[TeMPOraL]

Maybe the distribution is much narrower, but it also seems that software salaries are on the lower end, which is the most surprising part to me. Or, as a German colleague of mine put it, "my no-good brother who takes construction jobs every now and then earns more than me in this software job", followed by revealing that apparently his wife still has to work for them to have the ends meet, because programmer's salary is not enough.

[adrianN]

The average full time salary in Berlin is 40-50k before taxes. The median income of all Berliners is a lot lower than that, because we have many part timers and many people on social security. The programmers that I know get about 70k on average. Rent in Berlin is about 10€/m^2 (heating included), so 700€/month gets you an apartment for two.

I assume that the brother from your anecdote doesn't declare all his income (you are left with about 60% of your paycheck after taxes and mandatory insurances). I don't see how a programmer salary isn't enough for two people to make ends meet.

[chrisper]

But that is definitely not the norm, is it?

[TeMPOraL]

I was lead to believe it is; I'm asking here if anyone can confirm this.