Germany raises the pay limits on which social insurance contributions are charged every year, in line with wages. On 7 October 2026 the federal cabinet adopted the figures for 2027, and this time the health insurance limit rises by much more than usual. If you earn above the limits, your contributions go up from your January payslip; if you earn below them, nothing changes. Below we run the new ceilings through the same engine as our take-home pay calculator to show who pays more and by how much.
What changes on 1 January 2027
- Pension and unemployment insurance: the contribution ceiling (Beitragsbemessungsgrenze) rises from €8,450 to €8,850 a month, or from €101,400 to €106,200 a year. Pay above that is free of these contributions.
- Health and long-term care insurance: the ceiling rises from €5,812.50 to €6,375 a month, or from €69,750 to €76,500 a year. That includes a one-off extra €300 a month on top of the usual wage-linked increase.
- Private health insurance: the compulsory insurance limit, above which employees may switch to a private plan, is €84,150 a year.
- Miners’ pension insurance: the separate ceiling for the knappschaftliche Rentenversicherung is €10,900 a month.
The figures follow wage growth of 4.38% in 2025. They are set by regulation and still need the approval of the Bundesrat, which normally follows in late autumn. The contribution rates themselves are not part of this regulation.
Who is affected
Only employees who earn more than the current ceilings. Up to €69,750 a year you already pay contributions on every euro, so higher ceilings make no difference. Between €69,750 and €76,500 more of your pay becomes subject to health and care contributions, at a combined employee rate of 11.15% in our model. Above €101,400 pension and unemployment contributions rise too, at 10.6%. Once you earn €106,200 or more, you hit the full increase: €752.62 for health and care plus €508.80 for pension and unemployment, €1,261.42 a year in total. Your employer pays a similar amount on top.
Part of the extra cost comes back as income tax relief, because pension, health and care contributions are largely deductible through the Vorsorgepauschale in payroll. Higher pension contributions also earn more pension points, so they are not simply a loss.
Worked example: €80,000 a year
Take a single employee on €80,000 in tax class I, with no children and no church tax. In 2026 the health ceiling of €69,750 means €10,250 of that pay is free of health and care contributions. In 2027 the free part shrinks to €3,500, so contributions rise by €752.62. Pension and unemployment contributions do not change, because the salary is below both the old and the new pension ceiling. Income tax falls by €292.16 as the extra contributions are deducted, and take-home pay comes to €47,587.45 – €460.46 less a year, or about €38.37 a month.
At €120,000 both ceilings bite. Contributions rise by €1,261.42 and take-home pay falls by €668.81. At €50,000 nothing changes: take-home pay stays at €32,326.10.
Before and after at five salaries
The salary links open the calculator for that amount. It still shows 2026 figures and will switch to the 2027 ceilings from 1 January.
| Gross salary | Contributions | Income tax | Take-home change | Take-home 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| €50,000 | €0 | €0 | €0 | €32,326 |
| €70,000 | +€28 | −€11 | −€17 | €42,561 |
| €80,000 | +€753 | −€292 | −€460 | €47,587 |
| €100,000 | +€753 | −€351 | −€402 | €57,614 |
| €120,000 | +€1,261 | −€593 | −€669 | €67,874 |
What to do now
- You don’t need to do anything: your employer’s payroll applies the new ceilings automatically from January. Check your first 2027 payslip against the table above.
- If you are thinking about private health insurance, compare your expected 2027 pay with the new €84,150 limit, and remember that the statutory health add-on for 2027 is announced separately.
- If you are negotiating a raise, compare offers on take-home pay with our pay raise calculator – near the ceilings, part of each extra euro now goes to contributions.
- We will update the calculator on 1 January 2027, and this post if the Bundesrat changes anything.
How we calculated this
The 2026 figures are the calculator’s own Germany rules: ceilings of €101,400 for pension and unemployment and €69,750 for health and care, employee rates of 9.3% pension, 1.3% unemployment, 8.75% health (including the 2026 average add-on) and 2.4% care (including the childless surcharge), and the 2026 income tax tariff with the solidarity surcharge. For 2027 we change only the two ceilings. Rates, the health add-on and the tax tariff stay at 2026 values, so the table shows the effect of the ceilings alone; your actual 2027 payslip will also reflect any rate and tariff changes. Sources: Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) – cabinet decision, BMAS – Sozialversicherungsrechengrößen-Verordnung 2027, Federal Government and Deutsche Rentenversicherung.
General information, not tax advice or legal advice. Your contributions depend on your health insurer’s add-on, your family situation and your tax class.