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How to save money as a student in Denmark

Life on a student budget doesn't have to be tough in Denmark -- follow these tips to get the most out of the experience at a low price.

Published: 20 September 2022 16:36 CEST
Updated: 5 March 2023 08:24 CET

How to save money as a student in Denmark

There are many discounts on offer to students in Denmark. Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash

Food

One of the biggest challenges as a student is working out how much money you need to dedicate to the food shop every month, and it can be easy to misjudge, run out of funds and end up living off Denmark’s popular money-saving dish — ketchup on pasta — for weeks.

Denmark has higher food prices than many other countries, which have only got more expensive in recent months, so finding the right balance can be a challenge, but there are a few tricks you can use to make it easier.

Once you have your student card, after you’ve enrolled at your university, you can use it at many restaurants and cafes to get discounts, (studierabat) including the big chains like Burger King and Bar’Sushi.

It’s worth keeping in mind that you might be asked need to show an indskrivningsbekræftelse — confirmation of current enrolment — along with your student card. These can normally be downloaded digitally from your college or university’s self-service platform and saved onto your smart phone or printed.

If you want a unique dining experience in Copenhagen, it’s worth trying out Fællesspisning at Absalon, a former church turned community events venue in the Vesterbro district.

Absalon offers a communal dining initiative, where everyone pays the same to eat the same vegetarian meal together. An evening meal costs 50 kroner from Sunday to Thursday. On Friday and Saturday you get two dishes for 100 kroner. Tickets are sold online and there are often events on after the meal, which starts at 6pm. Lunch and breakfast is also available at the location but not as communal dining.

On a student budget you won’t be eating out every day of course, but there are ways to save money on groceries. Through the app Too Good To Go, you can buy unsold food from bakeries, cafes and restaurants at their closing times, which saves on food waste, as well as your money. All you have to do is download the app, look for surplus food in your local area, arrange a pick up time, pay through the app (as little as 24 kroner) and collect.

Menucard offers discounts at cafes, bars, restaurants if you work for a company that is a member of the scheme.

The International Student Identity Card (ISIC) gives you a 35 percent discount on your first HelloFresh meal kit delivery and 10 percent on 25 orders after that.

Coffee

Late nights are a guarantee at university, and in that scenario, coffee can be a necessity. In Denmark it doesn’t always come cheap, where you can easily pay 35 kroner or more for a cappuccino or latte.

One of Denmark’s biggest bakery chains, Lagkagehuset, offers students a 30 percent discount on all warm drinks. If you enjoy bread and pastry, it’s also worth downloading their app where you can earn points every time you spend, to then use in the bakery.

For an even cheaper cup of takeaway coffee, try 7-Eleven where anyone with a student card gets 25 percent off any size of coffee. A student card will also get you a bottle of Coca-Cola, Pepsi or Faxe Kondi for 8 kroner.

The coffee chain Espresso House has an app you can download to pay for your coffee, which means you get 10 percent off, as well as other extra discounts and every 10th coffee for free.

If you’ve got a favourite local coffee shop, it’s well worth checking if they have any offers for students as well. For example, the Blue Bike Cafe in Copenhagen, offers a 10 percent student discount on all food and drink and Lima Aarhus has a 15 percent student discount on the entire bill, as well as 25 percent student discount on coffee every Thursday.

Travel

Denmark has a travel youth card calledungdomskort, which allows people aged 16 to 19 or in SU-eligible higher education to travel for free on bus, metro or train to and from their place of study. You can get the ungdomskort as a card or an app.

Other student discounts are available through the scheme, such as 20 percent off when you travel by train between regions, or travelling at a child fare rate outside your own zone area on Zealand, Lolland, Falster and Møn. DSB also offers discount prices on its orange tickets to those under the age of 26 with an ungdomskort.

With some of Denmark’s coastlines being difficult to reach by public transport, you may want to rent a car.

Car rental company Hertz offers a 15-20 percent student discount on their smaller cars as long as you are at least 19 years old and have held a driving license for 1 year.

Going further afield? Interrail Global Pass allows you to travel in up to 33 European countries for a fixed, low price for up to three months and Hotels.com gives students a 10 percent discount.

