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Costs of childcare from 7:30-16:00 in metro Nürnberg (Nuremberg) at publicly-subsidized locations open to all children, without any further income-based subsidi
by MandieD 3y ago
Costs of childcare from 7:30-16:00 in metro Nürnberg (Nuremberg) at publicly-subsidized locations open to all children, without any further income-based subsidies:
- 400 EUR/mo fees plus 80/mo lunch and drinks for 12 months - 3 years at Krippe (creche/nursery school)
- 120 EUR/mo fees plus 100/mo lunch and drink for 3 - 6 years at Kindergarten (preschool and then US kindergarten year), because Bavaria really, really wants children of non-German-speakers in preschool but found out that subsidizing only those children was politically untenable. There may be further discounts for the Vorschule (school preparation) year that starts at age 5 and is more like US kindergarten
There are further subsidies for parents who don't earn much, especially for 3 - 6 year olds.
In short, very inexpensive as long as you're not trying to work a full-time job, and it's a lot easier to scale a serious full-time job back to a part-time contract for a few years here than it would be in the US. In some areas, there are not enough Krippe and Kindergarten slots; in our area, you have to apply to several and do so a few months ahead of time if you want one reasonably close to your home. We had to take a Krippe slot in the next neighborhood.
Care outside of 07:30 - 16:00 is not nearly as well-organized or subsidized. I've made the choice not to find out; I work part-time and will do so until my kid is well into primary school, in large part because I want to spend a few hours a day making sure that he can speak and read English.
Some of the subsidized Krippes and Kindergartens are run directly by the city adjacent to the public school system; others are run by the major churches (Catholic and Lutheran), Arbeiterwohlfahrt (Workers' Welfare - traditional Social Democrat-aligned social services provider), and other community organizations. They need to meet certain standards to get those subsidies, and so far, the quality of care and education my kid has gotten at both his Krippe and now his Kindergarten compare well to what my friends in the US paid $2000+/mo for.
As in the US, Krippe and Kindergarten workers are not paid very well in Germany, and have had a few warning strikes in the past year.
- niemandhier 3y agoPrepare for some complications when your kids enter primary school. After school care is less well organized and ( as per my personal experience ) after school tutors are overwhelmed by the amounts of homework and learning that are necessary. As a consequence kids of parents that depend on after school have a disadvantage. Since this is more often the case in low income families social strata probably get solidified.
- msoad 3y agoFor 3 kids, a Staff Engineer position in California with 500k W-2 income is comparable to a 150k income in Germany. It's madness! (super rough estimates) in California: 240k after tax which is 20k/mo. About 10k/mo for housing (remember, having 3 kids means you need a big house). 3x2k childcare. 6k gone. Everything is 3x more expensive so that remaining 2k will not go to far. in Germany 75k after tax which is 6.25k/mo. 2k housing. 0.5k childcare. You're left 3.75k to spend
- lm28469 3y agoWe don't talk about communism on HN, communism bad. They don't even have Ford F150 in Germany, and they have to WALK almost everywhere they go , just imagine that
- MandieD 3y agoI was about to say, "we do too have those monstrosities over here!" but then remembered it was actually the Ford Ranger, which looks freaking huge here, despite the increasing popularity of SUVs (small by US standards) and crossovers.
- lnsru 3y agoSorry, but wtf. News from Munich as it is today and what I get from new hires. Housing 3500€, because nobody will rent you 3 room apartment for a family with 3 kids. 2k housing is 3 room apartment in normal area today. Probably you don’t want stacked beds either. Kindergarten per child at least 500€. Then Krippe ends, but school starts. So 5000€ for rent and kindergarten. Maybe you live in other Germany. Edit: the special thing about German (Bavarian) school system is that in the 4th year in school your teacher does a decision if your child may study. That means, the child is going to learn a lot to have good grades. That’s roughly 30€ pro lesson. At least 8 of them comes every month.
- gamblor956 3y agoThat math is so bad I don't even know where to begin... Nobody pays the marginal rate on all of their income in the U.S. unless they're making millions in W2 income, so 500k W-2 salary is 280k after taxes, not including any deductions from taxable income (including deductions, the post-tax range is anywhere from 280k-350k for a unmarried individual with no kids). Also, most things are not 3x more expensive than they are in Germany; if anything the opposite is true: our produce and meat are 1/4 of what Germans pay, we pay less for utilities, we pay less for auto fuel, we pay less for travel, we pay less for pretty much all our day-to-day expenses, and that's before you take into account exchange rates which makes things in American even cheaper compared to what Germans have to pay. So $500k in California is the equivalent of about EUR 600-750k German salary. And $500k salaries are a lot more common in California than EUR 600k salaries are in Germany...
- benhurmarcel 3y agoThe median household income in Germany is around 3500€/month. According to a simple online estimation, that would be around 2300€/month take-home. So your 480€/month for aren't that inexpensive. That's 20% of the take-home salary for a median household of 2 working people.
- fifilura 3y agoI bet the median household for a household with 2 working people is a lot higher than 3500..