Salaries and cost of living in Düsseldorf

Hey Everyone,

I got a job in Neuss, Düsseldorf. They are offering 2833 EURO Gross/Month will this be enough? I am single and will live alone. I will invite my mother to stay with me for some time but generally i will be living alone. Will my net salary be enough keeping in mind that i will be renting an apartment?

Where should i live Neuss or Düsseldorf. My job will be in Neuss.

How much will be the net salary after deduction any idea?

Neuss is a shit hole. If you are working in Neuss, better to live either in Düsseldorf or Köln and plan your costs accordingly, especially if you are young and single.

Really? Neuss is bad? ok but will the above salary be enough? in Düsseldorf or Neuss? and if i live in Düsseldorf is it far from Neuss as my job will be in Neuss

enough for what? to live on, yes. to live like a king, no.

Neuss is just boring. It has nothing going for it. oh and my ex wife lives there.

Düsseldorf is on the other side of the river from Neuss (apart from the bit that is on the same side ), so if you have a car commuting between the two is easy. There are also Strassenbahns and U-bahns between the two.

have a look at the map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=de&...211487&z=12

You can find out the net salary here: http://biallo.aol.de/aol/gehaltsoptimierer/index_aol.php
If I did this right, it should be around €1700 assuming you will be getting public health insurance (gesetzliche Krankenversicherung) and assuming you will not be paying church tax. (The exact amount depends on which health insurance you will go with.)

Your net salary should be okay to live on, but it always depends on your expenses. Do you want to (have to) get a car or not, how big do you want your apartment to be, how often do you eat out, do you want to travel a lot? I can tell you that I live on about half your net salary in Heidelberg as a college student.

ok but how long would it take me from Düsseldorf to Neuss each day? and how much?

According to http://www.vrr.de/ (the site of the local public transportation company) it takes between 10 and 15 minutes on the train (from central train station to central train station, add time from your house to the train station and from the train station to your workplace). You would probably be best off getting a monthly pass which would cost around €70. It is also possible that your employer has a contract with the public transport company that would get you a discounted monthly pass.

Bear in mind also that fare prices are due to go up in August in Düsseldorf - they're listed on the vrr website.

and fare prices will go down again after summer?

No, they're just going up.

No they dont! They go up and stay there! It is not a seasonal thing! But you will not be affected (assuming you move to Düsserldorf and commute to Neuss), because they are in the B Region. Monthly cards, at today's rates for the B tariff region range from about 50 euros to 90 euros (restrictive to most flexible). Well worth it, I wouldnt live in Neuss too!

Go ahead, check the said VRR website for further details, it is not dangerous.

Hi,

I have been offered a 70000 Euro salary in Düsseldorf. Base is 60000 Euro and guaranteed bonus is 10000 Euro. Is this enough for a couple (wife will not work)? In addition they offer 3 month free acco, moving expenses, real-estate agent charges to look for an apartment, some special pension scheme and 5000 euro one time relocation allowance.

Is this a good salary for a PhD with some work-ex,

Is it normal in Germany to be provided with a company car and a fuel card ? Although, I prefer to use public transport than have a car (I care for environment), I heard that it is expensive in Germany. What are the other benefits the german companies typically offer?

I am a bit confused with this offer which seems to be on a lower-side compared to what I have now in Belgium. Nevertheless, I want to move because the work is really cool. Can anyone offer any suggestions .

Thanks,
Bams

Topics merged by admin

Hi, I don't have an answer to your questions, but rather add up to your questions. I've got a job offer in Düsseldorf... 63000Euro, plus 15.5% bonus (if targets are reached). I'm happy with the relocation package, but now that i got the contract, there is something about an annual multiplier of 12.97% due to holiday and christmas payments... I don't quite understand this and trying to get some info about this before contacting my potential employer to discuss. Note that the original base salary was 60000 euro before going up to 63000 euro... thanks a lot for any help.

@ bams
It is normal in Germany to be provided with a company car if you income is 50K+.

In my view 70K is very low giving the fact that you already have work experience.
BTW, bear in mind that your net income will only be about 54% out of the 70K = ca. 38K

how much did you make in your previous job per annum?

@ Kugunzulu
the remmuneration scheme is normal in Germany. It means that you will get a 13th. month salary too (additional christmas bonus).
There are more holidays in Germany than in any other industrialized nation. Besides that you will be entitled to about 30 days holiday in a year.
So all in all, you get about a 13% multiplier to your actual income.

