Germany Salary Calculator

On €55,000 gross in 2026, your net pay (Nettolohn) works out at roughly €34,300 a year, about €2,860 a month. Income tax is around €9,100, while social insurance across health, pension, unemployment and long-term care adds up to about €11,600.

Germany leans heavily on social contributions: close to 21% of gross goes to social insurance on its own, although those payments do lower the income that Lohnsteuer is charged on.

German income tax follows a sliding formula rather than fixed brackets. In effective-rate terms it looks roughly like this:
0% up to €11,784 (Grundfreibetrag)
~14-24% on €11,785-€22,000
~24-42% on €22,001-€66,760
42% on €66,761-€277,825
45% above €277,825 (Reichensteuersatz)

The employee share of social insurance in 2026 breaks down as:
Pension (Rentenversicherung): 9.3% up to €90,600
Health (Krankenversicherung): 8.75% up to €66,150, using the average statutory rate
Unemployment (Arbeitslosenversicherung): 1.3% up to €90,600
Long-term care (Pflegeversicherung): 1.7%, or 2.2% if you have no children, up to €66,150

Your Steuerklasse is one of six tax classes that set how much is withheld from each payslip:
Class I: single, widowed or divorced
Class III: married, the higher earner
Class IV: married, both earning similar amounts
Class V: married, the lower earner
This calculator assumes Steuerklasse I (single). Married couples can often cut their total bill noticeably through income splitting (Ehegattensplitting).

The solidarity surcharge, or Soli, was mostly scrapped in 2021. Today only the top earners, very roughly the highest 3.5% (income tax above about €18,130 a year, which is broadly a gross salary over €67,000), still pay it, at 5.5% of their income tax.

The calculator only adds Soli at the higher incomes where it is still due.