insurance, still struggle to get doctor's appointments.
Tax in scandinavian countries are even higher in germany. Also medical system here in germany is still considered good compared to US or Canada where you sometimes wait for a year to get an appointment to a specialist.
To me personally, it's about starting _from_ somewhere. What both of you mention about your first jobs and salaries makes perfect sense. You see, I expect no miracles, but I wish to be able or capable of making miracles eventually myself. With all my experience and my knowledge, including having dated someone living in Germany, I find that the quality of life is the real gap. She earned below average salary (for Germany) and she took me on a trip to Bremen and Hannover, she rented a car to take me from the airport and walk me around Dortmund.. and many other nice gestures during my stay. Here in Bulgaria, if I was her, I couldn't afford doing that much for someone visiting me for 10 days. As for the gender gap I am sure it will be dealt with. I'm a woman and we don't have a gender gap in terms of salaries, but in the end of the day how does it matter, if both members of a family fight over bills and basic living expenses. Well, still, the quality of people who would listen and understand is what counts for fighting for a higher salary and warmer hearts. 😉
I am from.italy and moved to germany 24 years ago... I say 2 things: 1) the salary in Germany is anyway very good NO MATTER WHAT 2) the quality of life is very high:.good schools good hospitals good roads... GOOD PERSONS for me is probably the best country on the world
Watched the video with a reflection on a quote related to Jen's comment abt "money is not everything", and Yvonne "it's all abt your lifestyle", stating to "never get too busy making a living that you forget to make a life." Great topic, valued advice(ssss) as usual! Thanks for putting the spot on Income (deductions, average gross, cost of living, qualifications, lifestyle, gender gap, etc). Keep it up
Yes, you are right, money is not everything, but it's the part which gives you piece of mind, and what can you do with peace of mind is the real deal. Looking at newer comments I can see at least one person who doesn't seem to have it. But looking at the girls for example, I can see the healthy corelation between knowing your worth and actually thriving to do more and to create.. with it.
Hats down to you 👍 - for your effort and for the quality of your information. Germany should be proud because you help others to discover its culture, system and so on! Thank you, one of the others 😉
This is a great video with a good breakdown! I moved from a big city and took a paycut on my previous gross salary, but I have been amazed how much I am provided for in Germany and never really felt broke despite technically having much lesser money than before. I think until you live here and really experience the economy and plan your finances, the numbers are just... numbers! End of the day I believe we should be fighting for fair salaries, and not higher ones just for the sake of it. Back home, higher salaries just drastically increased the cost of living and basic services. So everyone is constantly chasing after more coin but it's a never-ending rat race where everyone ends up unhappy. It's been a short time here, but I'm very happy with the system in Germany so far because it's quite fair and there is not so much needless competition to be the richest.
Such a good comment and such deep insights here!! I really thank you for sharing all of this. My folks usually wouldn't listen when I express similar opinion. 🙂
@@simplegermanyCould you do videos on healthcare, insurance and taxes in germany? I really would love to have more information on this! (As someone with a disability, I always HAVE to find out as much as possible before thinking about a country as an option to consider for vacations or living) Thanks in advance!!
Why did I find this channel only now, comeon @RUclips! You guys are putting an amazing content about living in Germany, immediately subscribed. Keep doing the good work. Thank you for these insights. :)
Outside of EU, I see a completely different tax system. Once I worked in two start-ups at the same time, and used Russian tax system that allowed me to save almost all income on my hands. So, in my opinion 2,500 euros net is good enough for a life, but when you have 5,000 - 8,000 euros you can forget about prices and live without a headache how to buy something. And when you get more than 10,000 euros per month net you are completely freedom. My best result so far was $13,000 net.
Been here for 6 months as an international student in the Saarland. For the time being I'm working and studying and learning to be very mindful about my spending but I hope by the end of my studies I'll have be able to earn enough to not live on paycheck to paycheck. And if I end up having to move to one of those more expensive cities, my jobs compensate me enough to pay for a good quality of life. Because back in my home country whilst I had a decent standard of living,I loathed the quality of it all...hoping to change that for myself here. Thank you for the super informative video! Tchüssss
I had an interview for a tech/lead related role for a pharma company. The salary was really close to 90k a year. But I saw taxes really high and that let me down. I didn't have enough experience for the position either way. But now I realized that was a pretty decent offer.
It's however important to mention that living in Germany you have access to many amenities and infrastructure not available to you in other countries unless you hire someone yourself or you pay a net price for it.
as a person living in germany i got to say that most of your money will go on rent since prices are crazy here, if you want a quiet place then it’s minimum 1500 euro a month + other costs and for that you would need at least a 3k net salary
@@andrewdirrell7497 Thats the tough part as of 2022/2023. Prices have continued to increase so a lot of people are feeling uncomfortable because the job market is also not encouraging. Inflation of food prices and rent have basically made below average workers and middle the class even more conservative. I agree with @procrastinatingrn3936, you need to make atleast 40K a year if you are single, or 60K a year for a family to live comfortably now in Germany. If you live in a villiage or town that is not populated, the rent will be cheaper. However, finding a job will be much harder, and you will have to be willing to travel.
