Housing benefit record in Germany: 1.3 million households receive state aid

In Germany, the number of households receiving housing benefit has risen to a record high. According to the Federal Statistical Office, around 1.3 million households nationwide received the benefit at the end of 2025. That was 7.2 percent more than a year earlier and more than ever since data collection began in 2005.

Looking at the total number of all private households in Germany, 3.2 percent received state support. The state's spending on the service amounted to around 4.99 billion euros at the end of 2025 - an increase of 6.4 percent within a year and also the highest value in a good 20 years.

The federal and state governments each bear half the cost of housing benefit. The federal government is planning a reform to reduce the costs of housing benefit. If the planned measures take effect, the benefit could disappear for around a third of the households currently receiving it.

The current increases result from the legally required regular adjustment of housing benefit entitlement to general price and rent developments. This also increased the average monthly entitlement per household. At the end of last year it was 296 euros, 3.1 percent higher than at the end of 2024.

Retirees and families in particular receive housing benefit

According to the Federal Statistical Office, single retired people and families in particular received social benefits. In around half of the recipient households at the end of 2025, pensioners and pensioners were the people with the main income. The vast majority of them, 85 percent, were single. In 39 percent of the cases these were households in which children and young people under the age of 25 also lived.

There are clear differences between the federal states. The proportion of all households receiving housing benefit was highest in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania at 5.8 percent and more than three times as high as in Bavaria. At 1.9 percent of private households, the fewest households received housing benefit.

In a regional comparison, Schleswig-Holstein recorded the highest percentage increase in receiving households at 12.9 percent year-on-year. The Federal Office said the increase was weakest in Berlin at 1.7 percent.