NUTS-3 DE252 · Germany
Population
115,9282025
GDP
€13,610M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.7%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
77.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE252 · DE711
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Darmstadt, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 68). Runner-up: Erlangen, Kreisfreie Stadt (65). Contrarian pick: Erlangen, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Economic base (EU pctl 99).
Strengths
Economic base (98) · Connectivity (75)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Economic base (99) · Industrial base (99)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Darmstadt, Kreisfreie Stadt
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 10) — Erlangen, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Darmstadt, Kreisfreie Stadt 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
65.3
68.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
47.5
72.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
63.9
61.0
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
49.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
73.0
75.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
62.8
62.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
54.2
45.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.2% 5y
0.5% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.9% 5y
Unemployment rate
6.1% 5y
1.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€117,399
€92,303
Population density
1,497 /km²
1,354 /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)
€12,431M
€14,082M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€8M
€9M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€6,598M
€3,502M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€6,378M
€3,106M
GVA — construction (F)
€181M
€255M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,178M
€3,489M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€30,000
€30,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
105,800 PPS
84,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€118,700
€94,200
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€21,016M
€49,287M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,272M
€7,586M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€54,755M
€137,102M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,235M
€3,619M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,231M
€3,208M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€11,791M
€13,726M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€125,345
€115,726
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,928M
€3,001M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
114,140
141,810
Self-employed persons
4,760
8,160
Employment in manufacturing (C)
37,300
17,860
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
82.9%
78.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
6.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.9%
3.5%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
67,500
93,700
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
3,720
6,623
Enterprise births
322
603
Enterprise deaths
285
604
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.1%
5.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.5%
3.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.8%
7.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.7%
2.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
38.6%
37.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
45.4%
43.7%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.3%
10.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
25.8%
26.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.0%
9.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
687,859
780,787
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
594 /1k
612 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,581 kt
2,150 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
497
621
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
429
372
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
12
19
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
79,044
115,957
Population aged 65+
21,562
29,013
Population aged under 15
15,322
22,059
Median age of population
39.2 yrs
38.0 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
27.3%
25.0%
Crude rate of total population change
5.3 /1k
13.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.8 /1k
12.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.3 /1k
8.6 /1k
Crude death rate
9.8 /1k
8.3 /1k
Live births
1,073
1,421
Deaths
1,135
1,369
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
46.7%
44.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.24
1.15
Population density (persons per km²)
1,521 /km²
1,360 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
112,115
155,062
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
18.6%
21.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.4 yrs
82.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.7%
16.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,065 /100k
974 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
225 /100k
229 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.9 /100k
1.2 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
32.1 /100k
71.6 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
257 /100k
508 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,207 /100k
2,243 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
33 /M
27 /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)
281 m
154 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
12 days/yr
15 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
75 days/yr
52 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr