Around 1.3 million households in Germany received housing benefit (Wohngeld) at the end of 2025, according to the Federal Statistical Office. That was an increase of 7.2 percent, or around 90,000 households, compared with the previous year. The figure represented 3.2 percent of all private households in Germany, up from 3.0 percent at the end of 2024. Both the number of households receiving Wohngeld and government spending on the benefit reached their highest levels since the time series began in 2005.
Government spending on housing benefit increased from around €4.689 billion in 2024 to €4.992 billion in 2025, a rise of 6.4 percent. The increase in the number of recipient households followed the legally required periodic adjustment of Wohngeld to changes in general prices and rents. The average monthly housing benefit per household also increased by 3.1 percent during the year, reaching €296 at the end of 2025. The amount of Wohngeld depends on factors including household income, housing costs and the number of people in the household.
Housing benefit is provided to lower-income households to help them afford suitable housing. Pensioners and pension recipients were the main income earners in 51 percent of Wohngeld households at the end of 2025. This represented around 682,000 households. Of these, 85 percent, or approximately 581,000 households, consisted of people living alone.
Households with children under the age of 25 accounted for another 39 percent of all Wohngeld households, equivalent to around 519,000 households. The majority of recipients were tenants. Around 82 percent, or 1.1 million households, were main tenants. A further 10 percent, or 132,000 households, lived in residential facilities. Another 7 percent, or 91,000 households, lived in owner-occupied housing and received a housing-cost subsidy rather than a rent subsidy.
The number of households receiving Wohngeld increased in every federal state, but the scale of the increase varied. Schleswig-Holstein recorded the largest percentage increase, at 12.9 percent compared with the previous year. Berlin recorded the smallest increase, at 1.7 percent.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania had the highest proportion of households receiving housing benefit, with 5.8 percent of all households. This was more than three times the proportion recorded in Bavaria, where 1.9 percent of households received Wohngeld.
Average monthly housing benefit also varied between states. The average was €217 per household in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and €339 in Hesse. These differences were linked in part to differences in average rent levels, which ranged from €427 in Saxony-Anhalt to €656 in Baden-Württemberg among pure Wohngeld households.
The composition of Wohngeld households also differed between eastern and western Germany. In eastern Germany, pensioners were the main income earners in 63 percent of housing-benefit households, while households with children under 25 accounted for 27 percent.
In western Germany, pensioners were the main income earners in 47 percent of Wohngeld households, while households with children accounted for 43 percent. The higher proportion of households with children in western Germany was attributed to households with two or more children.
The share of households receiving the housing-cost subsidy for owner-occupied property also differed between states. In Berlin and Hamburg, it accounted for less than 2 percent of all households, while the figure was 14 percent in Saarland and between 5 and 11 percent in the other federal states.
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