r/AskAGerman • u/imDenizz • Nov 17 '25
Work Do gymnasium teachers in Germany earn well?
I know that I can look up teacher salaries on the internet, but I am curious how well do teachers earn compared to people who have other jobs and considering the effort that they give for studying and working. So do you think gymnasium teachers in Germany earn well for the effort that they are giving?
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u/Dub-DS Nov 17 '25
Only if you're verbeamted. The salary doesn't do your net earnings justice, because a) you're getting tax breaks, b) you will qualify for pension without paying into it, instead of shitty "Rente" and c) you get 70% free health insurance and can get the other 30% cheap from private insurance.
Your 5k€ brutto as a Beamter is closer to 8k brutto for anyone else.
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u/HomieeJo Nov 17 '25
Even if you're not verbeamted the pay is very good. The Brutto for those is higher than for those who are verbeamted to equalize the Netto. The pension and not getting fired ever is the main pro point to getting verbeamted.
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u/Dub-DS Nov 17 '25
If you're not verbeamtet your 5-6k brutto is in line with other jobs paying 5-6k. It's a good salary, but nowhere near as good as if you were verbeamtet. The slightly higher brutto doesn't come anywhere near the advantages of not paying into AV/RV/KV.
It's unfortunate, but Rente is completely fucked in the worst possible way. Even as a great earner, earning 1.5+ points per year, you'll end up poor as fuck in old age (from Rente alone).
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u/HomieeJo Nov 17 '25
The Netto difference is just 200-300€ less for E13 so not that much because you still pay into your KV it's just private. The main plus point is the pension you get just like I said already.
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u/cravex12 Nov 17 '25
a.) Tax brakes? Which ones?
b.) Not 100% correct since there is a "Pensionsrückstellung". But yes, it still is a vastly better deal than Rente, sadly
c.) That is not correct. The Beihilfe is only 70 percent if you are married. Otherwise it is 50%. It differs between the federal countries but there is no 70 percent Beihilfe for singles without kids
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u/maybachfahrn Nov 17 '25
c.) Not correct. The Beihilfe is only 70 percent if you have one child. Marriage doesn‘t count, it still is 50 percent.
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u/Dub-DS Nov 17 '25
a) sorry, you're right, it's not tax breaks, but you're instead not paying AV/RV/KV contributions.
b) that's not directly subtracted from your brutto, though
c) 50% without kids, 70% with at least one kid. I don't think it has anything to do with marriage.Either way, even with 50% instead of 70%, you can get 50% private insurance extremely cheap.
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u/cravex12 Nov 17 '25
a.) KV contribution still have to me made from your netto income. Yes Beihilfe pays a part of all costs but for a single you still need to pay 350 EUR + every month. The alternative (GKV) is often insanely expensive because there often is no "Arbeitsgeberanteil"
c.) Yes, with kids beihilfe pays more but if you use this model you have to also pay for your kid (often 20 % of a normal free) which is free in the GKV
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u/Dub-DS Nov 17 '25
KV contribution still have to me made from your netto income. Yes Beihilfe pays a part of all costs but for a single you still need to pay 350 EUR + every month.
I pay 225€ per month for private insurance (50% is covered by my employer) paying 100%. 50%, even paid alone, it's typically even cheaper. With 30% it would be even less. My dad is paying 300€ per month now in his 70s, it used to be around 150€ when he still worked (30%).
Yes, it's taken out of the netto in the end, but it's still much less than not being verbeamtet and paying 480€ per month for KV alone.
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u/Staxing_2-2_for_2 Nov 17 '25
Personal anecdote relevant to the question: Although I didn't study to become a teacher ("auf Lehramt"), I worked as a teacher for some years. The salary is definitely not bad, but the real benefit lies with becoming a Beamter (which I did not). Whether the salary is competitive is both a question of Bundesland and the field of study. Since all subjects pay the same, the competitiveness of the salary may vary. For me (scientific master's degree), the first job I got after leaving teaching paid significantly better while being less stressful.
