Salary report 2024: Where in Germany do people earn the most?

The amount of their salary plays a key role for employees looking for a job—89% are more likely to apply for a job if the job advertisement includes salary information. The career portal Stepstone has taken this high relevance as an opportunity to publish an annual salary report in order to create salary transparency. The report for 2024 has now been published and, based on a salary database, shows how incomes in Germany are distributed according to industry and region.

Broken down by region, it shows that the highest salaries in Germany are paid in Hamburg, Hesse, and Baden-Württemberg, while Thuringia, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and Saxony-Anhalt have the lowest salaries nationwide. The cities with the highest salaries, on the other hand, are Munich, Stuttgart, and Frankfurt am Main. The report is based on the median salary, i.e., the value that lies exactly in the middle of all gross salaries. The top industries are unlikely to come as a surprise to many: employees in banking, aerospace, and the pharmaceutical industry earn the most. As a general rule, the larger the company, the higher the median salary. Apart from these rankings, the salary report also examines the gender pay gap in Germany. The gap between the average hourly wage of men and women is currently around 12%: while the average gross salary for women is around 40,000 euros, men earn an average of 45,750 euros.

We were also interested in these topics:

• Trade unions: Verdi boss Frank Werneke notes an “incredible loss of trust” in relation to the trade union's relationship with the traffic light coalition government. The taz newspaper assesses his statements and explains the background to them.

• Health in everyday working life: The number of employees who reported sick for psychological reasons recently reached a record level. However, the Absenteeism Report by the AOK now shows that such absences hardly occur in certain companies, especially those perceived as socially responsible.

• Home office: There is news from the eternal debate about home office vs. office work: A survey by a market research institute shows that employees are divided on which workplace leads to greater productivity in their work. Details can be found in the Handelsblatt (€).

• Labor market: Around 60% of German employees can imagine changing jobs this year, according to a survey by the job portal Indeed. This is mainly due to financial and career-related reasons.

For all political communicators, we recommend the launch evening of the new Polytics network on February 7.

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