What's new for Berliners in 2025

Every year, on the first of January, all sorts of things change in Germany as new laws come into force. Mostly, life gets more expensive, but there are some nice surprises too.

I used to dread the mad scramble to update All About Berlin every January, but I have since honed my craft, and the update takes about two hours. I know exactly what is changing. I just have to update a few constants in a file, and my work is done. Best of all, I do it all in mid-December and deploy the changes on the 31st, leaving me free to enjoy a guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr.

Enough words. Here’s what’s new in 2025.

Extra day off

May 8 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the end of the Nazi regime. It’s a one-time official holiday in the state of Berlin.²

Minimum wage and social benefits

Minimum wage was raised from 12.41€ to 12.82€ per hour. The maximum minijob income was raised from 538€ to 556€ per month. Bürgergeld does not change. Wohngeld goes up by 15%. Kindergeld was raised from 250€ to 255€ per month.

Public transit

Public transit got 7.53% more expensive on average, despite massive budget cuts, service reductions and punctuality issues.¹ Ticket prices had already gone up by 6.7% in January 2024.

AB and ABC tickets are 30 cents more expensive (3.80€ and 4.70€). The Deutschland Ticket is 9€ more expensive (58€). The Monatskarte is 7.50€ more expensive (106.50€). The 29€ and the Azubi tickets are gone.

On the bright side, we’re getting more trains and a better information system.

Health insurance

Public health insurance got more expensive across the board. You must pay an extra 0.5% of your income for health insurance: 0.2% for nursing care insurance and 0.8% on average for the insurer surcharge, with half of it covered by your employer.

Use my health insurance calculator to see how much you now pay for health insurance, and consider changing to another health insurer. The calculator will be updated on January 1.

Immigration

The minimum income for the Blue Card went up 6.6% (48,300€ or 43,760€ depending on your profession).

As far as I know, there are no big immigration reforms coming. However the Berlin immigration office is rapidly digitalising residence permit applications. So far, it led to faster processing times, but in the case of permanent residence, it introduced new requirements. It could very well be a Verschlimmbesserung.

Taxes

The income tax calculation was retroactively adjusted for all of 2024. You will pay less income tax, so that’s nice! As for every other year, the 2025 calculation was adjusted for inflation. This means that if your income stayed the same in 2025, you will pay a little less income tax. Use my tax calculator to see how much taxes you now pay. It will updated by January 1.

Things also changed for small businesses. The maximum income for Kleinunternehmer was raised from 22,000€ to 25,000€.

Digitalisation

Berlin significantly cut it’s digitalisation budget. This is the opposite of what the Rechnungshof recommended in its very spicy report in November. This might not be the year Berlin will enter the digital age.