@@andrewdirrell7497If you want to live in a plce like he describes - alone - yes. If you want to live in an average city are, the flats are around 700-900. And if you are living with a partner - both pay the 500-800 - so you can move to a place like he describes (obviously you will both move out in case of breakup).
Most people I know even hit 36k gross salary (Bruttolohn), the majority is even under 30k. As for the gender pay gap, I encourage watching the interview between Cathy Newman and Jordan Peterson (a bit long but free here on YT). Greetings from Hamburg.
The social contributions you need to pay in Germany can be quite high. Health insurance costs can be exorbitant, and accessing specialist doctors can be challenging. Waiting times can be long, sometimes leading to critical situations before receiving treatment, often resulting in visits to the emergency department.
Living in Stuttgart would consider a family household gross income of at least 100.000 € as fine. With that you don‘t have to worry about costs of living as long as you don‘t need luxury.
You shouldn't use the average income, you should use the median income which is a much better representation of the concept you are trying to convey. The average values can be skewed by unusually low or unusually high salaries.
Hey Jen & Yvonne, just a friendly tip - noticed in this video and your latest one on Tax returns that you are saying Gross with a short o sound like in Loss. Its actually pronounced with the longer o like in Grow (then add the ss on the end!) ;-)
Hi guys :) love your videos. Another topic I would love to see is Unemployment! It is sad, but it happens and it can be very confusing, specially to expats Thanks!
You two are highly entertaining and feed off of each other which makes it a pleasure to watch. As you mentioned, using averages can high some pretty wide variations in the numbers. I live in Southern NJ and while my salary here would most likely put me in the top 5% once I travel 30 miles north closer to NYC my "ranking" falls dramatically. Housing, Insurance and Property taxes take a much bigger chunk out of those paychecks so it tend to even out. I know that in Germany, they take out a percentage for National Health Insurance and was curious of that was just based on salary or do they take into account total family size. Here in the US its kind of a mish-mash as most companies provide Insurance as part of the compensation packages and your cost can be all over the map depending on number of dependents. I have a colleague whose company pays 100% of family health costs and I pay about 250/month for a family of 4. Thanks!
It's 14 % of your salary, I guess. 7 % your part, 7 % your employers part. So from say 3 grand you pay roughly 420 bucks health insurance, but as I said it is divided between you and your boss. So 210 and you're covered for everything. At one point in your income you have no choice anymore and have to change from public to private insurance. That's around 5 grand, I guess? Difference between the two. No waiting times anymore as a privately insured patient at doctors/dentists. Room in the hospital can be yours alone. They pay more for your teeth, but you can get an additional insurance for real small money to even that out as a publicly insured. Like 5 bucks a month or so... Glasses and jackets in your teethset are not covered by public insurance. The first one is really bad, if you ask me, because glasses are freaking expensive. Nevertheless...5 bucks insurance on your glasses and you get new ones for free, if they break somehow, including you being tipsy stepping on them.
The Percentage for health insurance is from your income alone, on average 15,6% (of which you pay half) up until 59.850 EUR per year in 2023. If there is more income, this will then be free. Your familiy is covered by your health insurance as long as their individual income is low (
Thank you Jen & Yvonne for the video! Whenever I read about 40% taxe rate, it makes me a bit frustrated. But looking from the other perspective, all of those high contributors I make are the reason why the life for people all ages so good and reliable in Germany, right? I would like to reveal those details and understand the real value of the contributions I would make :)
Actually, there is a progressive list... the more someone earns, the more taxes are paid. So, there is netto salary, than brutto salary, but then there is also "invisible" brutto-brutto" which are not visible on the paycheck. Someone with the average salary has to also earn that brutto-brutto (a tax that the company needs to pay for each employee) too, so when someone earns 100% there is only 45% on the bank account. 55% go to taxes and mandatory contributions... and when someone spent that 45% there is another 22% tax (vat)... Converting the income to energy: someone earns 100% of the "energy" but actually receives only 35%... and in case someone invests into the property like own home instead of having fun, traveling, buying "stuff" then is additional property tax... so the system sucks "A LOT"... The bad situation in Germany? Not at all: people at least receive something from the taxes...Germany is ranked as the 10th country by the living standard. For example, some countries are transforming taxes into military and people have only "the security" and even a common diabetes illness can cause a family bankruptcy... such country is the USA, which is ranked by the living standard as the 28th country. Long story short: taxes are not a bad thing when invested back to people instead of protecting the corporations.
@@simplegermany then why do the Swiss have only 20% taxe rate? Is their pillar not so stable? Or maybe they just DON'T vote for incompetent socialists as the Germans usually do?
I'd say, when your apartment's rent is around a third of your salary you earn well. More better ofc. If it is more in the vicinity of you have to work two jobs, because the rent eats up 75 % or so then your salary sucks.
