Here’s the deal
- Cleaners in Germany earn an average of €16.86 gross per hour (according to the 2026 Household Help Report), which is above the minimum wage of €13.90.
- As a private household employer, you only pay around 14.6% in additional contributions on top of the hourly wage. For a rate of €16.86, this adds about €2.46 per hour, bringing the total to roughly €19.32 per hour.
- You can claim back 20% of your costs under Section 35a of the German Income Tax Act (EStG), up to a maximum of €510 per year for a mini-job.
- Example calculation (4 hours every two weeks at €16.86/hr): approximately €167 in total monthly costs, or an effective annual cost of around €1,607 after the tax rebate.
The cost of a cleaner comes down to three numbers: the hourly wage, the contributions, and the amount you get back through tax. The hourly wage is just the start. We walk you through all three, from the gross wage to the effective annual cost.
This is what a cleaner earns
On average, a cleaner in Germany earns €16.86 gross per hour. This is based on the quitt Household Help Report 2026, based on a survey of 1,351 people and 1,935 employment contracts. Across all household tasks, the average is €17.93, so cleaners are paid slightly below that. The statutory minimum wage in 2026 is €13.90 per hour and applies to private households as well. You cannot pay less, and you can only register an employment relationship at or above the minimum wage.
Wages vary significantly by region. The list below shows the average wage across all household tasks per federal state:
- Bavaria: €18.92
- Berlin: €18.58
- Hesse: €18.41
- Baden-Württemberg: €18.00
- North Rhine-Westphalia: €17.76
- Lower Saxony: €17.18
- Brandenburg: €16.93
- Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia: €16.90
- Hamburg: €16.59
- Schleswig-Holstein: €16.43
- Rhineland-Palatinate: €16.00
- Germany overall: €17.93
Bavaria pays the most at €18.92, Rhineland-Palatinate the least at €16.00 (no reliable figures are available for Bremen and Saarland). Paying fairly, above the minimum wage, usually pays off: you find someone more easily and the arrangement lasts longer. For the difference between gross and net, see the post Net or gross for a domestic helper's pay.
What does a cleaner cost the employer?
On top of the wage, you pay only around 14.6% in contributions in a private household. This is made possible by the simplified Haushaltsscheck procedure run by the Minijob-Zentrale, which applies to mini-jobs in private households.
For 2026, the contributions break down like this:
- Flat-rate health insurance: 5%
- Flat-rate pension insurance: 5%
- Statutory accident insurance: 1.6%
- Levy U1 (illness): 0.8%
- Levy U2 (maternity): 0.22%
- Flat-rate tax: 2%
- Total: around 14.6%
On the average hourly wage of €16.86, that is about €2.46 per hour on top. So a cleaner costs you around €19.32 per hour as an employer.
What do I pay per month and per year?
Let's work it through with a typical case. Many cleaners come every two weeks for around four hours. At €16.86 per hour, the calculation looks like this:
- Net wage of the cleaner (4 hrs every 2 weeks): approx. €146/month, approx. €1,753/year
- + Employer contributions (around 14.6%): approx. €21/month, approx. €256/year
- Total cost: approx. €167/month, approx. €2,009/year
- − Tax rebate § 35a (20%): − €402/year
- Effective cost: approx. €1,607/year
For a mini-job, the net wage equals the gross wage because it is taxed at a flat rate. Bottom line: in this example, a cleaner costs you around €1,607 a year—a good €130 a month—once you subtract the tax rebate. If your cleaner works more often, the costs rise accordingly. You can work out your own figures with the free wage cost calculator in 30 seconds.
How much do I get back through tax?
You deduct 20% of the cost of household help directly from your tax bill. This is set out in § 35a EStG. For a mini-job in a private household, that is up to €510 per year; for employment subject to social security (midi-job or more), up to €4,000 per year.
The distinction matters: the amount is not deducted from your taxable income, but directly from the tax itself. So a rebate of €510 means €510 less tax. The condition is that the cleaner is registered and that you transfer the wage rather than paying cash. For exactly how this works, see the post Tax rebate for household help.
Why legal employment pays off
The biggest advantage of registering is not the tax, it is the protection. If something happens to your cleaner at work and they are not registered, you are personally liable for treatment and lost earnings.
That matches what workers themselves want. In the quitt Haushaltshilfen-Report, 52.7% of legally employed workers name accident protection as the main reason for official employment. With a registered cleaner, exactly that is covered: they have accident insurance, including on the way to work, and build up pension entitlements. More on this under What happens if my domestic helper has an accident?
Financially, registering matters less than many think: after the tax rebate, the example above leaves around €1,607 a year, a good €130 a month. The real hurdle is rarely the money, it is the effort. 67.6% of employers would register their household help if it involved less effort. That is exactly where quitt comes in.
What does quitt take care of for me?
quitt handles the entire registration and administration for your cleaner. You enter the key details, and quitt takes care of registering with the Minijob-Zentrale, the payroll, and the insurance. The wage and contributions stay the same, whether you register yourself or quitt does it. quitt is not an extra cost block on top of the wage, it is the service that takes the paperwork off your hands. You remain the employer and decide whom you hire and what you pay.
Found a cleaner? Start the registration and quitt handles the rest. You can see what the service costs on the pricing page.
Calculate your costs in 30 seconds
Our free wage cost calculator gives you an instant, no-obligation breakdown of the gross, net, and total employer costs for your cleaner.