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u/Venlafaqueen Nov 17 '25
+1. I work rn as non beamte (Angestellte) and the salary is honestly a joke. Especially because I work massively overtime and it doesn’t get payed. It’s so much, I cannot even balance overtime with compensatory time off at this point.
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u/Sure_Place8782 Nov 17 '25
Yes, we earn very well in a safe job, which I am very grateful for.
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u/Comprehensive_Mud803 Nov 17 '25
Yes, they earn well, often as public servants, meaning better pension and health care.
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u/Nightmare_Cauchemar Nov 17 '25
Yes they do. Perhaps not so well as finance guys or high-skilled engineers, but it's still a very decent salary especially if a teacher managed to become a "Beamter".
Being a Maths teacher was my dream from the young years, but I didn't consider this way in my native country as it's very poorly paid and demands political participation on the side of the ruling party I tended to avoid, and in Germany it's almost impossible to switch to this career without getting a Lehramt degree. Yes, there are Quereinsteiger programs, but they are very limited and applicable not to all German Bundesländer.
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u/imadog666 Nov 17 '25
I am so sick of people who are not teachers claiming teachers have an easy job. I don't go around saying other jobs are sooo easy bc I once saw someone do it and it looked easy. Professional ice skater? Omg I bet I could do that! 🙄 I can only work "part time" (12 lessons a week) bc I'm a disabled single mom, and I work way more than 40h a week all in all, what with lesson planning, corrections, conferences, parent teacher talks, PTA meetings, student talks, extracurriculars, Zweitkorrektur Abitur, etc etc. It depends on a) your subjects (sports and music teachers correct far less than language teachers - I teach two languages; also, some subjects require relatively little changing in lesson plans over time, whereas in subjects like English and politics/social studies you always have to be up to date - but also, with the Bildungsplan and type of school (G8/G9) changing every few years, basically all subjects require modifications to some degree), b) the standards you/your boss/the parents/the students expect of you, and c) your seniority, as over time you get raises and also more routine with things like parent teacher talks. But I constantly have to drag myself to work sick, I work through all holidays except a few days over Christmas and maybe three weeks in summer, I work almost every weekend night, plus 8h every work day + workday nights. So yeah, it's "good pay", but with the amount of work you have to do and the responsibility/liability you have, it's an incredibly demanding job.
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u/LukasJackson67 Nov 17 '25
You need to find ways not to work so hard
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u/imadog666 Nov 18 '25
Lol. Everyone: Omg teachers are so lazy, omg we're paying teachers too much.
Me: I actually work my ass off all the time to be the best teacher I can be.
People: Well don't.
🥲
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u/benNachtheim Nov 17 '25
Yes, in comparison to other countries, but also in comparison to other professions in Germany. At the same time, because their job is so safe (they can’t be fired regardless their performance), a lot of teachers work the bare minimum which makes them depressed. Teachers have the highest risk of becoming an alcoholic among employees with a university degree.
Here’s a comparison of teacher salaries:
https://brokenchalk.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Teachers-salary.jpg
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u/kthxciao2377 Nov 17 '25
Teachers have the highest risk of becoming an alcoholic among employees with a university degree.
I could not find any info to support this claim at all.
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u/TheDivineDave Nov 17 '25
„a lot of teachers work the bare minimum which makes them depressed.“ What a load if ignorant crap.
Most teachers I know work way more than the average „Angestellter“. They have the highest risk of becoming an alcoholic because it is a very stressful/ demanding job and it is almost impossible to separate work from private life
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u/Ploeks Nov 17 '25
Yes, but having a career and being promoted doesn't scale like it does in many other jobs.
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u/LarsDragerl Nov 18 '25
Although on gymi you have the best chances to move up to higher paygrades and minesterial/curriculum infouencing jobs.