Hello! Thank you for your videos. All the information is very appreciated. Could you make a video explaining how you got into Web development and how you found a related job, for those of us who would like to do something similar but are lost on what is needed? ❤️
The average salary in Australia is about 57K I think (AUD). But even me and my friends who work in very underpaid, traditionally female industries like teaching, social work and healt support normally make 70-85 or even 90K if you're lucky. That's without postgrad degrees too. Housing is wayyy expensive in Sydney and Melbourne though
Hey, thankyou for making such informative videos. Jen, I'd love to hear about your journey of switching role from customer service to software engineer in Germany. How did that happen? Did you have any tech background? what skills/courses did you take to land a role as software engineer?
Great video but maybe in a next one you could go into more detail about the fact, that there is "Tariflohn" and "AT's - Außerhalb Tariflohn". Not sure if this is of interest for your target audience but in Germany still the unions are quite strong and even with an academic grade you are often employed to a certain "salary class - Tarifklasse". Your gross salary in that class is negotiated between the unions and their counterparts, the association of employers for that industry sector, even if you are not member of that union if you have a tarif contract. It has it pros and cons as you might get like an anual 3% increase of income or like in the chemical indsutry 1k€ extra in May without ever negotiating yourself, but on the ohter hand, you can't just go to your boss and negotiate yourself for more.
I think the last sentence is a bit misleading. You can always try to negotiate for more than the Tariflohn, that's just kind of a specific 'minimum wage' for your type of job. But your boss probably will be less willing to discuss wages than in a company where every salary is negotiated individually.
I don't know how this average salary is enough! I am earning 52k euros with my partner and a kid who depend on my salary and I feel broke as hell at the end of every month (even sometimes after 15 days). My lifestyle is also not very luxurious. My rent is also quite low (550 euros). The electricity + gas bill is around 310 euros. I live in a small city (Aachen). Maybe its getting a little expensive living in Germany now. I think earning around 75k euro will stabilize my lifestyle.
I'm afraid 52k€ gross for a family of 3 won't get you very far. I started with a salary of 52k€ back in 2017 as a single (no dependants). I couldn't imagine having to feed two additional mouths with this salary in 2023. I don't know about your family's situation, but a 2nd income (520€ basis or part-time) would definitely reduce the stress and enable you to reach the 75k€ without you having to break your back for a 23k€ salary increase.
I struggle to believe, that the numbers are up to date. I'm a software engineer close to hitting 3 years of experience (however 2 of those 3 years were in academic research, which is not valued that high in industry) and I make more than 70k a year. Most of my friends are (non-software) engineers and make between 60 and 95k a year with around 0-5 years of experience. I don't feel like that is specifically much and can't believe that there are many software engineers out there that would even consider working for 70k a year when they have 9+ years of experience. Can you say anything about the confidence of the data?
I think the biggest cost factor is the rent. In our city (100k inhabitants) I would pay about 7 - 8 euros per square meter. In Munich or other big citys twice or three times as much, assuming you get an apartment at all.
So I am guessing that if my wife and I were to retire in Deutschland, our 70,000 Euro Gross Retirement would be aduquate. We also have our own Health Insurance that would cover us as expats from the U.S. I spent time there in the Military and fell in love with the place. Especially the Rheinland-Pfalz region. When I was there, I did my best to acclimate to the culture and worked very hard not to be the Ugly American G.I.
The salary tax, and insurance and social security monthly contribution is the matter to make people happy or unhappy, actually, if you earn EUR 5000 per month brutto, in your pocket you will receive around EUR 3000 per month as netto, which demotivate people from promoting to a higher position with a higher salary but far higher responsibility for the role. Working in Germany does not give people much money or to be rich, but you will have more labor protection, limited working hours per week (compared to unlimited working hours in Asian countries), more freedom to enjoy your life after work (or even you can use this freedome to take a side job for side income).
Just as a clarification: You say there is a part oft your gross income you never see. That is not entirely correct as the part you call "pension insurance" is - in effect - more of a pension plan. While the insurances for health, care and against unemployment only apply under special circumstances, the "pension insurance" pays as soon as you reach pension age and in relation to your payments. Thus it is more a kind of forced saving than an insurance.
This mostly depends on the situation. If you are single, living in a 2 room apartment in Hamburg or Frankfurt, 36k/year can be perfectly fine as you have all the money for yourself. With 3 kids and a wife, this is not enough to have a decent life. And we have to be careful to associate happiness with money. Earning more money just makes most people more relaxed but to be happy, most people need more than just a good salary
Damn the numbers for Product managers are even above SE in long run, and it feels like a lot of UX Designers would naturally just migrate into Product as they level in seniority.
Great, helpful and important information! Thank you so much! On the other hand, it would be fair to expand more and objectively explain the reasons behind the so called ,,gender pay gap'' though.
Purchase power is so important. I am very poor in my home country Israel and my purchase power is extremely low. But if I were in Germany or anywhere in continental Europe, or more precisely, when I am there for instance visiting friends, I don't feel poor anymore, I can eat well. Unfortunately, the situation in my country is very abnormal, the military exploits us many years in unpaid forced labour and the monopolies extort us very aggressively with extremely high prices of basic food and living for very low quality products. We're talking about $5 for bread in the store and $20 for the cheapest meal at McDonalds. Just so you get the idea. Poverty, debt and hunger are not uncommon here, unfortunately.
