Salary: Top earners in Germany: These professions pay the best

Top managers at Dax companies, lawyers at top firms, or doctors: many Germans have a clear idea of which professions offer the highest salaries. However, employees don't necessarily need to earn a millionaire's salary to be among the top earners, as an exclusive evaluation by job platform Stepstone shows. Analysts from Stepstone evaluated which annual salaries are required to be among the top one, five, or ten percent for Handelsblatt. The threshold is lower than many might suspect.

Jan Schulz-Gebhard, a wealth researcher at the University of Bamberg, says: "Almost all people consider themselves to be part of the middle class - regardless of whether they actually have very little or a lot of wealth." There seems to be a difference between self-perception and factual reality. To create reliable comparison values, Stepstone accessed over one million compensation data points. These were submitted between January 2022 and November 2025 on the platform, including bonuses, commissions, and premiums.

According to Stepstone's evaluation, the median salary of the top one percent of earners in Germany is €139,000 - more than double that of an average employee. The median salary is the amount at which half of the people in a group earn less and the other half earn more. It shows a typical income of a group more accurately than the average salary, which can be influenced by extremely high or low values.

The top five and ten percent earn €101,250 and €87,000 gross per year, respectively, according to Stepstone.

Regional salary differences are significant. On average, salaries are highest in Hamburg, followed closely by Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, and Bavaria. In contrast, salaries for top earners in the new federal states are significantly lower. In Saxony-Anhalt, for example, the top one percent of earners only reaches a median salary of €101,500 - around €40,000 below the top salary in Hamburg or Hesse.

"Hamburg, Hesse, Bavaria, and Baden-Württemberg benefit from a high concentration of economically strong industries and international companies," explains Stepstone economist and salary expert Dennis Dittrich. In Hesse, where the financial hub Frankfurt is located, the financial sector plays a central role. In Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, many industrial companies, mechanical engineering, and the automotive industry continue to ensure high salaries.

Hamburg is a significant logistics, trade, and media location, with many large companies such as aircraft manufacturer Airbus or logistics company Hapag-Lloyd - and correspondingly many well-paying leadership positions.

Dittrich cites the "urban effect" as another important factor in above-average salaries in these federal states: "In large labor markets, many specialized professionals meet many companies." This leads to a higher likelihood that the existing qualifications will find the right position, which can lead to higher productivity and correspondingly higher salaries.

Top salary: These positions offer good chances

According to Stepstone's salary data, doctors, Chief Information Security Officers, and research and development managers are among the highest earners. A chief physician earns a median of €200,000 gross per year, while a Chief Information Security Officer earns €117,250. In comparison, an electrical engineer earns only €49,100 gross per year.

In addition to the job profile and location, other factors influence how much someone earns. The most important one is whether someone has personnel responsibility. According to a further evaluation by Stepstone, someone who leads a small team with up to four employees has more than double the chance of a six-figure salary than someone without leadership responsibility.

Among those who lead a team of more than 50 employees, around 18 percent earn a salary of more than €100,000. And among bosses who lead more than 100 employees, 31.6 percent earn six figures.

Michael Kind, a salary expert at personnel consultancy Kienbaum, says that a top salary of €130,000 or more is most likely in jobs with high value creation per head, high result responsibility, and scarce skills. "Industries where such jobs can be found include the financial sector, the pharmaceutical industry, parts of the tech sector, and industrial companies that are currently undergoing significant transformation."

Stepstone expert Dittrich says that a top salary is possible without leadership responsibility, but employees need a highly specialized field function. In IT, these can be skills in artificial intelligence, cloud architecture, or cybersecurity. Specialists in the financial sector, strategy consulting, or engineering can also earn a good living with a specialist career.

According to Stepstone, patent attorneys (median: €104,750) and auditors (€102,250) are among the top five percent of earners. The top ten percent of earners include administrative lawyers with a median salary of €87,000 or a master craftsman in electrochemistry with €87,250 gross per year.