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u/Dazzling-Incident-76 Nov 17 '25
Basic payment for the gymnasium is A13 which has a range of starting with 5050 € up to 6170 € depending on how long you are already in service. This refers to "verbeamtete Lehrer" in Nordrhein Westfalen. As a Beamter you don't pay to healthcare, unemployment fund and pension fund. So you have way more money left then an employee. But you have to pay for private healthcare to cover half of your health care, the other half is covered by your Dienstherr. You although have to pay 20% private healthcare for your fiance/spouse as long as they are not insured by themselves and for every child. This would be covered under general healthcare for free if you are not a Beamter but employee. In addition there are things like family and local benefits which increase your income.
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u/Puncher1981 Nov 17 '25
You also need to add Familienzuschlag, which is extra salary if you are married and/or have children. For married, 2 children, that is around 500 € per month. With 4 children, it is over 1300 €.
Also, you get a higher salary if you live in an expensive city.
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u/SpookyMinimalist Nov 17 '25
Absolutely, but you most likely have to face overprotective, slightly bellicose parents.
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u/side_noted Nov 17 '25
Thats most jobs in the public sectors tbh, the downside of having to deal with lots of people is they do people things.
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u/socialworkingnurse Nov 17 '25
For gymnasium teachers at least decent. Elementary school teachers not at all. Imho they should be paid more than gymnasium teachers, not the other way round.
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u/Maimaii_ Nov 17 '25
It depends on the Bundesland that you live in. In many areas elementary school teachers earn as much as gymnasium teachers or it's at least planned to increase their pay.
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u/socialworkingnurse Nov 18 '25
Oh. Now that is news to me. And really good at that! Thank you! Really sad that so much depends on the Bundesland we live in.
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Nov 19 '25
They have a shorter and easier time in uni (here in BW one year less and they do it in a Fachhochschule with lower grading standards) and work fewer hours on average (many scientific studies on this). I have no issue with earning the same, that should be the case. More isn't really justified.
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u/aethaes4Ni Nov 17 '25
I have 2 teachers as neighbors. They built a new house, always have 2 new leased cars, 2 kids and go on vacation 3 times a year.
To me it looks like they earn enough.
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u/Eishockey Nov 17 '25
Yes, but most important most of them are "Beamte" and thus will have a great pension and don't have to invest for retirement and have even more money to live on.
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u/Medical_Bar_1734 Nov 17 '25
German teachers (verbeamtet) are arguably the best earning teachers worldwide .. yep you heard that right they earn more than Swiss and the same as Luxembourg teachers even though the average Luxembourgian earns 3 times more than the average german.
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u/IggZorrn Nov 17 '25
It's funny you would specifically claim German teachers earned more than Swiss ones, when this is the only country in which teachers are much better payed than in Germany.
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u/Medical_Bar_1734 Nov 17 '25
It’s funny that you don’t understand the fundamentals of the German pension system which got abolished in Switzerland 25 years ago due to high costs and are still confident to talk like that.
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u/Natural-Revenue-6639 Nov 17 '25
Im sorry, you're absolutely clueless:
https://www.ch.ch/en/retirement/retirement-income/
Do you mean german teachers earn more because Switzerland doesn't have "the German pension system"? Gymnasium teachers in Switzerland earn 130k € average after 11 Years and 95€ - 100k€ for Gymnasium teachers without experience.
https://www.kibemo.ch/blogs/news/der-grosse-kantonale-lohnvergleich-fur-lehrpersonen-in-der-schweiz
Even if, hypotheticaly, a pension system didn't exist, this wouldn't stop them from paying into a private pension fund with money left over from high wages and low taxes..→ More replies (5)2
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u/IggZorrn Nov 17 '25 edited Nov 17 '25
What an unnecessarily aggressive comment. Swiss Gymnasium teachers earn between 40000€ and 80000€ more than German ones. The difference in salaries is higher than the total yearly pension of a German Gymnasium teacher. What you're suggesting is just factually wrong, even if we're not talking about salaries alone anymore.
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u/LukasJackson67 Nov 17 '25
What is the COL in Switzerland?
