Kita cost in Germany: what parents pay in eight cities

By Skyler Bissell · August 2, 2026 · 7 min read

Two children aged 2 and 4 in full-time Kita cost a Berlin family €0 a year in our engine and a Cologne family €5,280. Both cities are in the same country, run under the same federal child-benefit law, staffed to broadly similar ratios. The difference is which Land the city sits in, and that turns out to be the only variable that matters for this question.

Anyone searching for the cost of a Kita place is looking for a single German number. There is not one. There are sixteen, one per federal state, and a household moving to Frankfurt is answering a different question from one moving to Stuttgart even though both are answering it in euros.

What eight German cities charge

Every figure below is the same household: two earners on €162,430 between them, children aged 2 and 4 in full-time care, renting three bedrooms. Ordered from most expensive to least, with the monthly place rate and the annual net after the state's contribution.

• Cologne: €5,280 a year, €440 a month for both children together. North Rhine-Westphalia bills through the municipality on an income scale, and our Cologne rates are €420 a month for an under-three place and €220 for a Kindergarten place. The most expensive Kita city in our German set, and it is a third of what Amsterdam charges.
• Stuttgart: €4,464 a year, €372 a month. Baden-Württemberg charges, at €326 for the younger child and €186 for the older one. After-school care runs €130 a month, the highest Hort rate of the eight.
• Leipzig: €3,600 a year, €300 a month. Saxony charges €229 and €150 respectively, which makes Leipzig the cheapest of the three fee-charging cities and still leaves it far above the five that charge nothing.
• Munich: €0 a year. Bavaria does bill: €250 a month for a Krippe place under three and €200 for Kindergarten, so the gross is €4,800. The state's contribution covers it in full for this household, so the modelled net is zero. Hort care is €120 a month once school starts.
• Frankfurt: €0 a year. Hesse made Kindergarten from age 3 fee-free, and Frankfurt extends free hours below that, so our data carries no charge for either child. Under age 1 the picture changes: a Frankfurt Krippe place is €350 a month, the highest infant rate of the eight.
• Düsseldorf: €0 a year. Same Land as Cologne, opposite answer, because the fee scale is municipal. Düsseldorf abolished its Kita fees; Cologne did not. Forty kilometres apart, €5,280 a year different.
• Hamburg: €0 a year. The Hamburg model funds five hours a day for every child regardless of income, with our data carrying €150 a month for an infant place and €100 for Kindergarten before the state's share. Netted out, nothing.
• Berlin: €0 a year. Berlin abolished Kita tuition outright, so the only line on a Berlin parent's invoice is €60 a month per child for food. Our engine's household subsidy pool absorbs that residual, so the modelled figure is zero; the honest number to carry in your head is roughly €720 a year for two children in meal contributions.

Five of eight at zero. That is the shape of the answer, and it is worth sitting with, because it is unusual even by European standards. Amsterdam charges €29,400 for the same two children after its refund. London charges £34,000 after its funded hours. New York charges $55,600.

Why the Land decides, and what that means for a move

Early-years education in Germany is a state responsibility. The federal government legislates the entitlement and pays Kindergeld; the Länder decide whether a Kita place carries a fee, how it scales with income, and how many hours are covered. Berlin and Hamburg went to zero. Hesse went to zero from age 3. Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia kept fees, usually on a municipal income scale.

Three practical consequences for someone weighing a German offer.

The city matters more than the salary. Between Cologne and Düsseldorf, the German tax system takes exactly the same amount from the same income, and the Kita bill differs by €5,280 a year. There is no offer negotiation that produces a cleaner gain than picking the right side of a municipal boundary.

The fee scale is usually income-tested, so a headline rate can mislead in both directions. A municipal scale that charges €420 a month at the top band charges far less in the middle of it. Our rates sit at the professional end, which is the conservative read for our readers and the wrong read for anyone on a median salary.

