Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich: How expensive is life in Germany's big cities?
Between 2015 and 2023, house prices in the EU rose on average by about 48 percent, according to Eurostat. In Germany, house prices nearly matched the EU average, rising by 48.8 percent during that time.
Rent prices have also seen continual growth in most German cities, although the rate at which rents have risen varies dramatically between different cities or even between neighbourhoods.
But to understand the cost-of-living in a city, it's better to also take income into account – statistics like the rent-to-salary ratio or disposable income (after rent) give a more complete picture of how affordable a city is for most of its residents.
The recent 'Mapping the World's Price Report 2025' by Deutsche Bank and numbeo included figures for net monthly salaries and housing costs in 69 cities worldwide. The Local takes a closer look at figures from Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich to get a sense of the affordability of Germany's biggest cities.
Salaries
In terms of monthly net salary (that's
netto
in German, or salary before tax and contributions) Frankfurt has the highest paid workers of the German cities. In fact, of the 69 cities included in Deutsche Bank's report, Frankfurt was ranked 10th for net salary, just behind Copenhagen and ahead of Los Angeles.
Deutsche Bank's report listed all prices in US dollars – the average monthly net salary in Frankfurt in 2025 was listed as $4,512 (or €3,863 at time of writing).
Munich was next of the German cities, with an average monthly net salary of $3,905 (€3,343) followed by Berlin at $3,565 (€3,052).
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Salaries have risen substantially in all three cities in the past five years, according to the report.
The average net salary has gone up 36.4 percent more in Frankfurt compared to 2020, and up 33.5 percent in Berlin. In Munich salaries have risen less, but were still up by 18.6 percent in the last five years.
Housing Costs
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While, the average salary is highest in Frankfurt, housing prices are highest in Munich – and that's true for both the price per square metre to buy property as well as the average rent for three-bedroom or one-bedroom apartments.
The average monthly rent price for a three-bedroom apartment in Munich is $3,377 in 2025 (or €2,891). In Frankfurt a comparable flat can be rented for $2,778 (€2,379) monthly, and in Berlin the same would go for just slightly less at $2,700 (€2,312).
'Altbau' (old building) apartments in the city of Munich. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Karl-Josef Hildenbrand
Rent prices rose by about 23 percent in Frankfurt in the past five years, according to the report, and by about 32 percent in Munich. But Berlin saw the steepest rent price rise since 2020, at more than 40 percent.
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Rent prices for one-bedroom apartments were cheaper but comparable in their ranking across all three cities.
According to the report the average one-bedroom flat in Munich costs about €1,506 monthly in 2025. In Frankfurt it's €1,313 and in Berlin it's €1,217.
Disposable income & rent-to-salary ratio
Average salaries and average rent prices give a rough sense of a city's affordability, but more meaningful to most people would be figures for disposable income – that is how much money is left over after rent is paid.
This figure is calculated in the world price report based on the salaries for two working people who split the cost of rent for a three-bedroom apartment.
Based on those figures, a working couple in Frankfurt would have the most disposable monthly income (€5,348) followed by a working couple in Munich or Berlin (€3,796 or €3,793 respectively).
These figures should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt, as a couple with two full-time workers who earn the average salary and share an averagely priced apartment would be hard to find. But it gives a sense of where people tend to have more or less disposable income.
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All three cities were ranked within the top 20, of the 69 included in the study, for disposable income. The report also notes that compared to New York city, the couple in Frankfurt would have 334 percent more disposable income. In Munich or Berlin they would have 237 percent more. However, the figure does not take tax and social contributions into account.
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Based on the same figures,
Euronews
calculated the rent-to-salary ratio across all of the European cities that were included in the report. (They used the average rent price for a one-bedroom apartment, effectively finding the rent-to-salary ratio for a single resident).
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According to that
calculation
, residents in Munich spend the biggest portion of their income on rent, at about 45 percent. Single Berliners have to shell out about 40 percent of their hard earned euros for housing each month on average, and those in Frankfurt pay about 34 percent (or just over one-third) of their income for rent.
All three cities were in the bottom half of cities compared. Lisbon had the highest rent-to-salary ratio – rents in the Portuguese capital are actually worth 116 percent of the average monthly net salary. In London the average rent is worth 75 percent of the average monthly net income.
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