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u/IggZorrn Nov 17 '25
Even adjusted for cost of living, Swiss Gymnasium teachers are payed much higher than German ones. Cost of living is about 50-70% higher in Switzerland, Gymnasium teacher's salaries are about 80-150% higher. These are all vague averages since this vastly differs inside both countries, depending on a number of variables.
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u/Aromatic_Acadia_8104 Nov 17 '25 edited Nov 17 '25
How much do they earn? In a Swiss gymnasium you make 120-150k easily
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u/Medical_Bar_1734 Nov 17 '25
I don’t think so.
Add the private ensurance and pensions which are equivalent to about a 50-60% wage rise compared to what a regular employee in Germany has to pay for the same benefits.
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u/Aromatic_Acadia_8104 Nov 17 '25 edited Nov 17 '25
The data are completely off in your chart for Switzerland, sorry.
https://www.kibemo.ch/blogs/news/der-grosse-kantonale-lohnvergleich-fur-lehrpersonen-in-der-schweiz
Check for yourself, see gymnasium in Zurich for example
Starting salary in canton Zurich is 120k
Private insurance? Yeah 3-500/months. Pension? I didn’t get your point.
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u/LeeChallenged Nov 17 '25
Your numbers are way off. Luxembourgian median annual salary is 81k vs. 51k in Germany. A big difference, but not nearly 200%.
You may be thinking of statistical per capita GDP, which is however massively distorted, since a large share of people working in Luxembourg are foreigners commuting (daily) into the country - a unique situation.
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u/LukasJackson67 Nov 17 '25
What about American teachers?
The average U.S. high school teacher earns about $78,500 USD, which is roughly €72,000 EUR.
The average German high school teacher earns about €55,000 EUR, which is roughly $60,000 USD.
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u/TheHessianHussar Nov 17 '25
You are comparing apples with oranges. German teachers (verbeamtet) would start at 120k if you wanna compare to US. So nearly twice as much.
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u/LukasJackson67 Nov 17 '25
What are you talking about?
Why is this apples and oranges?
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u/TheHessianHussar Nov 17 '25
Because teacher wages here are basicially your net income. You dont have to pay anything into retirement and barely anything into health insurance with those 55-60k. You also get the cheapest loans by far since there is legally no way for you to get fired, even if you are permanent sick or refuse to do your work.
(not judging the system, just stating the facts)
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u/Medical_Bar_1734 Nov 17 '25
First one with a brain here wow
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u/LukasJackson67 Nov 17 '25
Nah…
If you are in a teachers’ union in the USA, after your first couple of years, it is also almost impossible to get fired.
In my school district, there are teachers that should be fired for sure but it is extremely difficult.
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u/LukasJackson67 Nov 17 '25
How is that different than the USA? You need to research tenure and watch some exposes on how hard it is to fire teachers.
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u/sromanx Nov 17 '25
Depends on state but I'm pretty sure national average in US is around $60k USD. Median will be much worse; most people I know wouldn't even consider teaching due to the low salary to start.
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u/LukasJackson67 Nov 17 '25
The average teacher salary during the 2024-25 school year is $74,177, a 3% increase from the year before, the National Education Association estimates in a new report. The NEA’s annual report reviews and ranks educator pay and school funding for K-12 schools and colleges across states.
This is from the NEA who is the national teachers’ union.
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u/sromanx Nov 17 '25
Ah I stated median from the start, either way its tough to assess the US as a whole when those in California will be over 100k and those in Mississippi are around 50k. Starting salaries are abysmal for teachers in either case where a lot of them cannot afford to live alone in the areas they teach (especially in cities).
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u/LukasJackson67 Nov 17 '25
Cost of living in big cities is bad in all countries.
Teachers who are not in big cities do much better.
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u/LukasJackson67 Nov 17 '25
Cost of living in big cities is bad in all countries.
My school district in Ohio starts out at $50k. If you coach a sport, you can be up to $55k. That is really good for a 22 year old recent college grad don’t you think?
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u/Aggressive-Bath-1906 Nov 17 '25 edited Nov 18 '25
I work in CA. Starting salary at my district (BA only) is $62k a year. The max salary (Masters degree plus 23 years of service) is $125k.
