NUTS-3 DE117 · Germany
Population
131,9862025
GDP
€8,787M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.6%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
100 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE117 · DE943
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Heilbronn, Stadtkreis (Opportunity 63). Runner-up: Oldenburg (Oldenburg), Kreisfreie Stadt (58). Contrarian pick: Oldenburg (Oldenburg), Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Resilience (EU pctl 68).
Strengths
Economic base (94) · Freight intensity (91)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Economic base (89) · Labour market (82)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Heilbronn, Stadtkreis
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 6) — Oldenburg (Oldenburg), Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Heilbronn, Stadtkreis leads under all four archetype mandates — the recommendation is weight-stable.
Phase-2 diligence checklist
- Site-level grid connection capacity and power pricing (beyond country-grain energy data)
- Local incentives, tax regimes and permitting timelines
- Workforce depth for your specific roles (the talent pillar is a proxy)
- Real-estate availability, rents and land — public pan-EU data stops at the Nordics
This is a mandate-neutral read. To weight the pillars to your thesis, run these regions through the Site Screener — it ranks all 1,211 regions under your weights and exports the full PDF. First-pass macro screening, not investment advice.
Composite intelligence · 0–100 EU-percentile scores
Opportunity Indexscale + growth + access + structure
62.6
58.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
65.5
67.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
64.2
46.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
42.3
21.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
65.0
59.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
60.0
34.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
42.2
62.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.1% 5y
0.3% 5y
Population
0.8% 5y
0.9% 5y
Unemployment rate
6.0% 5y
6.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€66,577
€56,272
Population density
1,320 /km²
1,715 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 84 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€8,026M
€9,078M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€17M
€8M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,478M
€938M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,097M
€487M
GVA — construction (F)
€306M
€350M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,345M
€2,128M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€30,800
€27,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
59,900 PPS
50,500 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€67,200
€56,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€60,881M
€31,047M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€22,211M
€2,687M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€139,588M
€59,034M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,946M
€2,556M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,934M
€3,098M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,617M
€8,271M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€93,191
€86,413
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,944M
€2,675M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
99,270
121,710
Self-employed persons
6,430
6,220
Employment in manufacturing (C)
10,510
6,290
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
82.6%
81.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.9%
5.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.6%
2.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
77,200
102,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,034
6,153
Enterprise births
455
587
Enterprise deaths
460
556
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.3%
3.8%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
7.3%
0.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.8%
3.2%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
4.9%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
38.0%
30.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
43.1%
38.2%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.0%
8.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.4%
20.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.3%
7.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
549,315
271,972
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
636 /1k
623 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,291 kt
4,930 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
528
665
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
400
377
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
50
39
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
87,321
118,422
Population aged 65+
25,092
35,695
Population aged under 15
19,573
22,497
Median age of population
40.7 yrs
41.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
28.7%
30.1%
Crude rate of total population change
2.5 /1k
2.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.7 /1k
4.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.5 /1k
8.5 /1k
Crude death rate
10.8 /1k
10.6 /1k
Live births
1,258
1,491
Deaths
1,418
1,866
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
51.2%
49.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.46
1.16
Population density (persons per km²)
1,318 /km²
1,730 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
128,120
150,895
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
17.1%
26.3%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.3 yrs
80.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
12.6%
20.8%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
938 /100k
1,034 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
199 /100k
236 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
3.8 /100k
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
66.1 /100k
92.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
217 /100k
449 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,421 /100k
1,838 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
27 /M
54 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.78
1.78
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.56
1.56
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
1.58
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.82
1.82
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.53
0.53
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.161/kWh
€0.161/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.055/kWh
€0.055/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
160 m
6 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
13 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
58 days/yr
42 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
2 days/yr