NUTS-3 DE125 · Germany
Population
155,7562025
GDP
€10,968M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
82.6%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
108.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE125 · DE131
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Freiburg im Breisgau, Stadtkreis (Opportunity 64). Runner-up: Heidelberg, Stadtkreis (64). Contrarian pick: Heidelberg, Stadtkreis — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 98).
Strengths
Demographic outlook (98) · Economic base (95)
Red flags
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Freiburg im Breisgau, Stadtkreis
Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 15) — Heidelberg, Stadtkreis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Freiburg im Breisgau, Stadtkreis · Manufacturing → Freiburg im Breisgau, Stadtkreis · Office → Heidelberg, Stadtkreis · Residential → Heidelberg, Stadtkreis.
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
64.1
64.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
50.0
69.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
73.9
65.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
71.0
64.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
64.3
60.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
68.3
55.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
29.4
36.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.7% 5y
0.5% 5y
Population
0.7% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.2% 5y
0.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€70,418
€62,516
Population density
1,433 /km²
1,539 /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)
€10,018M
€13,560M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€11M
€17M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,303M
€2,037M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,090M
€1,705M
GVA — construction (F)
€195M
€410M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,192M
€3,040M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,100
€29,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
63,100 PPS
56,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€70,800
€63,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€31,701M
€24,625M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€6,099M
€4,717M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€83,032M
€57,940M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,796M
€2,843M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,521M
€5,213M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€9,513M
€12,858M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€89,636
€84,075
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,298M
€3,497M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
129,740
186,690
Self-employed persons
8,520
12,290
Employment in manufacturing (C)
9,640
14,300
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
81.4%
82.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
5.7%
4.0%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.4%
3.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
89,200
142,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
6,640
9,733
Enterprise births
597
898
Enterprise deaths
543
851
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.6%
4.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
5.9%
2.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
9.1%
6.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
3.5%
1.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
40.0%
37.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
45.6%
42.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.3%
9.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.5%
25.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
13.0%
9.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,771,956
2,123,388
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
597 /1k
603 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,011 kt
3,247 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
966
784
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
620
330
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
71
48
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
110,740
163,501
Population aged 65+
25,988
42,291
Population aged under 15
19,028
31,668
Median age of population
35.8 yrs
37.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
23.5%
25.9%
Crude rate of total population change
3.7 /1k
5.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.0 /1k
4.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.0 /1k
9.1 /1k
Crude death rate
8.3 /1k
8.4 /1k
Live births
1,249
2,155
Deaths
1,294
1,984
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
40.7%
45.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
0.99
1.11
Population density (persons per km²)
1,453 /km²
1,548 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
183,045
236,695
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.5%
18.4%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.2 yrs
82.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.9%
13.1%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
980 /100k
950 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
216 /100k
205 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
65.1 /100k
96.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
305 /100k
440 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,286 /100k
2,266 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
26 /M
34 /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)
337 m
243 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
10 days/yr
13 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
72 days/yr
56 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
6 days/yr