German pension by occupation: not enough in any job, but the gap is small

What the numbers show

• The pension isn't enough in any job: it replaces only 54% to 55% of today's take-home pay, from hairdresser to engineer. Higher pay earns more pension, but wage tax squeezes today's take-home pay about as much as tax and health insurance later squeeze the pension.
• The gap is small if you start early: from 35, about 2.8% to 3.5% of gross pay, €81 to €206 a month depending on the job, for 80% of today's take-home pay until 90. From 25, at most 56% of that is enough.
• Waiting is expensive: starting at 45 takes at least 1.9 times as much, starting at 55 at least 4.3 times.
• Highest: Electrical engineer with €2,411 net; lowest: Hairdresser with €885. Only 21 of 61 jobs reach the standard pension of €1,913 gross.

Pension reform: what ending the 45-year pension would cost in each of these jobs. Pension reform by occupation →

What waiting costs

Monthly saving for 80% of today's take-home pay, by the age you start (7% return, at today's prices). Every job has its own table, also at a 5% return.

All 61 jobs

Pay: median of full-time employees in 2025, raised to 2026 with wage growth. Pension after 45 years, a month. Saving: a month from 35 or from 45 until retirement, so that 80 % of today's take-home pay lasts until 90.

Pension by salary

How much pension on €3,000 gross a month? The same calculation for a monthly salary at 2026 wages, kept for 45 years:

Work out your own pension gap →

How we calculated

• Pay: median of full-time employees subject to social insurance by occupation (a KldB 2010 Berufsgattung) in the Entgeltatlas, as of 31 December 2025, one-off payments included, apprentices excluded. Where a job has fewer than 500 employees, the Entgeltatlas reports its wider group.
• Career: 35 today, full time since 22, regular pension at 67: 45 years on the job's median pay, always the same distance from average earnings.
• Pension: pension points × the pension value from July 2026. Net after the pensioner's share of health and care insurance (no children) and income tax, fully taxable from 2058, single, today's tariff.
• Saving: what has to be put aside each month from 35 to cover the gap to 80 % of today's take-home pay until 90; 7 % return, 2 % inflation, before tax.
• Left out: company and Riester pensions, child-raising credits, part-time, unemployment, civil servants and professions with their own pension funds (doctors, pharmacists, architects, lawyers).

Use the data

The table is available as CSV. You are free to use it, including in articles, with the credit “Zenarios, pension by occupation; pay data: Entgeltatlas, Bundesagentur für Arbeit” and a link to this page.

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Pay data retrieved 29 October 2026. Model calculations with today's rules, not a pension statement or advice. How Zenarios calculates