Why are there two different Beitragsbemessungsgrenzen?

Health and nursing care insurance on the one hand, and pension and unemployment insurance on the other, are different branches of the social insurance system with their own statutory basis. In 2026 the ceiling for health and nursing care insurance is 69.750 euros per year; for pension and unemployment insurance it is 101.400 euros per year. Both are adjusted annually by the federal government.

Does a higher salary above the ceiling still bring more statutory pension?

No. Above 101.400 euros gross per year Rentenpunkte stay constant at around 1.95 per year (2026 values), regardless of how much more someone earns. Anyone who wants to increase their retirement income further needs provision outside the statutory pension insurance.

How does the Beitragsbemessungsgrenze affect net income?

The social-contribution share of gross salary falls as salary rises, because the contribution total stays constant above the ceilings while the salary keeps growing. At the same time income tax rises with every additional euro, so both effects partially offset each other, rather than net income jumping upward.

Is betriebliche Altersvorsorge (bAV) worthwhile for high earners above the ceiling?

That depends on your own gross salary. Between the health/nursing care ceiling and the pension/unemployment ceiling, salary conversion still brings a social-contribution saving on pension and unemployment insurance; above both ceilings that advantage disappears, but the tax deferral remains. Whether this is worthwhile in your own case depends on the overall picture of salary, tax burden, and the retirement provision you want.

Do the Beitragsbemessungsgrenzen change every year?

Yes. Both ceilings are adjusted annually by the federal government by ordinance, usually in line with general wage growth. The figures given here apply to 2026 and are not fixed constants for the future.

High Earners at the Beitragsbemessungsgrenze: What Actually Changes

A Brutto-Netto calculator gives you one number for this year. It does not show you that your social insurance contributions stop growing at a certain threshold, but your pension points (Rentenpunkte) stop growing there too. Two high earners, different distances above the ceiling.

The Beitragsbemessungsgrenze (contribution assessment ceiling) sounds like a detail for the HR department. For everything earned above it, you pay no further contributions to the pension insurance, unemployment insurance, or health and nursing care insurance. That sounds like a pure advantage. What a single Brutto-Netto calculator does not show: your Rentenpunkte (pension points) are capped at the same threshold, while your tax burden keeps growing with every additional euro.

The figures below are calculated using the 2026 Beitragsbemessungsgrenzen and the current Durchschnittsentgelt (average earnings) of the statutory pension insurance. They come directly from the Miravel model for gross salary, social contributions, and net income. Miravel calculates with your own figures.

Two ceilings, not one

There is not one Beitragsbemessungsgrenze but two at different levels. For health and nursing care insurance (Kranken- und Pflegeversicherung), it is 69.750 euros per year in 2026. For pension and unemployment insurance (Renten- und Arbeitslosenversicherung), it is considerably higher at 101.400 euros per year. Anyone earning between these two values pays no further health and nursing care contributions on the portion above 69.750 euros, but continues to pay pension and unemployment contributions. Only above 101.400 euros are all four contributions capped.

Two high earners, different distances above the ceiling

Sven earns 95.000 euros gross per year, above the health and nursing care threshold but still below the pension and unemployment threshold. Katharina earns 180.000 euros gross per year, well above both thresholds.

What actually happens as salary rises

What the Miravel model calculates for both gross salaries: Sven pays around 17.429 euros in social contributions per year at 95.000 euros gross, roughly 18.3 percent of his gross salary. Katharina pays around 18.107 euros at 180.000 euros gross, now only around 10.1 percent of her considerably higher gross salary. Above 101.400 euros gross the total social contribution stays exactly the same, regardless of whether someone earns 101.400 or 300.000 euros: both pay the same roughly 18.107 euros per year.

In the net income figure, this does not appear as a sudden jump, because income tax continues to rise with every additional euro and absorbs part of the social contribution saving. What a Brutto-Netto calculator for a single year does not show: these two effects, social contributions and tax, run in opposite directions and shift with every salary increase.

Rentenpunkte are capped at the same point

Rentenpunkte arise from the ratio of your own gross salary to the Durchschnittsentgelt (average earnings) of all insured persons, which the pension insurance publishes annually. For 2026 that figure is 51.944 euros. Only the portion of gross salary up to the Renten- und Arbeitslosenversicherung ceiling of 101.400 euros counts, not the full amount.

Sven (95.000 euros gross): approximately 1.83 Rentenpunkte per year, as his salary is still below the 101.400-euro ceiling and counts in full
Katharina (180.000 euros gross): approximately 1.95 Rentenpunkte per year, even though she earns almost twice as much as Sven
Every euro above 101.400 euros gross generates no additional Rentenpunkte, regardless of whether someone earns 101.400 or 300.000 euros

This is the point that neither a single pension calculator nor a single Brutto-Netto calculator shows on its own: the statutory pension insurance caps Rentenpunkte at the same point where contributions stop growing. Anyone earning well above the ceiling builds no additional statutory retirement provision beyond that point if they rely on the state pension alone.

What this calculation really shows

Both high earners see only a snapshot on their own payslip: the amount for this month. What becomes visible only by comparing several salary levels: social contributions become proportionally cheaper the further the salary is above the ceiling, but the statutory pension stops growing from that ceiling onwards. Anyone who does not factor this in may be relying on a statutory pension that structurally cannot keep pace with their own salary.

What can actually be changed here

For high earners above the Beitragsbemessungsgrenze there are levers that a single calculator does not show, because it does not know the interplay between social contributions, tax, and retirement provision:

Do not rely solely on the statutory pension for retirement, because it structurally stops growing above the Beitragsbemessungsgrenze
Review betriebliche Altersvorsorge (bAV, occupational pension): salary conversion up to a portion of the Beitragsbemessungsgrenze remains free of social contributions, which still brings a direct saving below the pension/unemployment ceiling
Consciously direct the social-contribution saving above the ceiling into building your own assets, rather than letting it disappear into current consumption
When your salary rises significantly, check whether the ratio of social contributions, tax, and net income shifts as expected, rather than assuming it

Which of these levers makes a difference depends on your own salary, the distance from both Beitragsbemessungsgrenzen, and the retirement provision you have chosen. This cannot be looked up in a single Brutto-Netto calculator. It requires a calculation that maps gross salary, social contributions, tax, and Rentenpunkte together across the working years.

Why the whole picture makes the difference here

Miravel does not treat gross salary and Rentenpunkte as separate questions. It simulates your entire household over years: income, social contributions, tax burden, Rentenpunkte, all together, at every point on the timeline. Precisely above the Beitragsbemessungsgrenzen it becomes clear that a higher salary does not automatically mean a proportionally higher statutory pension.

Your data stays in your browser. Miravel does not tell you how to structure your retirement provision. It shows you what happens with your own figures over the working years.

Frequently asked questions

Miravel simulates your entire household picture over years and across multiple income thresholds simultaneously: gross salary, social contributions, tax burden, Rentenpunkte. Not just one number for this year. Start free now.