The honest answer to “how much does an Ausbildung pay?” is a range, not a single number — and the range depends on whether your employer is bound by a collective wage agreement (Tarifvertrag), which training year you’re in, and which trade you enter. Germany’s federal vocational training institute, BIBB (Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung), publishes both figures every year. Here is what its most recent data actually says.
The statutory floor: what every apprentice is legally guaranteed
Since 2020, Germany has had a legal minimum training wage (Mindestausbildungsvergütung) that applies to any apprentice not covered by a collective agreement. For training contracts starting in 2026, BIBB confirms the first-year minimum rises to €724 gross per month. The following years step up by a fixed statutory percentage on top of the first-year minimum:
| Training year | Statutory minimum (2026) | Uplift over Year 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | €724/month | — |
| Year 2 | €854/month | +18% |
| Year 3 | €977/month | +35% |
| Year 4 | €1,014/month | +40% |
This is a floor, not a typical wage — it’s what protects apprentices in companies with no collective agreement. Most trainees in regulated trades earn more than this.
What apprentices actually earn on average
BIBB separately tracks real, collectively-bargained (tarifgebunden) training pay across the whole country. For 2025, the average across all four training years was €1,209 gross per month, up 6.7% on 2024 — the second consecutive year of unusually strong increases. Broken down by year:
| Training year | Average pay, tarifgebunden firms (2025) |
|---|---|
| Year 1 | €1,117/month |
| Year 4 | €1,339/month |
The gap between the statutory floor (€724 in Year 1) and the collectively-bargained average (€1,117 in Year 1) is large. Which number applies to you depends entirely on your specific employer and trade — always ask to see the Tarifvertrag, or lack of one, before signing an Ausbildungsvertrag.
Pay by sector
BIBB’s 2025 figures also break training pay down by broad training area:
| Sector | Average monthly pay (2025) |
|---|---|
| Public service (Öffentlicher Dienst) | €1,329 |
| Housekeeping (Hauswirtschaft) | €1,295 |
| Industry and trade (Industrie und Handel) | €1,266 |
| Agriculture | €1,188 |
| Free professions (e.g. medical/legal assistants) | €1,098 |
| Crafts (Handwerk) | €1,093 |
Pay by individual occupation: the real spread
Averages by sector hide a much wider spread at the individual-occupation level. Among the occupations BIBB tracked for 2025, milk technologist training paid the most (€1,463/month average across all years) and hairdressing paid the least (€727/month). A few more data points:
- Insurance and financial products specialist: €1,404/month
- Painter/varnisher: €985/month
- Flooring layer: €950/month
- Hairdresser: €727/month
The pattern is consistent with the sector table above: industrial, technical and office-based trades tend to pay more than personal-service and craft trades. This matters when you’re choosing a profession — the same two or three years of training can lead to very different monthly pay depending on the trade. For a closer look at which specific trades pay the most, see our highest-paying Ausbildung professions breakdown.
Regional differences
Training pay also varies by German state. In 2025, Baden-Württemberg had the highest average (€1,257/month) and Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia the lowest among the states BIBB reported (€1,186 and €1,185/month respectively). The spread between the highest- and lowest-paying states is a few hundred euros a year, not enough to override your choice of trade, but worth knowing when comparing two offers in different regions.
What this means when you’re evaluating an offer
When you receive an Ausbildungsvertrag, check three things against these figures: which training year the offer covers, whether the employer is bound by a Tarifvertrag (this alone can be the difference between the €724 floor and €1,117+ average), and which sector or trade you’re entering. A contract that only meets the statutory minimum isn’t a red flag on its own — it’s legal and common in small businesses — but it does mean your monthly budget planning should start from €724–1,014/month, not from the €1,209 average.
For the full picture of what a training wage needs to cover once you’re in Germany, see our breakdown of how much you can realistically save each month during Ausbildung, and how Lohnsteuer and social insurance affect what actually lands in your bank account. To talk through which trades and employers fit your situation, visit our Ausbildung programmes page or get in touch.
Where this comes from
All pay figures in this article come directly from Germany’s federal vocational training institute, BIBB (Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung):
- Tarifliche Ausbildungsvergütungen 2025 (sector, occupation and state breakdowns): bibb.de/de/pressemitteilung_218108.php
- Mindestausbildungsvergütung 2026 (statutory minimum by training year): bibb.de/de/pressemitteilung_212952.php
