NUTS-3 DE244 · Germany
Population
46,7782025
GDP
€2,440M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.2%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
58.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE244 · DE272
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Kaufbeuren, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 46). Runner-up: Hof, Kreisfreie Stadt (39). Contrarian pick: Hof, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Economic base (EU pctl 86).
Strengths
Labour market (93) · Economic base (73)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 13 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Kaufbeuren, Kreisfreie Stadt
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%); Long-run slide: down 13 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 10) — Hof, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Hof, Kreisfreie Stadt · Manufacturing → Kaufbeuren, Kreisfreie Stadt · Office → Kaufbeuren, Kreisfreie Stadt · Residential → Kaufbeuren, Kreisfreie Stadt.
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
39.2
46.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
57.8
71.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
67.5
60.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
57.3
66.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
31.0
40.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
26.2
41.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.3% 5y
0.9% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.8% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.7% 5y
0.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€52,166
€44,586
Population density
799 /km²
1,146 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 83 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€2,229M
€1,881M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€4M
€3M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€303M
€318M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€228M
€287M
GVA — construction (F)
€55M
€178M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€533M
€287M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,100
€30,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
46,900 PPS
40,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€52,700
€45,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€14,094M
€20,600M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,882M
€3,395M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€27,035M
€49,117M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€474M
€431M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€859M
€665M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,080M
€1,757M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€75,641
€81,161
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€691M
€469M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
33,990
26,560
Self-employed persons
2,370
2,140
Employment in manufacturing (C)
3,530
3,810
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
82.6%
83.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
4.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.1%
2.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
25,600
25,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
1,650
1,723
Enterprise births
107
119
Enterprise deaths
106
135
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.4%
4.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.8%
1.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.5%
4.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.3%
1.0%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
31.8%
34.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
34.1%
38.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
6.8%
7.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.7%
22.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.9%
9.1%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
135,680
99,877
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
671 /1k
639 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,604 kt
991 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
435
175
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
930
379
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
74
31
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
29,228
28,781
Population aged 65+
11,133
10,686
Population aged under 15
6,417
6,726
Median age of population
45.1 yrs
44.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.1%
37.1%
Crude rate of total population change
6.3 /1k
2.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
12.5 /1k
6.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.4 /1k
8.8 /1k
Crude death rate
14.6 /1k
12.2 /1k
Live births
390
406
Deaths
681
565
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.0%
60.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.46
1.48
Population density (persons per km²)
818 /km²
1,153 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
40,229
40,719
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
17.3%
14.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.8 yrs
82.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.7%
11.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,117 /100k
989 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
230 /100k
211 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
2.2 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
40.9 /100k
15.2 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
181 /100k
91.2 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,398 /100k
851 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
37 /M
39 /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)
552 m
707 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
93 days/yr
95 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
9 days/yr