Price it in your money
Tell me where you live now and what you spend a month, and every cost here becomes your number — the same life, priced country by country, in your own currency.
A guide, not a quote. I move your monthly spend by each country’s official price level (Eurostat and the World Bank, whole-economy, EU-27 = 100) — no exchange rates, so it stays in your own currency. But averages hide rent and the city you pick, and changing country is rarely a straight swap. Read these as the right ballpark, then price the real thing.
EU-27 = 100 · 2025. Living in Germany runs about 8% pricier than the EU average.
Eurostat (prc_ppp_ind) / World Bank, 2025, CC BY 4.0. Whole-economy price level — country averages hide big regional and rent spread.
A €2,500 a month reference life runs about €2,710 a month here — roughly €32,520 a year, and a ×30 number near €976,000.
The reference life the calculators use, scaled by the index above — the same whole-economy figure, a guide not a quote.
Where in Europe
Temperate — grey winters, warm summers, mild by continental standards.
a new-build asking price
in Berlin — about €1,290/mo for 70 m²
a roof here, against the EU-27 average
In Germany, buy prices are up 53% since 2015 (+3.2% last year); rents up 18% since 2015.
Read these as the shape, not the price. Housing is the most divergent cost in Europe, and a national average buries the thing that actually decides it — the city, the street, new-build against old. Treat it as a ballpark, then price the real place. Not property or mortgage advice.
Buy price and rent: Deloitte Property Index 2025 (14th ed., 2024 data). Level vs the EU: Eurostat comparative price level for housing (prc_ppp_ind, EU-27 = 100, 2024). Trend: Eurostat house price index and actual-rentals index (2015 = 100, 2025).
The rules that matter for an exit.
Gains are taxed at roughly 26%, with only a small annual tax-free allowance on investment income.
Germany levies an annual advance lump sum — the Vorabpauschale — on accumulating funds whether you sell or not. The tax-deferral advantage the rest of Europe gets from accumulating share classes largely disappears.
Since 2025 the exit tax reaches ordinary funds and ETFs, not just company stakes: broadly, it can bite when your stake in a single fund cost €500,000 or more, taxing gains you haven't realised, with deferral options. That's the simplified shape, not legal detail.
None currently levied.
The spouse gets €500,000 and each child €400,000 tax-free; above that, close-family rates run 7–30% — and the allowances reset every ten years for lifetime gifts.
The exit-tax extension to funds is young and already drawing EU-law criticism — re-check it before any move abroad.
Can you actually move here?
Hold an EU or EEA passport and the door isn't the question — freedom of movement covers the move itself. The clocks and the tax-residency rules below still run for you.
With your passport, skip the doors — the clocks and the tax-residency rules are what matter for you.
No EU passport means one of the doors on the left — each checked against the authority that issues it.
No passive-income permit — a discretionary clause exists but is rarely used for rentiers; the doors are skilled work, self-employment, study or family.
every permit needs an active purpose; capital alone qualifies for nothing.
permanent residency at 5 yrs · dual allowed · German at B1 + the naturalisation test
even a permanently available room; otherwise six months' habitual abode
Germany's 2024 reform kept what matters — five years to a passport, dual citizenship allowed — and the 2025 rollback took back only the three-year fast track. The FIRE catches are quieter: there's no rentier permit at all, the settlement permit wants sixty months of pension contributions (hard to meet without working), and any dwelling kept at your disposal makes you tax-resident from day one.
The citizenship rollback is done (fast track abolished October 2025; five years + dual stand). Private health premiums jumped ~13% in January 2026 — re-quote before budgeting.
Check it yourself: BMI — citizenship law in force (June 2024) · PwC — Germany tax residence
Getting-in rules checked July 2026. They move faster than tax law — confirm the current rule with the authority before you plan a move around it. Education, not immigration advice.
The hard one: there's no residence-based buy-in — a non-EU newcomer who was never in the statutory system generally cannot join it without employment, and lives on private cover.
Private cover: full private cover runs roughly €450–750 a month for a ~40-year-old self-payer (average ≈€617, 2026, after a ~13% January rise).
Healthcare access checked July 2026. Systems are stable but details shift — confirm before you rely on them. Education, not health-insurance advice.
Common questions
- Are accumulating ETFs tax-deferred in Germany?
- No. Germany levies an annual advance lump sum — the Vorabpauschale — on accumulating funds whether you sell or not, so the tax-deferral advantage the rest of Europe gets from accumulating share classes largely disappears.
- What is the capital gains tax rate on investments in Germany?
- Gains are taxed at roughly 26%, with only a small annual tax-free allowance on investment income.
- Does Germany have an exit tax on ETFs if I move abroad?
- Since 2025 the exit tax reaches ordinary funds and ETFs, not just company stakes: broadly, it can bite when your stake in a single fund cost €500,000 or more, taxing gains you haven't realised, with deferral options. That extension is young and already drawing EU-law criticism, so treat this as the simplified shape and re-check it before any move abroad.
- Does Germany have a wealth tax?
- None is currently levied.
- Can an American or a Brit retire early in Germany?
- No passive-income permit — a discretionary clause exists but is rarely used for rentiers; the doors are skilled work, self-employment, study or family. An EU or EEA passport skips the visa question entirely — freedom of movement covers the move itself. Confirm with the immigration authority — routes open and close.
- How long until a Germany passport?
- 5 years of legal residence is the general naturalisation rule, with German at B1 + the naturalisation test. Dual citizenship is allowed. Permanent residency usually comes at 5 years.
Run your own numbers.
The Exit Calculator
Years to your number, at your savings rate.
OpenWhere You Live
What an annual wealth tax does to the maths — illustrative, deliberately.
OpenThe Geoarbitrage Map
The same life, priced across 58 countries.
OpenThe whole system — wrappers, funds, withdrawal, the blank page — is in the guide: The European FIRE guide
None of this is tax or investment advice — it's education, kept deliberately at the level that survives fact-checking. Rules shift with every budget round; the specifics of your situation belong with a licensed adviser in your country. I'm happily not one.
This page was last verified against official sources on 8 July 2026. What's changed on the map
Know a figure here that’s wrong or out of date? Point me to the line and a source — every correction gets checked, and it’s how the map stays right.
Report a correctionBring me a challenge.
The Exit Audit, then ninety minutes: a straight verdict, real alternatives with their pros and cons, and your first move. If you want someone to nod along, I’m the wrong person to pay.
Ninety minutes, online, €600 — the Exit Audit included.