What's new for Berliners in 2026

Every year, on the first of January, prices change and new laws come into effect. Mostly, life gets a little more expensive.

And thus, every year, I spend a few days updating All About Berlin’s hundreds of pages and calculators. Same procedure as every year.

This is a summary of the changes I have noticed. I will keep updating it as new information comes up.

Restaurants

Cafés and restaurants will charge 7% VAT instead of 19%. We’re not going back to €3 Döners, but at least the prices might stop going up.

Public transit

After a rough start, the BVG’s punctuality has steadily improved throughout 2025. The S-Bahn’s got worse. But you know what always arrives on time? The yearly price increase!⁴

The Deutschland Ticket will cost €63 (+9%). The AB ticket will cost €4, and the ABC ticket an eye-watering €5.

Minimum wage and social benefits

The minimum wage and other social benefits are adjusted every year for inflation.¹

The minimum is bumped from €12.82 to €13.90 per hour (+8%). The maximum minijob income was bumped from €556 to €602. Kindergeld got a tiny bump to €259 (+€4).² There are no changes to Bürgergeld.

Health insurance

Last year saw one of the steepest price hikes for public health insurance. Most insurers raised their Zusatzbeitrag.

There should be another hike this year. The average Zusatzbeitrag is expected to go from 2.5% to 2.9%.

The maximum cost of public health insurance went from €595 to €627 per month.³. The minimum cost went up from €258 to €272 per month.³ A 5% increase.

Students will also pay more, but we don’t know by how much yet. The cost of their health insurance is tied to the BAföG allowance, which is expected to go up significantly.⁵

Private health insurance will also go up. Hallesche clients in particular will stomach a ~10% price hike. Oof.

This is a good time to rethink your options. Try my health insurance calculator or ask my health insurance guy to help you. You can switch to a cheaper public health insurer, or to private health insurance.

Immigration

So far, I see no big immigration changes in 2026. The Berlin immigration office is digitalising faster and faster, and we’re already noticing the reduced wait times. Give Mr Djacenko and his team a round of applause.

The minimum income for the Blue Card was raised from €48,300 to €50,700.

The minimum income for the freelance visa will also go up. We don’t know by how much yet.⁵

Citizenship after 3 years was quietly abolished in November 2025.⁶

Taxes

The income tax formula is adjusted for inflation every year. The tax-free income and various other thresholds are going up. If your salary stays the same, you will pay slightly less income tax.

Use my tax calculator to see how much you will pay. It will be updated on January 1.

All About Berlin

2025 was a tumultuous year for All About Berlin. ChatGPT and Google’s AI summaries have eaten half of my traffic, and many of the affiliate programs I relied on have shut down. I still recommend those services, but it no longer pays my bills.

This is why I spent most of the year on rewriting my health insurance guide, improving my health insurance calculator, and giving you free and direct access to an insurance expert. It made up for the loss of income while providing something useful. I’m quite proud of that, but boy oh boy was it a tedious few months. I’m glad it’s mostly over.

Now that things have stabilised, I can finally focus on what matters. I will spend 2026 refreshing guides and improving tools. There is a slew of meaningful updates on the way.

Thanks for sticking around!