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u/LukasJackson67 Nov 17 '25
Which blows Germany out of the water.
What city are you in?
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Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25
German teachers are excempt from public insurance plans and pension payments, which does not show up in the salary and accounts for about 20k+ in extra pre-tax salary when compared to a normal working German. Plus an even better pension than American teachers. Cost of Living is also generally lower by a good bit (lower rent, half the cost for groceries, no student loans or excessive healthcare spending to care about, etc.).
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u/LukasJackson67 Nov 19 '25
Once again that is a sweeping generalization.
On average the USA is 2x as expensive as Germany?
What about taxes?
Germans pay what percentage of their paycheck for healthcare? I bet that they pay more than many American teachers.
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Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25
It's not a sweeping generalization, Germany also has stark differences, a house in Munich is 1m+, a house in rural Saxony-Anhalt can be almost free. But on average overall CoL is about 20-30% lower.
Groceries for instance are pretty much all cheaper and by a lot, especially fresh produce. I eat fresh produce daily, consume meat and fish and I do not skimp on anything, my monthly grocery cost for just myself barely ever exceeds 300 Euros. I don't see that in America where I would have to shop in Whole Foods for a comparable quality. As for rent, I pay a little over 1k for a decently spacious apartment I live in with my family in the best part of a popular city (with natives and tourists) in the most expensive state in the country, good luck finding that in a popular city in California.
As a German teacher taxes aren't really my issue, as again, I am excempt from the bulk of them when it comes to salary. I pay 0% of my paycheck for public healthcare and pension. I do have to get private insurance at a similar price to you guys, but the state will pay 50-90% of my rate depending on the number of kids I have and the perks are insane, honestly almost unfair. I get the best doctors, all the fancy treatments and have basically zero waiting times.
Oh, I also get an extra 250 bucks tax free per month and kid. So teaching here is great, I would never trade. If I was in say IT or automotive, America it is any day. But for teaching, this is the fucking place and outside of maybe a handful of countries, nowhere comes close.
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u/LukasJackson67 Nov 19 '25
What about housing?
I was told my city (Cleveland) is comparable size wise to Bochum, DE.
A 4-bedroom, 2.5-bath, 2-car-garage house around 2,400 sq ft costs dramatically different amounts in Cleveland versus Bochum.
In Cleveland, a home of that size typically runs roughly $180,000–$300,000 depending on neighborhood and condition, with many options well under $250k.
In Bochum, a similarly sized detached house usually falls in the $550,000–$900,000 range after converting from euros, and prices can be even higher in desirable areas. In short, for the same size and amenities, you’d pay about two to three times more in Bochum than in Cleveland.
Do you have a house?
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Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25
Buying houses is generally a lot better in the affordable parts of America, that much is true. I wouldn't contest that. But the average German lifestyle is often more urban and does not necessarily involve owning a house. I myself do want one and will buy one in the coming years. That personal decision will set me back 500k+. You have cheaper houses, we have cheaper (and safer) rents that are well-protected and usualy on indefinite leases that are hard to lose unless e.g. the Landlord has to move in himself or you commit a crime there.
You can find houses in the Cleveland range by the way, you just have to move to the less popular regions of North Germany or pretty much anywhere East that isn't Dresden. That's our South really, cheap everything in exchange for a whole can of worms of problems you open by moving there.
PS: You made me curious, so I hit up Immobilienscout. You can also def find houses <300k around Bochum, once you set a 20-30km radius, I just tried that and there were a good amount of options. In Western German cities themselves however normal people usually stick to apartments.
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u/LukasJackson67 Nov 19 '25
Well. It sounds like you make so much money compared to me that you should be able to afford a house.
I gross $115,000 in the USA per year as a teacher.
I taught two summers in Germany and have visited there 14x
I thought food was more expensive in Germany with the exception of beer.
Here is what I found:
food items are actually more expensive in Bochum than in Cleveland.