Free does not mean available. Every child in Germany has a legal claim to a place from their first birthday under section 24 of the social code. The claim is real and enforceable; capacity in the big cities is not keeping up with it. Families in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and Frankfurt register during pregnancy and apply to a dozen Kitas. The scarce thing in Germany is the place, and the fee is close to a rounding error next to what a US family pays for the same hours.

Kindergeld pays more than the Kita costs

On top of the fee picture sits a transfer that runs in the opposite direction. Kindergeld is paid for every child living in Germany, is not means-tested, and does not taper at professional incomes. Our engine carries it at €3,108 per child a year, about €259 a month, which is €6,216 for two children.

Set that against the fee column and every city in the list ends up net positive. Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf take in €6,216 and pay out nothing. Leipzig nets €2,616 ahead, Stuttgart €1,752, and even Cologne, the priciest of the eight, finishes €936 in front. A German household with two small children receives more from the state for having them than it spends on the care that lets both parents work.

That is the sentence worth carrying into an offer conversation, because it inverts an assumption most American candidates arrive with. The comparison is not a smaller childcare bill; it is a childcare line that has changed sign. You can see how far that goes across countries on our childcare costs by country table, and how the transfers stack on child benefit by country.

What it does to the offer you should accept

The reason this is worth thousands of words rather than a bullet is that a €5,280 swing is small next to what the whole childcare line does to a relocation. A New York household moving to Berlin drops a $55,600 recurring cost to zero and picks up €6,216 of Kindergeld. That is close to $63,000 a year of change, on a line item that never appears in a compensation comparison.

German tax is the counterweight and it is heavy: this household hands over 39.6% of €162,430 in income tax and social contributions, keeping €98,164. Whether the trade works depends on the salary, the rent and how many years the children stay small. Put your own numbers in and run the comparison, or read the worked New York vs Berlin family version with rent and taxes attached. The full family ledger is in our cost of raising kids breakdown.

FAQ

Is Kita free in Germany?

In some federal states, yes. Berlin and Hamburg abolished Kita tuition for all families, so the only bill is a food contribution, about €60 a month per child in our Berlin data. Bavaria, Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia all charge something, usually on an income-tested municipal scale. There is no national answer, because early-years fees are set by each Land rather than by Berlin the capital.

How much does a Kita place cost in Munich?

Our Munich data carries €250 a month for an under-three Krippe place and €200 a month for a Kindergarten place, against Bavaria's subsidised hours. Netted against the state's contribution, the engine puts a Munich household with a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old at €0 a year, the same as Berlin, even though Bavaria bills where Berlin does not. The gross bill is €4,800 and the modelled support covers it.

Do foreigners get Kindergeld in Germany?

Generally yes, if you live in Germany and hold a residence title that permits work, which covers EU citizens and most skilled-worker and Blue Card holders. Kindergeld is universal rather than means-tested, so it does not phase out at a professional income. Our engine carries €3,108 per child a year, about €259 a month, so €6,216 for two children whatever the household earns.

Is it hard to get a Kita place in Germany?

Harder than paying for it. Every child has a legal entitlement to a place from their first birthday under section 24 of the German social code, but the entitlement does not conjure capacity, and in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and Frankfurt demand runs ahead of supply. Families routinely register during pregnancy and apply to a long list of Kitas. Budget for the search rather than the fee.

More in this series

• Barnehage cost Norway: the other European model, a national price cap.
• Kinderopvangtoeslag for expats: the Dutch approach, a refund after the fact.
• 30 hours free childcare UK: funded hours against London market rates.
• Why is daycare so expensive?: the same two children across 28 US metros.
• Childcare subsidies and US income limits: where American help stops.

Sources. Berlin's fee-free Kita and the meal contribution come from the Berlin Senate's Kita pages. Kindergeld amounts and eligibility come from the Familienkasse at the Bundesagentur für Arbeit. Per-city fee scales come from each Land's and municipality's published Kitabeiträge; field-level provenance and dates are in data/_meta.json, and the method is on the methodology page.

Figures here come from cityparity's per-city engine and were current at publication; municipal fee scales and benefit rates move, so treat any single number as a strong estimate and run your own inputs. See the methodology.