NUTS-3 DE711 · Germany
Population
167,0292025
GDP
€15,417M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
123.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE711 · DE125
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Darmstadt, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 68). Runner-up: Heidelberg, Stadtkreis (64). Contrarian pick: Heidelberg, Stadtkreis — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 98).
Strengths
Economic base (98) · Connectivity (75)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Demographic outlook (98) · Economic base (95)
Red flags
Freight intensity (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) — Heidelberg, Stadtkreis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Heidelberg, Stadtkreis · Manufacturing → Darmstadt, Kreisfreie Stadt · 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
68.2
64.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
72.3
50.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
61.0
73.9
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
49.3
71.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
75.0
64.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
62.8
68.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
45.8
29.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.5% 5y
0.7% 5y
Population
0.9% 5y
0.7% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.6% 5y
3.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€92,303
€70,418
Population density
1,354 /km²
1,433 /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)
€14,082M
€10,018M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€9M
€11M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,502M
€1,303M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,106M
€1,090M
GVA — construction (F)
€255M
€195M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,489M
€2,192M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€30,100
€29,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
84,000 PPS
63,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€94,200
€70,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€49,287M
€31,701M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€7,586M
€6,099M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€137,102M
€83,032M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,619M
€2,796M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,208M
€3,521M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€13,726M
€9,513M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€115,726
€89,636
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,001M
€2,298M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
141,810
129,740
Self-employed persons
8,160
8,520
Employment in manufacturing (C)
17,860
9,640
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
78.6%
81.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.3%
5.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.5%
3.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
93,700
89,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
6,623
6,640
Enterprise births
603
597
Enterprise deaths
604
543
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.0%
4.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
3.4%
5.9%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
7.5%
9.1%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.4%
3.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.9%
40.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
43.7%
45.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
10.5%
9.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.5%
27.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.8%
13.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
780,787
1,771,956
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
612 /1k
597 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,150 kt
2,011 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
621
966
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
372
620
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
19
71
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
115,957
110,740
Population aged 65+
29,013
25,988
Population aged under 15
22,059
19,028
Median age of population
38.0 yrs
35.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
25.0%
23.5%
Crude rate of total population change
13.2 /1k
3.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
12.9 /1k
4.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.6 /1k
8.0 /1k
Crude death rate
8.3 /1k
8.3 /1k
Live births
1,421
1,249
Deaths
1,369
1,294
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
44.0%
40.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.15
0.99
Population density (persons per km²)
1,360 /km²
1,453 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
155,062
183,045
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
21.1%
20.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.0 yrs
82.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.4%
14.9%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
974 /100k
980 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
229 /100k
216 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.2 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
71.6 /100k
65.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
508 /100k
305 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,243 /100k
2,286 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
27 /M
26 /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)
154 m
337 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
15 days/yr
10 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
52 days/yr
72 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
4 days/yr