Germany is one of the world’s top 5 countries in terms of the salaries of IT specialists. However, developers’ wages (€3,500 – 5,000) are not very different from the average salary in all sectors of the German job market (around €4,000 per month).
In 2020, the minimum annual salary for EU Blue Card applicants in Germany is €43,056 per year (€3,588 per month) for shortage occupations (including IT occupations).
How much you can earn
Average IT salaries per month in Germany (EUR, before taxes):
- Software developer: 3,320 – 4,430
- Back-end developer: 3,360 – 4,839
- Front-end developer: 3,110 – 4,400
- Full-stack developer: 3,520 – 4,840
- DevOps engineer: 3,510 – 4,960
- Database administrator: 3,100 – 4,820
- Web designer: 2,420 – 3,325
- System administrator: 2,300 – 4,460
- Project manager: 3,280 – 5,030
- QA engineer: 3,900 – 5,830
- Technical writer: 3,060 – 5,200
- Security expert: 3,770 – 5,630
IT salaries in Germany also depend on three major factors:
1. Candidate’s experience. For example, junior software developers in Germany earn €3,725 on average, specialists with medium experience get €4,600, and senior software developers earn €5,300 per month.
2. Company size. In general, large companies pay better than small ones. The average salary of an IT specialist in Germany is €4,390 if the company employs less than 100 people. It rises to €5,020 for 1,000 employees, and €6,510 in companies with 100,000 employees.
3. Location. In Munich, IT professionals earn 20% more than the national average. One of the reasons for this is the close connection of local IT companies with highly profitable industries such as the automotive industry and insurance. Frankfurt is second after Munich in terms of salaries. Wages in Eastern Germany (Dresden, Duisburg, Leipzig) are the lowest. And Berlin is somewhere in the middle.
Cost of living in Germany
The salary of €3,000 per month is enough to live in Germany. The average expenses do not usually exceed €2,000 per month excluding taxes (≈ 40%). This sum includes the following monthly expenses (EUR):
- Rental accommodation: 450–800
- Food: 200–300
- Health insurance: 350
- Leisure activities: 150
- Utilities and Internet: 100–200
Keep in mind that life in the western part of the country is more expensive than in the eastern lands.