What percentage of salary to spend on rent

Hello TTers,

I am now in Germany for the last one year, and now my family (wife+kid+parent(s)) joins me, on a fulltime basis. So I have decided to move into a nicer (say bigger) flat. I live/work in a small town near Dortmund.

The dilemma is what percantage of salary should be OK to pay for the rent (kaltmiete). Is 20 too high, which i beleive would become 25-30% including NBK+heat.

Ciao,
Confused anonymus

If it ends up at arund 30% including NBK and heating it is OK as a rule of thumb.

Will your wife be working, or your parent(s)? If I had to feed and clothe 4-5 people on just one salary I'd try to keep my rent well under 30% if at all possible.

@Above post
No kid is 3months only, maybe in a years time she will start with a job but not now. Parents will be here for 2-3months/year, and not more.
To me 30% looks a bit high (thats why this post), but really dont want to play the devil to my family by stuffing them in 2 rooms or so!!!

Also to add, present salary is about 3,4K€ net.

Right now I split the costs with my other half who is on 'Elternzeit'. She intends to stay out of work for one more year and that means the rent including Nebenkosten will amount to roughly one third of my Net Salary. I consider this still reasonable seeing as it is a very nice place and if I were to compare what I would get for the same price in outer London then I would be laughing.

the 30% MonksTown mentiones are a good yardstick across Germany. Some cities like Munich may cause a higher percentage with the rental costs being above average, but all in all the 30% does indeed buld the statistical median for rents in Germany.

Cheerio

I would also add that 30% is quite reasonable. I even pay more. the real problem here in Munich is that for 3 room apartment in a nice neighborhood, there is no much diversity. you know to save 100-200 Euros, you have to move out of the city with all transportation (or fuel) costs increasing. of course you can save those 100-200 Euros another way. Having a good apartment will also decrease the demand for going out and associated costs