SAS offer discounts on flights on their Youth tickets, if you’re under the age of 26. The booking agent Kilroy also offers discounts to students with the International Student Identity Card (ISIC). A student card also gets you a 10-15 percent discount on Flixbus which is a money-saving way to travel across Denmark and Europe by bus.

Sport

Watching a Danish football match is surprisingly affordable.

If you’re studying in the country’s second-biggest city and university town Aarhus, students and young people under 18 can buy an AGF season ticket for just 49 kroner a month.

In Aalborg, a ticket to watch AaB costs just 80 kroner for students. These discounted tickets can only be bought at the ticket booths at Aalborg Portland Park, which opens 1-2 hours before the start of the match.

Students are able to watch one of Denmark’s best football teams, FC Midtjylland, as well as the handball team HC Midtjylland and ice hockey team Herning Blue Fox, for just 15 kroner a ticket, thanks to a collaboration with Education Herning.

If you’d rather get involved in actually playing a sport, many amateur clubs and teams, as well as gyms and classes, have reduced rates for students, making it an affordable activity to try. University sports societies offer a range of sports usually at cheaper prices than classes open to the general public.

Culture

Theatres, museums, cinemas, concert halls can all give discounts if you show your student card.

At Aarhus Theatre, students and people under 25 can purchase tickets to any performance on the grand stage at just 85 kroner.

An annual pass to the National Gallery of Denmark costs 195 kroner for those under the age of 27 or 95 kroner for a single ticket.

Musikhuset Aarhus has a ‘Klub Hund’ for 18-28 year olds, where tickets priced at 100 kroner are available the day before certain performances and sent to your mobile phone.

Young opera at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen (Det Kongelige Teater) is an offer for everyone between 15 and 30 years old to see four selected performances at the opera for 155 kroner per ticket. There are alternative introductions and cheap food and drinks too.

You may also want to keep up with Danish news while you’re spending time in the country. The Local offers a 50 percent student discount on Membership, giving you unlimited access to all our content for just €24.99 a year, reduced from €49.99. Find out more here.

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What salary can you expect to earn in Denmark?

What is my salary after tax?

The Danish average income is 45,500 kroner per month (see below for a breakdown of variations according to age and sector). This is your grundløn, which is the basic wage before supplements are added and before tax, which is paid monthly, månedslønnet. The average full-time job is typically 160.33 hours per month, your timetal. What you take home after deductions is called your netto pay.

Broadly, your salary will include the following deductions: Labour market tax (AM-bidrag 8%), State tax (bundskat 12%), Municipality tax (kommuneskat 25%), State pension contribution (ATP-bidrag 94.65 kroner), Holiday pay (Feriepenge potentially 12.5 percent claimed back later in the year).

If you have an income of 45,500 kroner per month, that means around 45.1 percent will be taxed, and 94.65 will go towards the state pension, giving you a total of 24,884.85 kroner per month (3,340 euros per month) after deductions. Holiday pay may be deducted and later reimbursed, depending on your employer.

It should also be noted that various tax deductions can result in the overall tax contribution being reduced.

How does salary vary by age and profession?

The average employee in Denmark earns 45,545.60 kroner (6,111 euros) per month before taxes, according to Statistics Denmark.

The older you are and more experience you have, the more you earn. So when broken down into age categories, the figures are slightly different.

Under 20 year olds: 19,264.35 kroner per month.

20-24 year olds: 26,996.14 kroner per month

25-29 year olds: 36,120.13 kroner per month

30-34 year olds: 41,606.29 kroner per month

35-39 year olds: 45,287.62 kroner per mont

40-44 year olds: 48,227.51 kroner per month

45-49 year olds: 49,852.91 kroner per month

50-54 year olds: 49,817.97 kroner per month

55-59 year olds: 48,471.48 kroner per month

60 and over: 47,138.48 kroner per month

Job sectors also have an impact on salary. On the Statistics Denmark website, you can select your field of work to find the average salary for your role.

