Last verified with Shenzhen Government sources:
Shenzhen runs employee medical insurance in two tiers, and your employer chooses which one you are on — no foreign national holds Shenzhen hukou, so both are lawful for you and the difference is large. This works out what comes off your payslip at each, using the city's published 2026 contribution base and rates.
Social insurance in China has five branches — pension, medical, unemployment, work injury and maternity. This calculates medical, because that is the branch whose Shenzhen rates and base I have verified against the bureau's own notices. Your total social insurance deduction will be larger, and pension is the biggest part of it. Do not read this figure as your whole payslip deduction.
Where these numbers come from
The rates are set out in Shenzhen Municipal Government Order No. 358 ↗, in force since October 2023: Tier 1 is 8% of the contribution base, split employer 6% and employee 2%; Tier 2 is 2%, split 1.5% and 0.5%. The Tier 1 employer share was restored from 5% to 6% on 1 January 2026, when a Guangdong cost-reduction policy expired.
The contribution base for calendar year 2026 runs from a floor of ¥6,727 a month to a ceiling of ¥33,633, published by the Shenzhen Medical Security Bureau on 29 December 2025. Earn below the floor and you contribute on the floor; earn above the ceiling and you contribute on the ceiling, which is why a very high salary does not produce a very high medical deduction.
These figures are reissued annually. This tool carries the 2026 set — if you are reading it in a later year, check the bureau's current notice before relying on it.
Why the tier matters more than the money
The monthly difference looks small. What it buys does not. Tier 1 gives you a personal medical account that can be shared with immediate family; Tier 2 gives you none. Tier 2 ties you to one designated primary-care institution, and you lose the outpatient pooling benefit if you go elsewhere without a referral. And the annual outpatient ceiling on Tier 2 is a fraction of Tier 1's. The full picture, including what the insurance actually reimburses and the trap in your first six months, is in the healthcare guide.