Tax is around 30% here, living inside the cities can be expensive but it doesnt have to be. In general, germany is one of the cheaper countries in europe to live and as others mentioned you get healthinsurance (including teeth check ups and stuff) payed by the employer.

The three southern states (Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg) are the most expensive ones, Berlin is probably the cheapest unless you go deep into the former GDR. Hamburg and Cologne are midrange.

Originally Posted by IxenonI

Depends on the city, Berlin is fairly cheap compared to the other bigger cities in Germany. What city are you looking at?

Expect to loose around 40% of your pay to taxation if you are not married.

holy fuck, 40%!!?

Originally Posted by Alberto Rdrgz

holy fuck, 40%!!?

It's not that it's all just gone, well it kinda is. But it goes to all kinds of places that'll benefit you once you're unemployed or when you're retired, the rest of it goes into health care.

So basivly you won't see any of it as long as you stay healthy and keep the job, except of the retirement money, which seems like it's not enough to help you out all that well...

But yeah I'm just at the start, so I don't have any actual experiences with it and that's mostly just a REALY rough outline.

But as I said, from the 2300€ I'll get 'only' ~1700€ actually get to me.

whoops double post, sorry

Originally Posted by Xoliul

ambershee is in Guildford, UK, Kwramm. So that's not an unusual price.

If you compare it with most of the rest of the world, it is ;) But do I know the joys of living in London... stayed there for a while. Was cool but absurdly expensive when it came to rent. I haven't come across a more expensive place for renting... maybe Silicon Valley, NYC? I would still consider London in the future, I like it there, but with the UK games industry in shambles I'm gonna stay in Asia for a while. Its okay and fairly secure there, and still interesting.

In Norway, Europe's most expensive country to live in, I could rent a 1br apt with garage space for EUR 900,-. But that is a top notch place then, all new with all appliances and nice location. Now Germany should be cheaper than that.

In Berlin spacious old flats can be quite cheap. Same in Vienna. Rent can be ridiculously low compared to some other big European cities.

Originally Posted by thomasp

really? what's in berlin these days, CG-wise?

I guess I shouldn't repeat what other people tell me. But supposedly there's more there than anywhere else when it comes to CG (not just games - film, visualization, browser based stuff, other small scale development). Then again doing CG in Germany is though. I gave up on that idea pretty soon and sought my luck elsewhere. Otherwise I just heard there's Frankfurt (but maybe it's just big on people's radars because of Crytek?) and some film related stuff in Munich. From what I keep hearing from the Austrians and Germans I know there's not much else there. There's also some studios in Austria (Sproing, Rabcat) but tht's not Germany.

For anyone interested, a list with all game developement studios in germany. That includes everything from small to big and from browser games and small apps to AAA games.
Click me!

german companys are greedy at the moment
takes a few years to make it comfortable to work here again

Originally Posted by Seirei

It's not that it's all just gone, well it kinda is. But it goes to all kinds of places that'll benefit you once you're unemployed or when you're retired, the rest of it goes into health care.

So basivly you won't see any of it as long as you stay healthy and keep the job, except of the retirement money, which seems like it's not enough to help you out all that well...

But yeah I'm just at the start, so I don't have any actual experiences with it and that's mostly just a REALY rough outline.

But as I said, from the 2300€ I'll get 'only' ~1700€ actually get to me.

yeah i get that, but it just seems unfair, altho the US, is close behind.

My salary went down about 30% moving from LA to Cologne, but it was totally worth it. I loved living there, and the overall quality of life stayed the same or higher with how purchasing power and public transportation/medical/etc all worked out.

Give it a go, Germany is great. Just not as great as Iceland. :-D

I go to FMX every year - http://www.fmx.de/ and I can see vast economic improvements every time I go, better cars, better dressed people, all the shops open, clean busses, trams and all that jazz, it really is a country on the way up.

If I was not enjoying Lecturing at the UH so much and wanted to go back into the games industry then Germany would be up there on my to do list, fantastic country….next to Switzerland and the UK off course ｡◕ ‿ ◕｡

I am dreaming about summer in Germany now with all those out side cafes and fantastic food & Beer!!

Destination Germany - YouTube