@@simplegermany The high cost of living pushes many people to leave the country. There is a large community in Berlin. Israelis that could not take it any more and moved to work and live there.
You should be paid by how much work you do and how useful you are and not because you must have same salary as a woman. Men are doing more overtime work and it's still not enough because they put all kinds of restrictions so you are screwed
I was really wondering if you could make a video about applying to a University from abroad, and whats that like? I really like the styles of your videos thank you
I’ve been looking into life in Berlin, including researching rental pricing, mind you, I would be leaving g with my 3 children so I will need 3 bedrooms. So far the rentals I’ve seen are skyrocket… not much different from where I live (South FL). There is no way in earth I could ever make it with those average gross salaries… No way. I would need US salary to wing it in Berlin
Maybe you should look into being a digital Nomad. A U.S. firm that will pay you while you live in Germany. Berlin is notorious for having low paying jobs, but a cool eclectic style and culture attracts a lot of young and alternative people. I visit Berlin sometimes with friends and its a nice place with different people, but finding good, affordable housing is not easy and it is not cheap, especially for families.
What i noticed is that discusiions about salary in Germany among friends is still a taboo and I think Germans in general are really money oriented and that makes them more stressed in ,life and therefore that would make them what most people would descibe as ''not friendly'. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
Hello! I recently found your channel and became your new subscriber. Could you also share what the average and high salaries are in Ratingen, Duisburg, and Cologne. Thanks
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No beating around the bushes. Straight to the point . Great as always!
No beating around? Almost 9 minutes till they finally get to the topic of video, but, however no clear answer is given.
wow, not a bot at all
"smoothly" is always my best part of the video, brings an instant smile. Also, what an excellent video, clear&crisp.
😇
A factor that affects a lot of expats is Blue Card vs Work Permit salary requirements. Sometimes as an expat you must be paid higher than colleagues in the team you’re joining because of immigration requirements - more often an issue in small-medium size companies where pay equity hasn’t been figured out yet.
Nice video roundups here on pay topics!
Taxes are crazy in Germany. People argue that you get a lot of social benefits because of that. But still they are too much. You pay a big chunk of your salary for health insurance, still struggle to get doctor's appointments.
In Germany? :D Not small. But pls maybe check in Hungary then..
Tax in scandinavian countries are even higher in germany. Also medical system here in germany is still considered good compared to US or Canada where you sometimes wait for a year to get an appointment to a specialist.
Isn't Healthcare free?
@@GunslingerLv no
@Jhilmil Basu what but usa says it's free in Germany, usa media never lies
To me personally, it's about starting _from_ somewhere. What both of you mention about your first jobs and salaries makes perfect sense. You see, I expect no miracles, but I wish to be able or capable of making miracles eventually myself. With all my experience and my knowledge, including having dated someone living in Germany, I find that the quality of life is the real gap. She earned below average salary (for Germany) and she took me on a trip to Bremen and Hannover, she rented a car to take me from the airport and walk me around Dortmund.. and many other nice gestures during my stay. Here in Bulgaria, if I was her, I couldn't afford doing that much for someone visiting me for 10 days. As for the gender gap I am sure it will be dealt with. I'm a woman and we don't have a gender gap in terms of salaries, but in the end of the day how does it matter, if both members of a family fight over bills and basic living expenses. Well, still, the quality of people who would listen and understand is what counts for fighting for a higher salary and warmer hearts. 😉
Gender gap is non existant, just males work longer hours and are more ambitious, also they dont have babies.
Gender pay gap doesn't exist
wtf
I am from.italy and moved to germany 24 years ago...
I say 2 things:
1) the salary in Germany is anyway very good NO MATTER WHAT
2) the quality of life is very high:.good schools good hospitals good roads... GOOD PERSONS
for me is probably the best country on the world
Thanks for sharing 😊 It's awesome to hear through your words how happy you are living here 🥳
Watched the video with a reflection on a quote related to Jen's comment abt "money is not everything", and Yvonne "it's all abt your lifestyle", stating to "never get too busy making a living that you forget to make a life."
Great topic, valued advice(ssss) as usual! Thanks for putting the spot on Income (deductions, average gross, cost of living, qualifications, lifestyle, gender gap, etc). Keep it up
Yes, you are right, money is not everything, but it's the part which gives you piece of mind, and what can you do with peace of mind is the real deal. Looking at newer comments I can see at least one person who doesn't seem to have it. But looking at the girls for example, I can see the healthy corelation between knowing your worth and actually thriving to do more and to create.. with it.
