NUTS-3 DE11C · Germany
Population
135,2352025
GDP
€5,946M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.6%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
629.1 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE11C · DE257
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Heidenheim (Opportunity 58). Runner-up: Erlangen-Höchstadt (54). Contrarian pick: Erlangen-Höchstadt — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 86).
Strengths
Industrial base (94) · Freight intensity (93)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 12 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Strengths
Labour market (86) · Connectivity (73)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Heidenheim
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%); Long-run slide: down 12 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 6) — Erlangen-Höchstadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Heidenheim · Manufacturing → Heidenheim · Office → Erlangen-Höchstadt · Residential → Erlangen-Höchstadt.
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
57.8
54.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
61.0
46.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
72.0
68.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
62.3
73.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
60.0
62.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
38.2
38.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.2% 5y
0.7% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
2.1% 5y
14.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€43,969
€44,524
Population density
215 /km²
247 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 81 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€5,431M
€5,626M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€73M
€28M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,131M
€1,286M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,929M
€1,210M
GVA — construction (F)
€198M
€189M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€922M
€1,528M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€30,800
€30,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
39,200 PPS
39,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€44,000
€44,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€60,881M
€21,016M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€22,211M
€3,272M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€139,588M
€54,755M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,157M
€1,804M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€951M
€789M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,154M
€5,336M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€91,480
€95,198
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,315M
€1,325M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
68,430
68,010
Self-employed persons
5,160
5,540
Employment in manufacturing (C)
21,110
18,180
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
82.6%
82.9%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.9%
—
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.6%
3.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
75,000
73,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
4,201
4,754
Enterprise births
366
396
Enterprise deaths
362
380
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.6%
3.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
7.3%
2.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.8%
6.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
4.9%
1.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
38.0%
38.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
43.1%
45.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.0%
9.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.4%
25.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.3%
11.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
241,943
291,556
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
636 /1k
594 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,927 kt
3,207 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
744
754
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
550
545
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
65
22
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
84,869
85,884
Population aged 65+
30,885
31,151
Population aged under 15
19,481
21,290
Median age of population
45.5 yrs
46.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.4%
36.3%
Crude rate of total population change
0.0 /1k
-1.8 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.4 /1k
0.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.1 /1k
8.0 /1k
Crude death rate
11.6 /1k
10.1 /1k
Live births
1,097
1,114
Deaths
1,562
1,392
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.3%
61.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.43
1.50
Population density (persons per km²)
216 /km²
248 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
135,516
130,266
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
17.1%
18.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.3 yrs
81.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
12.6%
13.7%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
938 /100k
1,065 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
199 /100k
225 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
29.6 /100k
10.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
104 /100k
74.3 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
885 /100k
557 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
27 /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)
565 m
300 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
11 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
86 days/yr
74 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
2 days/yr