An income scale that puts most Germans in the middle

The Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft (IW), a Cologne research body close to employers, published its study on Monday, 19 October 2026. It draws on the EU household survey for 2024 and measures household income after taxes, social contributions and transfers, including pensions and income from assets. The median equivalised net household income was 2,419 euros a month, the level that splits the population into a richer and a poorer half. The calculator behind the study is based on 48,000 households, and the IW says the income structure has barely changed since its first interactive comparison in 2014.

Who falls into which band

For a single adult, net household income below 1,450 euros a month counts as relatively poor. The lower middle band runs from 1,450 to 1,940 euros, the middle class in the narrower sense from 1,940 to 3,630 euros, and the upper middle band from 3,630 to 6,050 euros. Anyone above 6,050 euros net a month belonged to the richest four percent of the population in 2024. Among childless couples where both partners work, almost twelve percent reached the wealth threshold of 9,070 euros net a month, a share the study puts at three times the population level. Households with a university degree earned a median of 3,140 euros a month, which placed them in the upper third of the overall distribution.

The thresholds climb with each child under 14, as the chart below shows.

Single adult1,450

Single parent, child under 141,890

Childless couple2,180

Couple, one child under 142,610

Couple, two children under 143,050

Single adult

1450 EUR per month

Single parent, child under 14

1890 EUR per month

Childless couple

2180 EUR per month

Couple, one child under 14

2610 EUR per month

Couple, two children under 14

3050 EUR per month

Data from the article text

Why people misjudge their place

A 2023 study by the University of Konstanz found that 80 percent of people in Germany place themselves in the middle class. The IW says the error runs in both directions, with lower earners and higher earners both placing themselves in the middle. The study attributes much of the misjudgement to comparisons with people of similar education and background. IW economist Judith Niehues put it this way:

“The rich are mostly the others. This impression is understandable, but it can be deceptive.”

Niehues also pointed to education and employment as the strongest pathways to a higher income.

“Anyone in employment with a higher educational qualification has good chances of a comparatively high income in Germany.”

Purchasing power and regional gaps

Real incomes are rising again after a long period in which high inflation absorbed nominal wage gains, Niehues told Der Spiegel. The IW data shows purchasing power gains of 3.7 percent in 2024 for couples with children and around 3 percent for childless couples, compared with the previous year. Regional differences remain large. Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg ranked first nationally for purchasing power in 2023, followed by the Bavarian district of Starnberg, and three of the five top regions are in Bavaria. At the bottom sits Offenbach am Main, followed by the Ruhr cities of Gelsenkirchen, Duisburg and Herne. The rankings adjust incomes using regional price indices.

Method limits and open questions

Sources disagree on whether asset income is counted. The IW study as described in WirtschaftsWoche and N-tv includes pensions and income from assets, while Tagesspiegel reports that rents, interest and share gains are left out of the calculator. According to N-tv, the calculator also ignores the benefit of owning the home one lives in. Reader comments under a FOCUS online piece on the same thresholds split between a debate about distribution and benefits and a focus on everyday spending and rent prices. The IW calculator lets users see how many people earn more or less than them, filtered by education, age, household type, gender or federal state.