{
  "id": 4141381,
  "title": "Gehalt: Top-Verdiener in Deutschland: In diesen Berufen wird am besten bezahlt",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/29/gehalt-top-verdiener-in-deutschland-in-diesen-berufen-wird-am-besten",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-29T07:47:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Handelsblatt",
    "slug": "handelsblatt",
    "url": "https://www.handelsblatt.com/karriere/gehalt-gehoeren-sie-zu-den-top-verdienern-in-deutschland/100201057.html"
  },
  "original_language": "de",
  "account": "In Deutschland, many people have a clear idea of which professions tend to pay the highest salaries, according to an exclusive analysis by the job platform Stepstone. Analysts evaluated the data to determine the necessary annual salaries to count as part of the top 1%, 5%, or 10% earners. Contrary to popular belief, the threshold for joining these top groups is lower than many might think.\n\nJan Schulz-Gebhard, a wealth researcher at the University of Bamberg, explained that almost everyone falls into the middle class regardless of their actual wealth status. The perception of one's own earning level often differs from the actual facts. To create reliable comparisons, Stepstone accessed over a million compensation data points collected between January 2022 and November 2025, including bonuses, commissions, and performance bonuses.\n\nThe median salary for the best-paid \"one percent\" in Germany is 139,000 euros, more than double the income of an average worker. The median income represents the amount at which half the people in a group earn less and the other half earn more, offering a more accurate representation of income than the average, which can be skewed by extreme high or low values.\n\nThe highest salaries are concentrated in Hamburg, followed by Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, and Bavaria. In contrast, the top earners in the former East Germany earn only the median income of 101,500 euros, roughly 40,000 euros less than in Hamburg or Hesse. Stepstone economist Dennis Dittrich attributes this to the high concentration of economic industries and international companies in these regions. Hamburg, Hesse, Bavaria, and Baden-Württemberg benefit from strong financial sectors, industrial manufacturing, and transportation hubs, creating many high-paying executive positions. The \"Urban-Effect\" also plays a role, with larger labor markets attracting specialized professionals and creating roles that better match their skills, leading to higher productivity and wages.\n\nSome of the highest-paying positions include physicians, Chief Information Security Officers, and research and development directors. A median chief physician earns 200,000 euros annually, while a chief information security officer earns 117,250 euros. In comparison, an electrical engineer earns only 49,100 euros gross per year. Other factors influencing earnings include having management responsibilities. Those leading a team of up to four employees have over twice the chance of earning a six-figure salary compared to someone without such responsibilities. Those managing more than 50 staff members see around 18% earning over 100,000 euros, and 31.6% of those leading over 100 employees earn six-figure incomes. Experts like Michael Kind from Kienbaum Personalberatung suggest that high-value-added jobs with significant outcome responsibility and a limited skill gap are the most likely paths to earning over €130,000. Industries such as finance, pharmaceuticals, parts of the tech sector, and transformation-focused industrial companies often have these types of positions.",
  "summary": "Gehören Sie zu den absoluten Top-Verdienern in Deutschland? Eine exklusive Auswertung zeigt, welche Berufe an der Gehaltsspitze stehen.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Handelsblatt",
        "title": "Salary: Top earners in Germany: These professions pay the best",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/26/gehalt-top-verdiener-in-deutschland-in-diesen-berufen-wird-am-besten",
        "published": "2026-08-26T12:46:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}