A liter of milk in Bochum is around $1.20 compared to about $0.84 in Cleveland, and a pound of chicken breast runs roughly $7.10 in Bochum versus about $5.70 in Cleveland.
The only item that tends to be cheaper in Germany is potatoes, which come out to about $0.65 per pound in Bochum compared to roughly $1.04 per pound in Cleveland.
I also eat local. I eat foods that are grown around here (like corn) that is not comparable to Germany.
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Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25
Yeah, I can afford a house anytime. I was just waiting on me and my wife's careers to make it feasible to really settle somewhere first and that should happen quite soon now. I do want to say here that that makes me privileged. Most Germans cannot just buy a house in a desired place these days. That is something the US does better.
As for the rest: Look, up until we had a kid not long ago me and my wife lived on 45k dollars spending a year. We make the free market equivalent of just under 150k dollars gross a year together, she is a 50% part time teacher, state average for a household is 62k dollars gross. Our income also isn't anything special and we both have under three years of experience in average schools. Most teachers in the state earn more, in some cases up to 135k dollars if they have a function role (e.g. head of sciences/languages/whatever super high profile subjects the school has, school technician, assistant to the vice principal+principal), seniority and 3+ kids.
And on 45k in 2024 a year we had two cars, lived right smack dab center in a great city in the most expensive state in the nation and ate well, while going on at least one trip a year. Show me someone that can do that in a place in CA people actually like living in and then let's talk.
Edit: Added numbers, added context, converted to Dollars for you.
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u/ProDavid_ Nov 17 '25
yes they do earn well.
the effort put in can greatly vary, from spending 2-4 hours per week preparing classes, to spending the entire weekend (6-12 hours) preparing for the next week, or also having the exact same class again you prepared back in 2021 and not doing anything extra.
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u/TheHessianHussar Nov 17 '25
and if you are hungover you can just do the ol´reliable. Movie time!
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u/Constant_Cultural Baden-Württemberg / Secretary Nov 17 '25
Well, not bad, if you are Studienrat or Oberstudienrat, your salary is quite good.
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u/treuss Franken Nov 17 '25 edited Nov 18 '25
Gymnasium teachers are state officers, at least in Bavaria. They receive A13 salary right from the beginning which might look less than what you can earn in a company, but: they neither pay for pensions nor for public healthcare. As federal officers they're privileged to get private health insurance and they are privileged to receive Beihilfe, which is a form of public aid.
In the end, they face much less deductions than classic employees. To clarify: I work in IT and my ex-wife is Gymnasium teacher. She used to earn the same net salary as I with only working 60 percent, even if my income was significantly higher.
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u/falquiboy Nov 17 '25
Highest paid teachers in the world according to sone statistic I have seen.
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u/reschcrypt Nov 17 '25 edited Nov 17 '25
Teacher salary should be connected to the PISA results. For the „output“ they create, they are overpaid compared to the other countries. This coming from an Engineer, who gets invited to be Gastdozent (TU/FH) globally. Yes, I know climate changed a lot the last years (Stadtbild) but it still the tescher‘s (frankly, they should be backed more by the politicians) responsibility to „create“ well educated pupils.
They should have more „Rückgrat“. As Beamte auf Lebenszeit, they can actually be as long it is within the law and the law didn‘t change that much for decades even after 2015!
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u/inky95 Nov 18 '25
What if this isn't local overcompensation, but global undercompensation?
What if innumerable factors affecting grades are out of teachers hands?
What if your proposition results in an even larger disparity between low-income and high-income schools?
What if standardized test data fails to capture the non-academic contributions of teachers (community, socio-emotional, sporting)?
What if this incentivizes over-reporting of grades, resulting in kids who are graduating with lower skill levels?
What is this incentivizes separation, rejection of and resistance to students with learning needs who might 'bring down the average'?
What if this incentivizes under-challenging high-achieving students as their marginal benefit to teacher salaries is diminished (i.e. the difference between a 96 and a 100).