Thanks for mentioning Arbeitnow :D
A pleasure, its a great job board! 😊
I really liked this video it felt so organized
Hats down to you 👍 - for your effort and for the quality of your information. Germany should be proud because you help others to discover its culture, system and so on! Thank you, one of the others 😉
Oh my goodness, this is video is the main hub of helpfulness. Thank you so much 😊🙏
This is a great video with a good breakdown! I moved from a big city and took a paycut on my previous gross salary, but I have been amazed how much I am provided for in Germany and never really felt broke despite technically having much lesser money than before. I think until you live here and really experience the economy and plan your finances, the numbers are just... numbers! End of the day I believe we should be fighting for fair salaries, and not higher ones just for the sake of it.
Back home, higher salaries just drastically increased the cost of living and basic services. So everyone is constantly chasing after more coin but it's a never-ending rat race where everyone ends up unhappy.
It's been a short time here, but I'm very happy with the system in Germany so far because it's quite fair and there is not so much needless competition to be the richest.
Thanks for sharing your experience. We agree! 😊
Such a good comment and such deep insights here!! I really thank you for sharing all of this. My folks usually wouldn't listen when I express similar opinion. 🙂
@@simplegermanyCould you do videos on healthcare, insurance and taxes in germany? I really would love to have more information on this! (As someone with a disability, I always HAVE to find out as much as possible before thinking about a country as an option to consider for vacations or living)
Thanks in advance!!
good for you under 60k earner
Agree with you guys. Definition of a good salary is so subjective and different for every one. Still you covered it so nicely & smooothlyy 😃
Why did I find this channel only now, comeon @RUclips! You guys are putting an amazing content about living in Germany, immediately subscribed. Keep doing the good work. Thank you for these insights. :)
Thank you so much Jenn and Yovonn for all of your efforts.
Outside of EU, I see a completely different tax system. Once I worked in two start-ups at the same time, and used Russian tax system that allowed me to save almost all income on my hands. So, in my opinion 2,500 euros net is good enough for a life, but when you have 5,000 - 8,000 euros you can forget about prices and live without a headache how to buy something. And when you get more than 10,000 euros per month net you are completely freedom. My best result so far was $13,000 net.
Yes you have mentioned it correctly 5000 plus is a good way to live without fear of any other sudden costs.
Been here for 6 months as an international student in the Saarland. For the time being I'm working and studying and learning to be very mindful about my spending but I hope by the end of my studies I'll have be able to earn enough to not live on paycheck to paycheck. And if I end up having to move to one of those more expensive cities, my jobs compensate me enough to pay for a good quality of life. Because back in my home country whilst I had a decent standard of living,I loathed the quality of it all...hoping to change that for myself here. Thank you for the super informative video! Tchüssss
As a student you of course have a different lifestyle 😉 We hope you are enjoying your time in Germany so far.
@@simplegermany Oh definitely. Grateful for every moment of being here 😊
You will never have life quality in Germany. Most people in Germany die on sundays because it is so boring.
I had an interview for a tech/lead related role for a pharma company. The salary was really close to 90k a year. But I saw taxes really high and that let me down. I didn't have enough experience for the position either way. But now I realized that was a pretty decent offer.
One of many great videos on the channel with good
research will help a lot of people.
OMG I'm from Guatemala too! Thanks for this video!
From Feli and Josh now I am about to know you too . Just can't wait to see all your videos and hard work you have done till now
It's however important to mention that living in Germany you have access to many amenities and infrastructure not available to you in other countries unless you hire someone yourself or you pay a net price for it.
I loved your video! It gave me the answers to all the questions I had in mind. Very informative :)
Guys!!! Me encanta su contenido, son muy buenas explicando ahora las veo a diario. Gracias
as a person living in germany i got to say that most of your money will go on rent since prices are crazy here, if you want a quiet place then it’s minimum 1500 euro a month + other costs and for that you would need at least a 3k net salary
isn't 3k net above average? so, you have to be in top 25% of jobbers by salary?
@@andrewdirrell7497 Thats the tough part as of 2022/2023. Prices have continued to increase so a lot of people are feeling uncomfortable because the job market is also not encouraging. Inflation of food prices and rent have basically made below average workers and middle the class even more conservative. I agree with @procrastinatingrn3936, you need to make atleast 40K a year if you are single, or 60K a year for a family to live comfortably now in Germany. If you live in a villiage or town that is not populated, the rent will be cheaper. However, finding a job will be much harder, and you will have to be willing to travel.
@@andrewdirrell7497If you want to live in a plce like he describes - alone - yes.
If you want to live in an average city are, the flats are around 700-900.
And if you are living with a partner - both pay the 500-800 - so you can move to a place like he describes (obviously you will both move out in case of breakup).
What city do you get flats for 900 please?
@@Obiwan001 Most cities aside of the most expensive 3-4.
Most people I know even hit 36k gross salary (Bruttolohn), the majority is even under 30k. As for the gender pay gap, I encourage watching the interview between Cathy Newman and Jordan Peterson (a bit long but free here on YT). Greetings from Hamburg.
The social contributions you need to pay in Germany can be quite high. Health insurance costs can be exorbitant, and accessing specialist doctors can be challenging. Waiting times can be long, sometimes leading to critical situations before receiving treatment, often resulting in visits to the emergency department.
Thanks a lot for the video, Simple Germany!
You’re very welcome 😊
Thank you for the video. Great insights!