Here is a sample of various professions in Denmark and their average monthly salaries in 2021:

Software developers: 59,904.51 kroner

Science and engineering professionals: 59,092.83 kroner

Architects, planners, surveyors and designers: 49,013.29 kroner

Accountants: 60,526.45 kroner

University and higher education teachers: 50,452.46 kroner

Secondary education teachers: 51,013.67 kroner

Primary school teachers: 45,427.32 kroner

Early childhood educators: 38,708.66 kroner

Medical doctors: 73,551.49 kroner

Physiotherapists: 39,998.38 kroner

Nursing and midwifery professionals: 44,130.79 kroner

Advertisers and PR managers 82,871.18 kroner.

Public relations professionals: 51,349.93 kroner

Advertising and marketing professionals: 51,768.53 kroner

Shop sales: 27,894.29 kroner

Restaurant managers: 44,294.49 kroner

Waiters and bartenders: 27,566.83 kroner

What comes out of your salary?

Income tax in Denmark is divided into a number of components. The most important are the two state taxes, basic and top tax (bundskat and topskat); municipal tax and labour market tax (AM-bidrag).

AM-bidrag

AM-bidrag or arbejdsmarkedsbidrag, literally ‘labour market contribution’ is a tax of 8 percent of your wages. It is paid directly to the Danish Tax Agency (Skat) by your employer (for those who are not self-employed or freelance).

Bundskat

State or basic tax (bundskat) comprises 12.10 percent of your income after tax deductible income has been subtracted.

Kommuneskat

Municipal tax is the personal income tax which covers municipal services. The amount you pay depends on the municipality you live in but on average it is 24 percent.

Topskat

The top-end Danish income tax bracket, topskat, is based on the political principle that those who earn the most, must contribute more to the Danish state. Political debate on tax policy often revolves around the extent to which topskat should be applied.

Topskat is 15 percent (2022). This means that you have to pay 15 percent extra in tax if you earn more than 600,543 kroner. After AM-bidrag deduction, this is 552,500 kroner so you pay this extra 15 percent on the amount of money you earn over 552,500 kroner.

Kirkeskat

Denmark has a small church tax (kirkeskat). The exact rate depends on the municipality but averages at 0.661 percent. Only members of the Church of Denmark (Folkekirken) pay this tax, so foreigners who have moved to the country in adulthood (as well as people of other religions) generally won’t see it on their pay slips. Danes can opt out of paying the tax if you they do not wish to be a member of the church.

Skrå skatteloft

There is a tax ceiling (skrå skatteloft), which in 2022 was 52.07 percent. This means that you can never be taxed more than this amount. If your total tax rate ends up exceeding the tax ceiling, your topskat is reduced so that the total tax rate ends up at the maximum 52.07 percent.

Fradrag

Literally ‘(tax) deduction’, fradrag is the part of your income which can be exempted from taxation. This can be up to 46,000 kroner (37,300 kroner for people under 18).

Things that can be exempt from tax include membership to trade unions and A-kasse, employment expenses, charitable contributions, child support maintenance and the cost of commuting. You can check what you are entitled to here (in Danish).

ATP-bidrag

ATP stands for Arbejdsmarkedets Tillægspension. This is a pension into which you are legally obliged to pay and which supplements the state pension (folkepension). Your employer pays two-thirds of the ATP contribution, one third comes from your wage. This is the amount you will see on your payslip.

If you are paid monthly it will be 94.65 kroner (2023). Your employer contributes 189.35 kroner, adding up to 284 kroner per month.

AM-Pension

Arbejdsmarkedspension and other pension contributions will be recorded on your payslip. You may see the terms AM-pension firma or AM-pension egen, depending on the type of pension you may pay into.

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Feriepenge

‘Holiday money’ or feriepenge is a monthly contribution paid out of your salary into a special fund, depending on how much you earn. You can claim back the money once per year, provided you actually take holiday from work. It is earned at the rate of 2.08 vacation days per month.

There are two sub-types of feriepenge. These are ferie med løn, whereby you are paid while on holiday – in this case you are entitled to a supplement of about 1 percent to your wages.

If you are not paid while on holiday, you will receive feriegodtgørelse as part of your wages and will see this on your payslip. This means that your employer is obliged by law to pay 12.5 percent of your wages in holiday money into the national pool for you to claim back each year, equivalent to five weeks’ holiday.

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