As an au pair in Germany you get €280 a month, and that figure does not move with the hours you work. Your room and your meals are free on top of it, your host family pays your health and accident insurance, and they contribute at least €840 towards your German course over the stay. Pocket money is your own spending money. Anything you buy for the family is not meant to come out of it.
Every figure here comes from the Federal Employment Agency's au pair sheet (April 2023), which the agency and the immigration offices apply. Check the linked sheet for a newer edition before you sign anything.
Your hours, tasks and host family chat, in one app.
What the €280 is, and what it is not
The sheet is blunt about it: €280 a month, independent of the hours of housework. That has two useful consequences for you.
A light week does not reduce it. If the children are away with their grandparents and you barely work, the amount is the same.
A heavy week does not increase it either. That sounds unfair until you see what it is paired with: a cap of six hours a day and 30 hours a week, at least 1.5 full rest days, four free evenings and at least one free Sunday a month. The money is flat because the hours are capped. If the hours stop being capped, the problem to fix is the hours.
An au pair placement in Germany is not subject to compulsory social insurance, and your host family bears all the premiums for your illness, pregnancy and accident cover.
What your host family pays separately
This is the part that gets blurred in practice, usually by accident. Your €280 is for your life. These are the family's costs:
Your room and your meals, free of charge, including a room of your own in the family's home.
Your health and accident insurance, all of it.
At least €840 towards learning German over your stay, paid as €70 a month or in one payment, for costs you actually have. Keep the receipts. The fare to the nearest suitable German course comes on top of the €840.
Anything bought for the household or the children. Weekly shopping you do on the way home, glue and cardboard for a school project, the entry ticket when you take the kids to the pool, petrol if you drive them. None of that is yours to fund.
Agree the everyday money in the first month
Almost no au pair falls out with a host family over the €280. They fall out over the milk and bread bought on the way home three times, with nobody writing any of it down.
Pick one system in the first weeks and use it:
- A household card or cash float you use for family shopping, so your money never touches it.
- Or receipts collected in one place and settled on a fixed day each month.
Whichever you pick, name the day. "I'll transfer it" without a date is how both sides end up guessing at the end of the month.
Two grey areas worth settling out loud, because they come up in nearly every family: coffee or lunch when you are out with the children (family outing or your own?), and the Deutschlandticket, which costs €63 a month and covers local and regional public transport across Germany (Bundesregierung). Some families pay it in full, others split it, others leave it to you. All three are normal. Not knowing which one you are in is what makes month four uncomfortable.
Work out what your month actually looks like
The au pair stipend calculator puts the month together for Germany: the €280, the course contribution and the travel to the course, so you can see what should land and what should be reimbursed. Take the result to the conversation rather than a rough memory of what was said in the interview.
If your hours are the thing that feels wrong rather than the money, the schedule checker is the better tool. Enter your real week and it shows you which days go over the six-hour and 30-hour limits.
How to raise it when the money is late or short
Keep it small and keep it factual. Three sentences, at a quiet moment, not in the hallway at 7:40 in the morning:
"The pocket money for September hasn't arrived yet. Can we set a fixed day for it? The 1st would work for me."
For reimbursements, bring the list rather than the feeling. A short note of dates and amounts settles a conversation that guesswork drags out for a week. If you drive the children, ask about the car and the fuel in the same conversation, since the car rules are easier to agree before the first long trip.
If it keeps happening, that is no longer an admin problem. Write down what was paid and when, then use it: agencies and immigration offices deal in dates and amounts.
Four weeks off, also paid
Holiday is money too. For a full year with the family you get four weeks of paid holiday; for a shorter stay, two working days for each full month. Paid means your €280 keeps coming while you are away.
Work out what you have earned with the vacation calculator, and ask early if you want a specific week, before the family's own plans harden.
Frequently asked questions
How much pocket money does an au pair get in Germany?
280 euros a month, independent of how many hours of housework you do. Your room and your meals are provided free of charge on top of that. The figure comes from the Federal Employment Agency's au pair sheet, the April 2023 edition.
Is au pair pocket money a salary?
No. It is a fixed monthly amount that does not change with the hours you work, and an au pair placement is not subject to compulsory social insurance in Germany. Your host family pays your health and accident insurance premiums instead.
Does pocket money have to cover my German course?
No. Your host family contributes at least 840 euros in total towards learning German over your stay, either 70 euros a month or in one payment, and only for costs you actually have. The fare to the nearest suitable course comes on top.
Who pays for things I buy for the children?
Your host family. Pocket money is your own money for your own life. Shopping for the household, craft materials, tickets on a family outing and petrol for the school run are family expenses, so agree early how you get that money back.
What happens to my pocket money if I work more than 30 hours?
The amount stays at 280 euros a month. Going beyond six hours a day or 30 hours a week has to be agreed in advance, and those extra hours are given back to you as time off rather than money, so the thing to track is your hours, not your bank balance.
Every figure above sits next to its official source on the au pair guide for Germany.
AuPairSync keeps your hours and what was agreed in one place, so the monthly conversation is short.