This video is really eye opening😍😍😍
Thank you
Can I find a woman in Germany for relationship i am in Nigeria
I am a senior software engineer in Berlin and 70k for >9 years of experience is low. Aim for 85k. Unless you get equity.
Yes, 85k is a much more suitable salary, 70k is for 3 yrs of experience
Thank you for your video, it helps me a lot ❤️
You girls are just amazing! Thanks a million for all this valuable information provided with your videos.
Living in Stuttgart would consider a family household gross income of at least 100.000 € as fine. With that you don‘t have to worry about costs of living as long as you don‘t need luxury.
do you mean gross or net income
@@andrewdirrell7497 Gross income. Thats about 60000 € - 65000 € net income.
@@Suctess danke
You shouldn't use the average income, you should use the median income which is a much better representation of the concept you are trying to convey. The average values can be skewed by unusually low or unusually high salaries.
Hey Jen & Yvonne, just a friendly tip - noticed in this video and your latest one on Tax returns that you are saying Gross with a short o sound like in Loss.
Its actually pronounced with the longer o like in Grow (then add the ss on the end!) ;-)
Thank you very much! So it’s like when you say: “ewww that’s gross?” 😁
@@simplegermany Haha yes pretty much, just with a little less ewww! 😁
Hi guys :) love your videos.
Another topic I would love to see is Unemployment! It is sad, but it happens and it can be very confusing, specially to expats
Thanks!
so happy I found this channel, great information!
Your channel is amazing. Thank you!
You two are highly entertaining and feed off of each other which makes it a pleasure to watch. As you mentioned, using averages can high some pretty wide variations in the numbers. I live in Southern NJ and while my salary here would most likely put me in the top 5% once I travel 30 miles north closer to NYC my "ranking" falls dramatically. Housing, Insurance and Property taxes take a much bigger chunk out of those paychecks so it tend to even out. I know that in Germany, they take out a percentage for National Health Insurance and was curious of that was just based on salary or do they take into account total family size. Here in the US its kind of a mish-mash as most companies provide Insurance as part of the compensation packages and your cost can be all over the map depending on number of dependents. I have a colleague whose company pays 100% of family health costs and I pay about 250/month for a family of 4. Thanks!
It's 14 % of your salary, I guess. 7 % your part, 7 % your employers part.
So from say 3 grand you pay roughly 420 bucks health insurance, but as I said it is divided between you and your boss.
So 210 and you're covered for everything.
At one point in your income you have no choice anymore and have to change from public to private insurance.
That's around 5 grand, I guess?
Difference between the two.
No waiting times anymore as a privately insured patient at doctors/dentists. Room in the hospital can be yours alone.
They pay more for your teeth, but you can get an additional insurance for real small money to even that out as a publicly insured.
Like 5 bucks a month or so...
Glasses and jackets in your teethset are not covered by public insurance.
The first one is really bad, if you ask me, because glasses are freaking expensive.
Nevertheless...5 bucks insurance on your glasses and you get new ones for free, if they break somehow, including you being tipsy stepping on them.
The Percentage for health insurance is from your income alone, on average 15,6% (of which you pay half) up until 59.850 EUR per year in 2023. If there is more income, this will then be free. Your familiy is covered by your health insurance as long as their individual income is low (
Thank you Jen & Yvonne for the video!
Whenever I read about 40% taxe rate, it makes me a bit frustrated. But looking from the other perspective, all of those high contributors I make are the reason why the life for people all ages so good and reliable in Germany, right? I would like to reveal those details and understand the real value of the contributions I would make :)
Yes, they form the pillar of a ‚stable‘ society, where you fall softly in case of illness or unemployment etc.
@@simplegermany and no worries about healthcare (most important)
Actually, there is a progressive list... the more someone earns, the more taxes are paid. So, there is netto salary, than brutto salary, but then there is also "invisible" brutto-brutto" which are not visible on the paycheck. Someone with the average salary has to also earn that brutto-brutto (a tax that the company needs to pay for each employee) too, so when someone earns 100% there is only 45% on the bank account. 55% go to taxes and mandatory contributions... and when someone spent that 45% there is another 22% tax (vat)...
Converting the income to energy: someone earns 100% of the "energy" but actually receives only 35%... and in case someone invests into the property like own home instead of having fun, traveling, buying "stuff" then is additional property tax... so the system sucks "A LOT"...
The bad situation in Germany? Not at all: people at least receive something from the taxes...Germany is ranked as the 10th country by the living standard. For example, some countries are transforming taxes into military and people have only "the security" and even a common diabetes illness can cause a family bankruptcy... such country is the USA, which is ranked by the living standard as the 28th country. Long story short: taxes are not a bad thing when invested back to people instead of protecting the corporations.
@@simplegermany then why do the Swiss have only 20% taxe rate? Is their pillar not so stable? Or maybe they just DON'T vote for incompetent socialists as the Germans usually do?
I'd say, when your apartment's rent is around a third of your salary you earn well.
More better ofc.
