NUTS-3 DE257 · Germany
Population
138,3252025
GDP
€6,159M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.7%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
559.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE257 · DE149
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Sigmaringen (Opportunity 62). Runner-up: Erlangen-Höchstadt (54).
Strengths
Freight intensity (94) · Labour market (93)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Labour market (86) · Connectivity (73)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Sigmaringen
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 12) — Erlangen-Höchstadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Sigmaringen 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
54.3
61.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
46.3
62.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
68.3
81.9
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
73.3
79.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
62.8
70.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
38.0
41.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.7% 5y
0.5% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
14.9% 5y
0.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€44,524
€45,444
Population density
247 /km²
109 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 80 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€5,626M
€5,486M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€28M
€97M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,286M
€1,886M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,210M
€1,689M
GVA — construction (F)
€189M
€366M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,528M
€850M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€30,000
€30,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
39,700 PPS
40,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€44,500
€45,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€21,016M
€25,503M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,272M
€7,289M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€54,755M
€52,964M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,804M
€972M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€789M
€1,316M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,336M
€5,202M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€95,198
€90,595
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,325M
€1,535M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
68,010
69,910
Self-employed persons
5,540
5,850
Employment in manufacturing (C)
18,180
19,360
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
82.9%
83.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.8%
2.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
73,300
74,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
4,754
5,041
Enterprise births
396
399
Enterprise deaths
380
415
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.3%
3.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.5%
3.9%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.8%
6.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.7%
2.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
38.6%
40.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
45.4%
47.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.3%
9.9%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
25.8%
27.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.0%
11.4%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
291,556
440,119
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
594 /1k
639 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
754
1,555
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,207 kt
7,768 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
545
1,177
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
22
47
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
85,884
83,408
Population aged 65+
31,151
29,601
Population aged under 15
21,290
19,158
Median age of population
46.1 yrs
45.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.3%
35.5%
Crude rate of total population change
-1.8 /1k
-4.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
0.2 /1k
-2.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.0 /1k
8.8 /1k
Crude death rate
10.1 /1k
11.1 /1k
Live births
1,114
1,170
Deaths
1,392
1,475
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
61.1%
58.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.50
1.58
Population density (persons per km²)
248 /km²
110 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
130,266
140,568
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
18.6%
16.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.4 yrs
82.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.7%
12.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,065 /100k
938 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
225 /100k
195 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
10.8 /100k
21.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
74.3 /100k
121 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
557 /100k
728 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
33 /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)
300 m
612 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
11 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
74 days/yr
93 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
4 days/yr