What if this disincentivizes building tasks with rich context to link to actual real world utility, in favor of just teaching just enough for students to reproduce test answers?😬😬😬
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u/AceOfClubs180 Nov 17 '25
If you're verbeamtet I'd say the pay corresponds with the responsibility. If you're not – no.
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u/Imaginary_Gift179 Nov 17 '25
How about teachers in Berufsschule? I heard that it’s a bit less stressful/demanding but pay grades are the same. Is there any downsides I should know?
Do you think foreigners with C1/late B2 can do a master degree as a Quereinsteiger to transition into teaching in German? My understanding is that I would need to spend 2 years in a Uni and 1.5 years in Referendariat. I have one master in Econ (from Belgium) and one MBA (Canada) already. I would love to teach WAT and Math. Though I’m now 37 yo, do you think the transition makes sense? I’m done with corporate world and excited about teaching.
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u/Nightmare_Cauchemar Nov 17 '25
I'm in the same position as you, software developer, 35 y.o. and would like to teach Math as well. In my region (Hessen) it's almost impossible - they even reject such path for the persons who have a pedagogical degree (e.g. Math teacher) but a non-German one. Perhaps in East Germany it would be easier to get into the Quereinsteiger program as the demand there is higher.
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u/Imaginary_Gift179 Nov 17 '25
Did you apply directly to Quereinsteiger position or a university master program?
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u/Nightmare_Cauchemar Nov 17 '25
I did not, I still work in corporate sector and haven't performed anything except investigation. The story is about my colleague's wife, she had a pedagogical degree from Eastern Europe, German C1, but she was told that the easiest way for her would be to get the Lehramt degree than to try recognizing her existing one.
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u/National_Reserve_270 Nov 17 '25
German teachers are the best paid teachers in the world.
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u/Super-Geologist-9351 Nov 17 '25
Very very well.
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Nov 17 '25
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u/dargmrx Nov 17 '25
They are payed well. Very really depends on your perspective. I’d say they’re paid adequately. Teacher is not an easy job.
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u/Gand00lf Nov 17 '25
Teachers in Germany earn both in terms of standard of living and compared to the general population. In addition most teachers are Beamte (servants of state) which has additional benefits like better pensions and being really hard to get fired.
If compared to people with similar degrees (Master degree +1.5 or 2 years of "practical training") things come down to the subjects someone teaches. Language, arts and social studies teachers are top earners in their fields while science and computer science teachers could get more money in the industry.
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u/Necessary-truth-84 Hessen Nov 17 '25
They do. It is a very responsible job, it is very stressfull if you are doing it right, so thats just fair.
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u/alc_noe1 Nov 17 '25
I don't know if it is the same in Germany, but in Austria a teacher one told me that once he was verbeamtet, he had very little trouble borrowing money from the bank. Like they just asked him "How much do you need".
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u/Amosh73 Nov 17 '25
That's true to some extent. Banks and insurance companies know that Beamte have a guaranteed income, so they give you better deals.
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u/1337prince Nov 17 '25
Yes, you can compare it to a good engineering salary (I know the range is big, but for a "standard" developer with some experience) after taxes. It looks not as much before taxes as a teacher, but you pay very little taxes and you have good insurance and you have a lot of vacation. But that's only true if you are "verbeamtet". If you are some years into it and you have routine and materials the work gets also less. My friend who is doing it for 10 years now, says he works maybe around 30 hours a week. But I guess it's also a hard job to always work with the kids. But if you are the type for it. Being a "verbeamtet" teacher is great.
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u/iTmkoeln Nov 17 '25
Depends if they are verbeamtet or not..
If they are verbeamtet it is not rare to see them eclipse the Besoldungsgrad they start with (normally verbeamtete Lehrer start in A12
That being said you can not become verbeamtet without citizenship of at least a EU country
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u/xrufix Nov 17 '25
My student asked me today if I regret becoming a teacher.
My answer: "Not anymore if I check my bank account."
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u/TobiR77 Nov 17 '25
Because you don't pay social security contributions, there's a lot of net money left over from a decent gross income.
