Do you belong to the middle class in Germany?

Created: 08/02/2022, 1:40 p.m

By: Omer Kayali

The majority of people living in Germany belong to the middle class.

But when do you actually count as one of them?

Most Germans would probably classify themselves as part of the middle class.

And that would be correct.

About two thirds of all citizens are among them - but the border to the upper class is smaller than you might think.

But how exactly is that calculated and when do you count as middle class?

This is how the middle class is determined

When determining the income of all Germans, the median and not the average is taken into account.

This is right in the middle: 50 percent of all people living in Germany earn less and 50 percent more.

If you were to use the German average instead, the picture would be greatly distorted, since the average salary would be much higher.

As far as the middle class is concerned, the following generally applies: anyone who has 70 to 150 percent of the median – i.e. the middle income – is considered to be in the middle class.

The German Economic Institute (IW) has analyzed and calculated how much that is in Germany.

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From when you belong to the middle class

• According to the IW, single people with a net income between 1,496 and 2,804 euros belong to the middle class “in the narrower sense”.

• Between 2,805 and 4,673 euros one counts among the "high-income middle".

• However, this is calculated differently for larger households.

  According to Zeit.de, for example, it is between 2,400 and 5,100 euros for a family of four with two children.

In addition to income from professional practice, cash inflows from housing benefit, child benefit, tax refunds, shares or similar are taken into account.

So make sure you factor in such references if you want to calculate for yourself where you stand.