NUTS-3 DE272 · Germany
Population
46,1932025
GDP
€2,060M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
2.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
40.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE272 · DE255
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Schwabach, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 46). Runner-up: Kaufbeuren, Kreisfreie Stadt (46). Contrarian pick: Kaufbeuren, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 93).
Strengths
Labour market (86) · Connectivity (77)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
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 Schwabach, Kreisfreie Stadt
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 12) — Kaufbeuren, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Schwabach, 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
46.4
46.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
71.8
43.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
60.3
62.2
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
57.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
66.3
77.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
40.5
62.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
41.4
43.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.9% 5y
0.5% 5y
Population
0.8% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.7% 5y
2.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€44,586
€45,237
Population density
1,146 /km²
999 /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)
€1,881M
€1,687M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€3M
€2M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€318M
€422M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€287M
€397M
GVA — construction (F)
€178M
€101M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€287M
€271M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€30,100
€30,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
40,100 PPS
40,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€45,000
€45,200
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€20,600M
€21,016M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,395M
€3,272M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€49,117M
€54,755M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€431M
€497M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€665M
€395M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,757M
€1,600M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€81,161
€83,970
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€469M
€398M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
26,560
23,120
Self-employed persons
2,140
2,080
Employment in manufacturing (C)
3,810
5,420
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
83.6%
82.9%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
4.4%
—
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
2.7%
3.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
25,900
21,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
1,723
1,764
Enterprise births
119
125
Enterprise deaths
135
162
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.6%
4.2%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.4%
2.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.6%
6.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.0%
1.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
34.1%
38.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
38.8%
45.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
7.1%
9.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
22.4%
25.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.1%
11.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
99,877
103,300
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
639 /1k
594 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
991 kt
716 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
175
244
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
379
598
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
31
19
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
28,781
25,489
Population aged 65+
10,686
9,476
Population aged under 15
6,726
5,870
Median age of population
44.7 yrs
46.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
37.1%
37.2%
Crude rate of total population change
2.6 /1k
-3.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.1 /1k
0.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.8 /1k
8.3 /1k
Crude death rate
12.2 /1k
12.3 /1k
Live births
406
341
Deaths
565
504
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.5%
60.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.48
1.45
Population density (persons per km²)
1,153 /km²
998 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
40,719
39,030
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
14.5%
18.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.1 yrs
81.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
11.4%
13.7%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
989 /100k
1,065 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
211 /100k
225 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.2 /100k
4.9 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
15.2 /100k
12.2 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
91.2 /100k
102 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
851 /100k
800 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
39 /M
33 /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)
707 m
355 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
10 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
95 days/yr
70 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
9 days/yr
3 days/yr