German social-security contributions explained
The four pillars of German Sozialversicherung — pension, health, care and unemployment — the employee share, and the contribution ceilings that cap high earners.
5 min read · Updated 2026-06-14
For most German employees, social-security contributions take a bigger bite out of gross pay than income tax does. They fund four statutory insurance systems, the cost is split roughly half-and-half with your employer, and the employee share lands around a fifth of your gross salary. Here is where that money goes.
The four (or five) pillars
- Pension insurance (Rentenversicherung) — the largest, at about 18.6% of gross split between you and your employer, funding the state pension.
- Health insurance (Krankenversicherung) — a general rate near 14.6% plus a fund-specific supplement (Zusatzbeitrag), again split with the employer.
- Long-term care insurance (Pflegeversicherung) — a few percent, with a surcharge for employees over 23 who have no children.
- Unemployment insurance (Arbeitslosenversicherung) — around 2.6% of gross, split.
Together the employeehalf typically comes to roughly 20% of gross — deducted automatically alongside wage tax.
The contribution ceilings
Crucially, contributions are not charged on unlimited income. Each system has a contribution-assessment ceiling (Beitragsbemessungsgrenze): earn above it and your contributions stop rising even as your salary does. This is why very high earners in Germany see their effectivesocial-security rate fall as gross climbs — the percentage applies only up to the ceiling. The ceilings are revised every year, so treat any specific figure as current-year only.
Health insurance: statutory vs private
Most employees are in statutory health insurance (gesetzliche Krankenversicherung), where the contribution is a percentage of income up to the ceiling. Higher earners may opt into private insurance (private Krankenversicherung), where the premium is based on age and health rather than salary — a different calculation our calculator does not model at present.
Tax and social security together
Your monthly net is gross minus wage tax (driven by your Steuerklasse) and minus the employee social-security share. Both come off automatically. The Germany take-home pay calculatorcombines them so you can see brutto → netto for any gross — try a €65,000 salary to see the split. Rates and ceilings change each January; confirm the current values before relying on a figure.