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Prepare a DocumentBürgergeld (formerly Hartz IV) is Germany's main social benefit for unemployed or low-income people. It covers basic living costs, rent (within limits), and health insurance. Managed by the Jobcenter.
The Bürgergeld application (Erstantrag) is a multi-page form. You must fill in household members, income, assets, rent, and housing costs. Our bot generates a filled example so you can see exactly what to write.
Standard rates 2024: Single adult €563/month. Each additional adult €506/month. Children 0–5 years: €357/month. Rent is covered up to local limits (Angemessenheitsgrenze). Health insurance included.
The basic income support for jobseekers is what most people still call Bürgergeld. Since the 2026 amendment the Social Code calls the payment Grundsicherungsgeld: § 19 (1) SGB II says employable beneficiaries receive it, and that it covers the standard requirement, any additional needs, and the cost of housing and heating. The name changed; the structure did not. This guide sets out who qualifies, the 2026 rates, what happens to your savings and your flat, how the application works, what a reduction can and cannot touch, and how to object. Everything below is taken from SGB II and the ordinance that sets the rates, both linked at the end.
Four conditions have to be met together (§ 7 (1) SGB II): you are at least 15 and have not reached the age limit of § 7a, you are employable, you are in need, and your habitual residence is in Germany. Employable means able to work at least three hours a day under the usual conditions of the labour market (§ 8 (1) SGB II). In need means you cannot cover your living costs from the income and assets that count, and do not get the help from others (§ 9 (1) SGB II) — for people living in a Bedarfsgemeinschaft, the partner's income and assets count too (§ 9 (2)). There are exclusions for foreign nationals: the first three months of a stay unless you work here or are self-employed, and stays whose only residence right comes from looking for work or a training place (§ 7 (2)). The three-month exclusion does not apply to people holding a residence title under Chapter 2 Section 5 of the Residence Act, and after five years of habitual residence — counted from the registration with the Meldebehörde — benefits are granted despite the job-search exclusion.
Benefits are paid on application, and never for a period before the application was made (§ 37 (1) and (2) SGB II). The one softening is that the application for subsistence benefits is backdated to the first of the month in which you file it. That single sentence is worth real money: filing on the 28th still covers the whole month, filing on the 1st of the next month loses it. So file first, even without every document — evidence can follow, a missed month cannot. The Jobcenter then normally decides for one year (§ 41 (3) SGB II); six months is the rule when the decision is provisional or the housing costs are not appropriate.
Housing and heating are recognised at their actual cost as far as that is appropriate, and for the first year of benefits — the Karenzzeit, counted from the start of the month you first receive them — your actual housing costs are recognised as they are (§ 22 (1) SGB II). The limit is one and a half times the amount considered appropriate in the abstract; above that, the Karenzzeit does not help. Interruptions of at least a month extend it, and a fresh Karenzzeit starts only after three years without benefits. Assets are protected by an allowance that rises with age: 5 000 euros up to 30, 10 000 from 31, 12 500 from 41 and 20 000 from 51, and allowances nobody in the household uses are transferred to the person who needs them (§ 12 (2) SGB II). Some things are not counted at all — appropriate household goods, one appropriate car per employable member (appropriateness is presumed if you declare it in the application), pension contracts, and a self-used house of up to 140 m² or flat of up to 130 m², with 20 m² more for each person beyond four. During the Karenzzeit a self-used home is not counted as an asset at all (§ 12 (1) SGB II).
A breach of duty under § 31 SGB II reduces the payment by 30 % of the standard requirement, and repeated breaches stay capped at 30 % in total (§ 31a (1) and (4)). The reduction has to be lifted as soon as you meet the duty or seriously commit to meeting it, it must not be imposed where it would be an exceptional hardship, it can only be determined within six months of the breach, and it runs for three months (§ 31a (2), (3), § 31b). One case goes further: if you wilfully refuse work that is actually and immediately available, the claim lapses in the amount of the standard requirement, and the housing money is then paid to the landlord (§ 31a (7)). Against any decision you have one month from notification to object, in writing or on the record at the office that issued it — three months if it was served abroad (§ 84 (1) SGG). Note that an objection against a reduction has no suspensive effect (§ 39 SGB II). This page is general information, not legal advice; for a refusal, take the decision to a social counselling service or a lawyer inside that month.
In everyday speech, yes. In the statute the payment under SGB II is called Grundsicherungsgeld since the 2026 amendment (§ 19 (1) SGB II); the conditions and the structure of the benefit are the same ones described here.
563 euros a month at level 1 — a single person or a single parent. Two adult partners get 506 euros each, other adults in the household 451, members under 18 471, and younger children 390 or 357 (RBSFV 2026 § 2, § 20 SGB II).
No. Nothing is paid for periods before the application, but the application for subsistence benefits is backdated to the first of the month you file it in (§ 37 (2) SGB II).
The allowance depends on age: 5 000 euros up to 30, 10 000 from 31, 12 500 from 41 and 20 000 from 51, and unused allowances pass to other members of the household (§ 12 (2) SGB II). Household goods, one appropriate car per employable member, pension contracts and a self-used home within the size limits are not counted at all.
Not in the first year: during the one-year Karenzzeit the actual housing costs are recognised, unless they exceed one and a half times what counts as appropriate (§ 22 (1) SGB II).
30 % of the standard requirement, and no more than that in total even for repeated breaches; the housing and heating amounts may not be reduced (§ 31a (1) and (4) SGB II). The reduction runs for three months and is lifted as soon as you meet the duty (§ 31b, § 31a (1)).
One month from the day the decision was notified to you, three months if it was served abroad (§ 84 (1) SGG). An objection against a reduction does not suspend it (§ 39 SGB II).
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