What a doctor keeps in Austria after tax, 2026
The ladder here is plainly marked: Turnusarzt first, then AssistenzärztIn, FachärztIn once board certification is done, OberärztIn after that, and Primararzt at the summit. Public hospital collective agreements do most of the work of setting pay, through the KAV Wien and Landeskrankenhaus scales alongside Österreichische Ärztekammer benchmarks, which makes these figures far steadier than they would be in a negotiated market. One quirk in how the annual total actually reaches you is covered below.
What each grade nets in 2026
The gross amounts match what job adverts and hospital scales quote, meaning they already include the 13th and 14th payments, Urlaubsgeld and Weihnachtsgeld, rather than being twelve times a monthly rate. Coming off are Lohnsteuer and Sozialversicherung covering pension, health and unemployment insurance at a combined employee rate near 18.12%, capped once gross passes the annual Höchstbeitragsgrundlage of €72,840.
| Grade | Gross Salary | Monthly Net | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turnusarzt / Basisausbildung (Year 1) | €46,000 | €2,558/mo | 40.5% |
| AssistenzärztIn (Year 3-4) | €56,000 | €2,967/mo | 43.7% |
| FachärztIn (board-certified specialist) | €78,000 | €3,915/mo | 47.7% |
| OberärztIn (senior physician) | €95,000 | €4,663/mo | 47.8% |
| Primararzt / Abteilungsleiter (dept. head, example) | €145,000 | €6,776/mo | 48.5% |
Every figure treats annual gross as a single undivided amount run through the Lohnsteuer brackets and Sozialversicherung, exactly as this site's calculator does, and the note below explains why a salaried doctor's real net usually finishes higher. Primararzt pay is negotiated case by case and varies widely, so €145,000 is illustrative only; department heads holding private-patient billing rights earn considerably more. Sources: Österreichische Ärztekammer salary benchmarks and the KAV Wien / Wiener Gesundheitsverbund pay scale for 2026.
Why the 13th and 14th salaries beat the table
Nothing else about an Austrian payslip matters this much. Employees here receive 14 salary instalments a year rather than 12: the twelve ordinary months plus a 13th as Urlaubsgeld around June and a 14th as Weihnachtsgeld around November. Both the table above and this site's calculator treat annual gross as one sum pushed through the progressive brackets. That keeps the tool internally consistent, but it understates what a salaried doctor keeps, because those two extra payments are not taxed at your marginal rate.
They fall instead under the Jahressechstel rule in §67 EStG, which taxes a sixth of regular annual pay at a flat rate, roughly 6% up to a fairly generous ceiling, with graduated rates only beyond it. For a hospital doctor, virtually all of the 13th and 14th payments sit inside that 6% band.
Concrete example - OberärztIn on €95,000/year:
- Naive model (this table, and the calculator): €95,000 spread evenly through the brackets → €55,962 net for the year, i.e. €4,663/month.
- Real-world model: €95,000 splits into €81,429 of regular salary (paid across 12 months, taxed progressively as normal) and €13,571 of 13th/14th pay (taxed at the flat ~6% Jahressechstel rate). Regular monthly net comes to about €3,547 - a bit lower than the calculator's smoothed figure - but each of the two bonus payments nets around €6,379, well above a regular month. Total net for the year: roughly €55,327 - about €5,700 (11-12%) more than the naive calculator estimate.
So treat the monthly figures above as a consistent basis for comparing one grade against another, while expecting the year to close well ahead of twelve times that number, entirely because of what lands in June and November.
A second effect is worth knowing once you reach OberärztIn or Primararzt. Social insurance stops accruing past the Höchstbeitragsgrundlage of €72,840 a year, so every euro above it meets your marginal Lohnsteuer rate and nothing more. That is why the effective rate in the table levels off near 48% instead of climbing towards the 50% to 55% top bands.
Where Austrian hospital doctors sit on the pay range
| Percentile | Gross Annual | Monthly Net |
|---|---|---|
| P25 (Turnusarzt / early AssistenzärztIn) | ~€46,000-€56,000 | ~€2,280-€2,630/mo |
| P50 Median (FachärztIn) | ~€78,000 | ~€3,915/mo |
| P75 (OberärztIn) | ~€95,000 | ~€4,663/mo |
| P90 (Primararzt / Abteilungsleiter+) | ~€145,000+ | ~€6,230+/mo |
None of this counts private-patient billing, whether through Klassepatienten or Wahlarzt arrangements, and some department heads earn a great deal more once it is included. Source: Österreichische Ärztekammer and KAV Wien 2026.
Questions readers ask
On the calculator's straight-line model, a first-year Turnusarzt on €46,000 keeps around €2,558 a month. A board-certified FachärztIn on €78,000 keeps about €3,915, and an OberärztIn on €95,000 roughly €4,663. Real annual take-home runs somewhat above these smoothed figures because of how the thirteenth and fourteenth salaries are taxed, as set out above.
Austrian pay arrives in fourteen instalments: twelve regular salaries plus Urlaubsgeld around June and Weihnachtsgeld around November. Those two extra payments fall under the Jahressechstel rule and are taxed at a flat rate near 6% rather than at your marginal Lohnsteuer rate. For an OberärztIn on €95,000 that puts real annual net roughly €5,700 above what spreading the gross evenly across twelve months would suggest.
They are. Pension, health and unemployment contributions, roughly 18.12% combined, stop at the Höchstbeitragsgrundlage of €72,840 a year in 2026. Above that line only income tax applies to the excess. That is why effective rates for OberärztIn and Primararzt posts flatten out near 48% rather than climbing steadily towards the 50% to 55% top brackets.
On €78,000, keeping roughly €3,915 a month on the calculator model and more once the thirteenth and fourteenth payments are counted, an Austrian FachärztIn sits somewhat below a German Facharzt on the TV-Ärzte scale at about €96,600 and €4,733 a month. Austria's fourteen-payment tax advantage narrows that gap. Both countries train doctors without tuition fees and set hospital pay through collective agreements rather than leaving it to individual negotiation.