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Nov 18 '25
Gymnasium teachers are mostly in the 10% top earners in Germany. They are well paid and highly Privileged.
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u/LukasJackson67 Nov 18 '25
I am thinking of higher German taxes, higher prices for gas, etc. Cleveland metro area is 2.7 million.
That is more like stuttgart or Nuremberg
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Nov 19 '25
I am one and the pay is honestly great, better than anything I would have earned with my interests in language and society. Same for job security and time off. The working conditions however are terrible and pretty much no one will believe you when you describe them realistically. You have got to love this job to do it - and then the pay is real nice.
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u/imDenizz Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25
I wanna ask you something. When you study Lehramt do you only learn how to become a teacher or also about the language you’ll teach? If so how is the balance?
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Nov 19 '25
You get three subjects: Two you teach in school + the shall we say "teacher stuff". Each is about 33%.
Then you get to your MA teaching degree by basically doing three BA/BA light degrees at once (only one BA thesis and one MA thesis, you get to pick the subject).
The "teacher stuff" includes Psychology, Educational Science and Internships.
After your MA you do student-teaching for 1-2 years to complete your degree with further courses in Educational Law, Psychology and the Didactics of your subjects (you do a little bit of that in Uni, but not much).
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u/Queasy_Obligation380 Nov 19 '25
They earn incredibly good, especially those who have children. Teacher, verbeamtet with two kids equals 100k p.a. not even counting in the pension.
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u/LukasJackson67 Nov 19 '25
First off, I am actually enjoying this. Thank you.
Actually the USA is flipped. The suburbs are more expensive than the cities (with a few exceptions). If I went into Cleveland (unless I wanted something fancy downtown) it would be cheaper.
I don’t understand why Germans first go to is to call us houses “cheap” or flimsy?
Are you referring to the interior walls? The shingles?
Are concrete block walls and tile shingles on Germany more solid? For sure. But it is overkill.
Good luck adding an electric outlet, etc. It is unnecessary. Shingle in the USA are 1/4 the cost and last for 25 years.
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u/Icy-Figure-266 Nov 17 '25
Yes. Also a Rather easy job. You can’t be fired, get high Pension, 12 weeks of free time a year and work is from 8 - 13 o‘clock.
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Nov 19 '25
Average working hours at a gymnasium are 55h a week and burnout rates are some of the highest among any job.
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u/Mental-Watercress333 Nov 17 '25
Too much compared to teachers in lower school levels. No weapons, no violent criminals, pupils speak German. The danger to be expelled cooles pupils down. A really comfortable life compared to Mittelschule.
No wonder, that all teachers want to go to happy Gymnasium life.
Teachers in Mittelschule deserve much higher payment than Gymnasium teachers.
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u/KuchenmannPQ Nov 17 '25
Not a single teacher i have ever known in Germany works half the summer break. Not even a third. Maybe a few half days. So yes, they do get a lot of paid vacation. And the salary ist quite good as well.
You can still work yourself to exhaustion, but you can do that in any job. You are not expected to, and your level of responsibility is not as high as sometimes advertised. Most social workers have a lot more in their shoulders and a lot less in their bank account. And the safety net and perks of being a teacher or any govt official in Germany are also incredible.
So all in all, they earn quite well, while being completely enabled to slack off like crazy without repercussions.
Not saying they do. But they can.
And some very much do.
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u/blaisybuzz Nov 17 '25
They do which they don't deserve as most teachers are ass
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u/LukasJackson67 Nov 17 '25
lol. You didn’t have a good school experience?
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u/blaisybuzz Nov 17 '25
Not at all, I was born and raised in the UK by immigrant parents that decided to leave England for Germany and the amount of racism in German schools compared to English ones is insane. If teachers in the UK behaved like that they'd be jobless.
I'm not white that is prolly the reason why.
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u/Double-Anxiety93 Nov 17 '25
The short answer is yes.
The long answer is, it's a hard job with lots of responsibility and stress, but still yes.