If it is more in the vicinity of you have to work two jobs, because the rent eats up 75 % or so then your salary sucks.
Glad to hear that Berlin isn’t as expensive as the other places.
Hello! Thank you for your videos. All the information is very appreciated.
Could you make a video explaining how you got into Web development and how you found a related job, for those of us who would like to do something similar but are lost on what is needed? ❤️
The average salary in Australia is about 57K I think (AUD). But even me and my friends who work in very underpaid, traditionally female industries like teaching, social work and healt support normally make 70-85 or even 90K if you're lucky. That's without postgrad degrees too. Housing is wayyy expensive in Sydney and Melbourne though
Thanks for sharing!
Important to note 90k AUD is approx €60k
@@FilipeSilva1 true, the exchange rate is a little depressing
@@huntress_9441 and what it will be after taxes, net salaries?
As always its the best content ❤
very informative thank you 🙏
you are great guys... just subscribed. i want to watch you forever.
Great video. Thanks!
This is fantastic, a great well-explained presentation. (gross is pronounced 'grow ss).
Very good topic 💸
These videos are SO helpful! Thank you guys!
Amazing info!
Hey, thankyou for making such informative videos. Jen, I'd love to hear about your journey of switching role from customer service to software engineer in Germany. How did that happen? Did you have any tech background? what skills/courses did you take to land a role as software engineer?
We will do a detailed video on it in the future, but we already touch the topic in this video: ruclips.net/video/UJyUtl0BgW8/видео.html
@@simplegermany Thankyou. Loved it!
@@simplegermany your channel is amazing and I'm so glad I found it, saludos desde Argentina colega!
€47k is the MEAN average salary, not the median one, which is the benchmark used in some other countries like the UK.
Wow i am like... EXACTLY on the average salary
Love your Channel it's helping me a lot 😊
Yvonne really loves eye contact.
Great video but maybe in a next one you could go into more detail about the fact, that there is "Tariflohn" and "AT's - Außerhalb Tariflohn". Not sure if this is of interest for your target audience but in Germany still the unions are quite strong and even with an academic grade you are often employed to a certain "salary class - Tarifklasse". Your gross salary in that class is negotiated between the unions and their counterparts, the association of employers for that industry sector, even if you are not member of that union if you have a tarif contract. It has it pros and cons as you might get like an anual 3% increase of income or like in the chemical indsutry 1k€ extra in May without ever negotiating yourself, but on the ohter hand, you can't just go to your boss and negotiate yourself for more.
Very true! Thanks for adding this information! 😊
I think the last sentence is a bit misleading. You can always try to negotiate for more than the Tariflohn, that's just kind of a specific 'minimum wage' for your type of job. But your boss probably will be less willing to discuss wages than in a company where every salary is negotiated individually.
Excellent job, thank you
u guys are amazing....i watched like 10 videos already back to back.
🤩 that’s awesome!
I don't know how this average salary is enough!
I am earning 52k euros with my partner and a kid who depend on my salary and I feel broke as hell at the end of every month (even sometimes after 15 days).
My lifestyle is also not very luxurious. My rent is also quite low (550 euros). The electricity + gas bill is around 310 euros. I live in a small city (Aachen).
Maybe its getting a little expensive living in Germany now. I think earning around 75k euro will stabilize my lifestyle.
Thanks for sharing your experience :)
I'm afraid 52k€ gross for a family of 3 won't get you very far. I started with a salary of 52k€ back in 2017 as a single (no dependants). I couldn't imagine having to feed two additional mouths with this salary in 2023. I don't know about your family's situation, but a 2nd income (520€ basis or part-time) would definitely reduce the stress and enable you to reach the 75k€ without you having to break your back for a 23k€ salary increase.
i love your plant pot!
😅 - it reminds us of Jen 🤣
Oh I just noticed it
I struggle to believe, that the numbers are up to date. I'm a software engineer close to hitting 3 years of experience (however 2 of those 3 years were in academic research, which is not valued that high in industry) and I make more than 70k a year. Most of my friends are (non-software) engineers and make between 60 and 95k a year with around 0-5 years of experience. I don't feel like that is specifically much and can't believe that there are many software engineers out there that would even consider working for 70k a year when they have 9+ years of experience. Can you say anything about the confidence of the data?
They weren't up to date even two years ago.
everytime i watch a video i think to myself: i love these two :) Jenn is sweet and Yvonne is wholesome
Good salary seems to be at least 8000 euro per month, other is rather poor salary taking into account costs of living
Great video but I think you should’ve uses salaries of nurses,doctors,policers,teachers to do this video. That would’ve been more appreciated
You can use the same website to research average salaries of other professions 😊
I love your contents! It’s very helpful! 😊❤
Awesome video.. thank you for sharing
Best as usual!! Thank you so much! Keep creating great content! Love from a Russian girl in the UAE ❤️👐🏻
I think the biggest cost factor is the rent. In our city (100k inhabitants) I would pay about 7 - 8 euros per square meter. In Munich or other big citys twice or three times as much, assuming you get an apartment at all.
It's still a bargain because the quality of life is unmatched in Munich.
