The big pay checkWhat do you actually earn as a teacher?

Civil service or employment: How do teachers actually work?

Even if this applies to the majority of teachers in this country, not all of them are civil servants. Some are merely employed. An example: Berlin. New teachers were employed here for a while as employees, as it says on the website of the Education and Science Union.

The relevant question is “Employed or civil servant?” when it comes to payment. Civil servant teachers receive a so-called salary – the amount depends on the respective salary group. For “simple” teachers, salary groups A12 and A13 are possible; teachers with additional functions, such as headmasters, can be classified in even higher salary groups.

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Employed teachers, on the other hand, receive a salary and fall into pay groups EG12 or EG13. The amount of pay depends roughly on the salary groups of civil servants.

By the way: The level of salaries in the individual salary or salary groups is by no means the same in all federal states – 16 federal states, 16 different teacher salaries.

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Starting and final salary: This is how much teachers earn in Germany

So far, so good – but what do teachers earn now? Whether primary school, high school or secondary school: The salary of many civil servant teachers is based on salary group A13. However, there are major differences between the individual federal states, as the following table as of April 1, 2026 shows. Teachers earn the least in Saarland and the most in Bavaria. Here is an overview of the starting and final basic salaries in salary group A13:

• Baden-Württemberg:
  5,331.08 to 6,533.23 euros gross per month

• Bavaria:
  5,395.56 to 6,342.19 euros gross per month

• Berlin:
  4,875.48 to 6,251.85 euros gross per month

• Brandenburg:
  5,214.26 to 6,419.46 euros gross per month

• Bremen:
  4,977.19 to 6,083.08 euros gross per month

• Hamburg:
  5,077.54 to 6,286.76 euros gross per month

• Hesse:
  5,018.46 to 6,409.26 euros gross per month

• Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania:
  4,956.08 to 6,159.05 euros gross per month

• Lower Saxony:
  4,937.05 to 6,323.19 euros gross per month

• North Rhine-Westphalia:
  5,193.19 to 6,346.91 euros gross per month

• Rhineland-Palatinate:
  5,095.23 to 6,418.32 euros gross per month

• Saarland:
  4,876.99 to 6,216.13 euros gross per month

• Saxony:
  4,838.65 to 6,584.77 euros gross per month

• Saxony-Anhalt:
  4,952.80 to 6,334.74 euros gross per month

• Schleswig-Holstein:
  4,987.30 to 6,129.77 euros gross per month

• Thuringia:
  5,073.12 to 6,265.14 euros gross per month

The data comes from the salary table of the federal states (accessed on April 15, 2026 from academics.de).

The average starting salary for a teacher in Germany is around 5,050 euros gross per month. The final basic salary of a teacher in Germany in salary group A13 is on average around 6,319 euros. In addition to the employee share for pension, health, nursing care and unemployment insurance, as is usual for other civil servants, a share for private health and nursing care insurance is deducted from this.

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Teacher salaries are well above the German average salary

No matter which federal state you look at, the starting salaries of teachers are already well above the national average salary. Because according to the Federal Employment Agency's wage atlas the average salary (median wage) in Germany is 4,300 euros gross. The teacher salaries in Germany are definitely impressive.

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Sources used: academics.deFederal Employment Agency, Education and Science Union