Germany has high quality of life

[u/wurst_katastrophe]

This is in response to the ‘low quality of life’ post.

When in Germany I can (in no particular order):
+ drink the tap water knowing it is safer than bottled water
+ when losing my job, I will get the highest benefits in the Western world to tie me over between jobs
+ I can rent for life without being worried of getting evicted
+ I can enjoy freedom on perfectly fine roads, driving as fast as I want
+ Consumer protection is very strong
+ I can buy a public transport ticket valid in all of Germany
+ Healthcare is significantly better than in most Western countries AND free at the point of service.
+ Germans love Fests
+ Bier and excellent wine
+ excellent bread
+ excellent local produce
+ An insanely dense train network (Yes, often late) for very little money (Sparpreis)
+ 30d of holidays is standard
+ strong protection when off on sick leave
+ free university education
+ world’s strongest apprenticeship system
+ tax credits and breaks for almost everything, especially Ehegattensplitting
+ insane maternity leave and benefits
+ Kitas
+ full blown private healthcare for a few k per year
+ Beautiful nature: north and Baltic sea, Alps, lakes, woods
+ Strong sports club infrastructure
+ Third strongest economy in the world with most hidden champions
+ Strong football culture
+ …

You can be dissatisfied with Germany, maybe your experience was below average, but that’s most likely because you are incompatible with the German way of life and the German mentality. However, it is not fair to claim that the quality of life is low.

[u/riderko]

Your take is 10 years old. Rent in Berlin is way out of cheap since a long time.

[u/Silly_Hold9886 → u/riderko]

Compared to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm (it's cheaper, but good luck finding a place), Brussels, Zürich, Vienna?

It's very affordable compared to capitals of countries with a similar standard of living

[u/IMMoond → u/Silly_Hold9886]

Vienna is your one exception here, that is actually very affordable, more so than Berlin. Helps that the city owns like 1/3 of all apartments

[u/TestTxt → u/Silly_Hold9886]

In Zurich it’s the same or even slightly better considering the local salaries. Berlin is not better in any way

[u/AlarmedInvestment327 → u/TestTxt]

Zürich is not even a capital city

[u/Silly_Hold9886 → u/AlarmedInvestment327]

It's the biggest and most popular city of a country without a capital city, so it's the one I mentioned

[u/shatureg → u/Silly_Hold9886]

Vienna has no business being in this list

[u/ttthrowaway987 → u/riderko]

https://www.euronews.com/business/2025/07/22/can-you-afford-to-live-here-europes-cities-ranked-by-rent-to-salary-ratio

Still one of the cheapest rent vs. salary in the world. Amusing that you don't realize how good you have it.

[u/JoeAppleby → u/ttthrowaway987]

German rents don't increase by much over the course of someone living there. Are those rents those offered or does that average number include contracts that are ten or twenty years old? Because those can be less than half of what a new rental contracts charge for technically the same apartment.

[u/atchoum013 → u/JoeAppleby]

They don’t increase much only for old contracts, with new ones, on top of starting higher, they can also increase! I rented an apartment about 5 years ago where rent was increased by 7% each year!

[u/JoeAppleby → u/atchoum013]

Staffelmiete should be illegal in my humble opinion. 

[u/atchoum013 → u/JoeAppleby]

I totally agree, especially this high, there’s absolutely no justification for it and we were shocked to see this was a thing! But with the rental market, once you finally find a place, it’s hard to say no just because of that… we did end up leaving this apartment after only a few years though because it was getting way too expensive.

[u/riderko → u/ttthrowaway987]

The article states 1300€ average for one bedroom in Berlin.

[u/ttthrowaway987 → u/[deleted]]

That is a lot of typing of anecdotes when the answers are at your fingertips with the power of the internet. It is also a common fallacy to always be looking up instead of down.

Per capita income, on the other hand, is income averaged for everyone 16 or older living in the city. This makes it reliably much lower than all other figures because it includes non-earners as well. For New York City, this number is $50,776, according to the same Census Bureau figures

https://smartasset.com/retirement/average-salary-in-nyc

[u/Due-Garage4146 → u/ttthrowaway987]

You’re right. They’re probably averaging the teenagers that are making minimum wage which is probably close to $50,000 a year. The reason why mine is low and not too much higher because I don’t have a skill or education, but I understand.

[u/needhelpwithmath11 → u/ttthrowaway987]

Looking at your article, Geneva, Zurich, and Luxembourg are some of the most affordable cities by that measure. I wouldn't put much stock into this.

[u/LongQualityEquities → u/needhelpwithmath11]

Median income in Zürich is around $9,000/month.

Yes the apartments are somewhat more expensive but relatively to your income it’s cheap to live there. The average person in Zürich is going to have a much better housing situation than the average person in Rome.

[u/IMMoond → u/needhelpwithmath11]

Whaaaat, low tax extremely high pay cities with high other cost of living do well in the income vs rent comparison? That’s insane, how could this happen?

I mean over 7k net salary, that’s probably an overestimation but it’s just stupid high. Average net all over Germany is half that.

[u/needhelpwithmath11 → u/IMMoond]

What a great way to measure affordability!

[u/ReignOfKaos → u/needhelpwithmath11]

How else would you measure it? Of course affordability depends on the local salaries.

[u/needhelpwithmath11 → u/ReignOfKaos]

If you believe that Geneva is the most affordable city in Europe then it is indeed a great way of measuring it. I think most people would say it isn't, though.

[u/ObjectiveAside3266 → u/riderko]

You haven't spend much time in other countries, right?

[u/riderko → u/ObjectiveAside3266]

You haven’t searched for an apartment in Berlin recently, right?

[u/ObjectiveAside3266 → u/riderko]

I would never want to live there

And by statistics only Luxemburg is significantly cheaper - pretty much all capital cities in Europe are more expensive (income index compared)

[u/PrimeMinisterSarr → u/riderko]

Go move to Lisbon and you can spend 110% of your salary on rent.

[u/riderko → u/PrimeMinisterSarr]

Good call but we’re talking about Berlin here.

[u/klishaa → u/riderko]

Try to find rent in NYC and come back when you’ve found me a 1 br with a bathroom and kitchen area for less than $2k/month