I conclude that money actually buys happiness
great as always thanks!
now i know that i earn more then middle germany salary here in Moscow, but i also want to move to the Germany! )
Gross in English is pronounced the same as in German, just with the different sounding r we use, an unexpected exception!
The O is pronounced differently and has a longer sound in German.
So I am guessing that if my wife and I were to retire in Deutschland, our 70,000 Euro Gross Retirement would be aduquate. We also have our own Health Insurance that would cover us as expats from the U.S. I spent time there in the Military and fell in love with the place. Especially the Rheinland-Pfalz region. When I was there, I did my best to acclimate to the culture and worked very hard not to be the Ugly American G.I.
Again, depending on your lifestyle. But yes it is a very comfy sum.
Love this video, thx
The salary tax, and insurance and social security monthly contribution is the matter to make people happy or unhappy, actually, if you earn EUR 5000 per month brutto, in your pocket you will receive around EUR 3000 per month as netto, which demotivate people from promoting to a higher position with a higher salary but far higher responsibility for the role. Working in Germany does not give people much money or to be rich, but you will have more labor protection, limited working hours per week (compared to unlimited working hours in Asian countries), more freedom to enjoy your life after work (or even you can use this freedome to take a side job for side income).
Thank you so much guys , for valuable time and great information
Thanks, but mentioning median wages rather than averages is far more informative in this context
Just as a clarification: You say there is a part oft your gross income you never see. That is not entirely correct as the part you call "pension insurance" is - in effect - more of a pension plan. While the insurances for health, care and against unemployment only apply under special circumstances, the "pension insurance" pays as soon as you reach pension age and in relation to your payments. Thus it is more a kind of forced saving than an insurance.
Thanks!
Thanks for your super thanks ☺️
The word "gross" is pronounced with a long "O" like go, throw, bow, tow.
This mostly depends on the situation. If you are single, living in a 2 room apartment in Hamburg or Frankfurt, 36k/year can be perfectly fine as you have all the money for yourself. With 3 kids and a wife, this is not enough to have a decent life. And we have to be careful to associate happiness with money. Earning more money just makes most people more relaxed but to be happy, most people need more than just a good salary
Damn the numbers for Product managers are even above SE in long run, and it feels like a lot of UX Designers would naturally just migrate into Product as they level in seniority.
Great, helpful and important information! Thank you so much!
On the other hand, it would be fair to expand more and objectively explain the reasons behind the so called ,,gender pay gap'' though.
Purchase power is so important. I am very poor in my home country Israel and my purchase power is extremely low. But if I were in Germany or anywhere in continental Europe, or more precisely, when I am there for instance visiting friends, I don't feel poor anymore, I can eat well. Unfortunately, the situation in my country is very abnormal, the military exploits us many years in unpaid forced labour and the monopolies extort us very aggressively with extremely high prices of basic food and living for very low quality products. We're talking about $5 for bread in the store and $20 for the cheapest meal at McDonalds. Just so you get the idea. Poverty, debt and hunger are not uncommon here, unfortunately.
Oh wow, we did not know that about Israel!
@@simplegermany The high cost of living pushes many people to leave the country. There is a large community in Berlin. Israelis that could not take it any more and moved to work and live there.
Thanks for another great video. Could you please make a video on german pension system.
They do not post dramas
Thanks for this very clear explanation
Thank you so much guys.
You should be paid by how much work you do and how useful you are and not because you must have same salary as a woman.
Men are doing more overtime work and it's still not enough because they put all kinds of restrictions so you are screwed
I was really wondering if you could make a video about applying to a University from abroad, and whats that like? I really like the styles of your videos thank you
I think median salary would be better measure than an average.
I’ve been looking into life in Berlin, including researching rental pricing, mind you, I would be leaving g with my 3 children so I will need 3 bedrooms. So far the rentals I’ve seen are skyrocket… not much different from where I live (South FL). There is no way in earth I could ever make it with those average gross salaries… No way. I would need US salary to wing it in Berlin
Maybe you should look into being a digital Nomad. A U.S. firm that will pay you while you live in Germany. Berlin is notorious for having low paying jobs, but a cool eclectic style and culture attracts a lot of young and alternative people. I visit Berlin sometimes with friends and its a nice place with different people, but finding good, affordable housing is not easy and it is not cheap, especially for families.
What i noticed is that discusiions about salary in Germany among friends is still a taboo and I think Germans in general are really money oriented and that makes them more stressed in ,life and therefore that would make them what most people would descibe as ''not friendly'. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
Hello! I recently found your channel and became your new subscriber. Could you also share what the average and high salaries are in Ratingen, Duisburg, and Cologne. Thanks
Hello,
Could you please make one video about Differences between these words ( kassenbeleg. Kassenbon. Kassenzettel. Rechnung. Quittung) ..
Haha, at the end of the day they all mean more or less the same thing: a proof of purchase. 😊
@@simplegermany Vielen Dank
Should you not consider a median number weighted by a regional purchasing power parity instead?
I like you guys... 😊😊
Thanks