Thanks CastleRockCo for your opinion. In Belgium I am making 2700 Euro/month net plus company car (Audi A4) and a european fuel card (free unlimited fuel) and plus the 13th and 14th month salary (plus 15th month salary in bonus and some stock options of nearly 5000 Euros). Indeed the new offer is on the lower side of what I have.

The German company has offered me their discounted rates of car lease (but I would still have to pay it from my pocket). May be this will help a little. Also on top of 70k, there is additional possibility to earn another 10000 Euros more as performance based bonus.. but that is really on the limit.

In the end I want to make the change since I believe that working in the German company will give me a better work experience and will be helpful in the longer run. plus the company is gr8 to make a career unlike my current job where though I am paid OK but the career growth is quite slow.

Also I was expecting to make more than 38k net since my wife will not be working. I thought it would be around 45k net. Am I wrong?

But more importantly, I need to know if this will be sufficient to live in Düsseldorf for a couple. I do not plan to go out quite often, no exotic holidays. Just rent, food, utilities and occasional sight seeing tour in Germany.

b.t.w. I am 28 yrs old with a PhD and 2 yrs of work-ex.

@ bams
B.t.w I am 26 yrs old and currently doing my doctoral dissertation (PhD) over venture capital financing of e-business start-ups. I will finish next year.

I think summa summarum, you will be making almost the same amount of income at the German company as in your current job in Belgium.

If I were you, I would go with the German company. Why?
a) You mentioned that the German company is big, so I assume that you have a bigger chance of climbing the corporate ladder
Having a work expierence in Germany is surely a plus on your resume
c) Düsseldorf metro is a very nice place to have a good life, you will love it
.
Is the income of about Euro 3000 sufficient for a couple?
It is more than sufficient. You guys can live like kings in Düsseldorf if you choose to - you can go out as often as you want in the Altstadt/Königsallee, you can pay for any exotic holiday that you choose, you can buy virtually everything, you can even have a kid, you will not have any problem financing the kid

It all depends on the kind of lifestyle that you have. Do you want to live close to downtown or better far awy from downtown?

Düsseldorf is not that much expensive than people think - you can rent a flat in Düsseldorf-Oberkassel, Düsseldorf-Zoo, Düsseldorf-Messe, Düsseldorf-Rath or even in the adjacent sub-urban towns of Mettmann (10 minutes from Düsseldorf) and Hilden (10 minutes from Düsseldorf). I myself prefer Hilden and Mettmann better because it is sub-urban, more green, more educated people, nice big gardens and lower rent. Let say if you guys rent a flat for Euro 800 warm, you will still have like Euro 2000 at your monthly disposable.

@CastleRockCo

Thank you very much for your message. It is nice to know that we could possibly afford a good life in Düsseldorf. If this salary if sufficient for a good life, then I beleive it will be a good move for my career :-).

Is there any website where I could calculate my net salary? I used some online calculator and i calculated my net salary to be 45000 EUR on a gross salary of 70000. Is it like this or am I making a mistake. I used tax regime III for me since my wife will not be working and 13.3% health insurance tax.

Cheers,
Bams

@ bams

sorry, i made one assumptuous mistake in my estimate of the net income, i assumed that you are single and calculated the net income with the tax bracket I, which is actually for singles.

With the the tax bracket III, you will surely collect a far higher net income.
I made the calculation with tax bracket III, your 45K net income/p.a. estimate is thus correct.

You can do your calculation over here: "Gehaltsrechner vom Spiegel - www.spiegel.de" - http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,223811,00.html

@ CastherockCO

"the remmuneration scheme is normal in Germany. It means that you will get a 13th. month salary too (additional christmas bonus).
There are more holidays in Germany than in any other industrialized nation. Besides that you will be entitled to about 30 days holiday in a year.
So all in all, you get about a 13% multiplier to your actual income."

Well, it doesn't seem like I will get a 13th month at all or additional Christmas bonus. At least, for the bonus, it clearly stipulated on the contract that there is only a 15.5% bonus. Let's say I'm in a rather delicate situation: two companies made me an offer. One in a Holland with excellent conditions and benefits, the other in Finland/Germany with good conditions but some "gaps".
Thanks for any additional help you could give me.

@Kaganzulu

I have a friend who works in Holland presently and the tax breaks for expats are amazing, if you are torn between to very similar jobs in each country I think I would go with Holland...

That package (relocation allowance, real-estate charges, etc) looks rather familiar... I imagine we will be working for the same company ;-)

Probably, we could be in the same company. Is it an electronics company?