NUTS-3 DE129 · Germany
Population
134,9122025
GDP
€6,508M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
82.6%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
99.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE129 · DE21J
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Pfaffenhofen a. d. Ilm (Opportunity 64). Runner-up: Pforzheim, Stadtkreis (63).
Strengths
Freight intensity (98) · Labour market (97)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Pfaffenhofen a. d. Ilm
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 2) — Pforzheim, Stadtkreis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Pfaffenhofen a. d. Ilm 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
63.1
64.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
66.0
44.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
72.8
78.0
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
66.7
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
74.7
68.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
68.3
77.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
46.6
57.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.5% 5y
3.7% 5y
Population
1.4% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.5% 5y
15.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€48,242
€53,628
Population density
1,359 /km²
172 /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)
€5,945M
€6,406M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€8M
€90M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,855M
€2,590M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,720M
€2,216M
GVA — construction (F)
€215M
€366M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,173M
€1,099M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,100
€34,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
43,100 PPS
48,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€48,400
€54,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€31,701M
€92,019M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€6,099M
€17,837M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€83,032M
€176,106M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,278M
€1,183M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,417M
€1,079M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,645M
€6,101M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€89,127
€116,695
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,363M
€1,859M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
77,430
62,790
Self-employed persons
5,610
6,190
Employment in manufacturing (C)
15,800
14,530
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
81.4%
83.9%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
5.7%
5.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.4%
2.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
70,200
71,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
4,873
5,148
Enterprise births
428
389
Enterprise deaths
449
444
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.0%
3.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
5.9%
5.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
9.1%
8.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
3.5%
3.9%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
40.0%
47.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
45.6%
57.2%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.3%
9.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.5%
32.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
13.0%
13.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
237,136
281,054
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
597 /1k
612 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,894 kt
10,321 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
818
633
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
606
484
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
43
34
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)
87,139
84,668
Population aged 65+
27,093
25,723
Population aged under 15
20,680
20,390
Median age of population
41.7 yrs
43.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
31.1%
30.4%
Crude rate of total population change
-1.3 /1k
9.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
0.1 /1k
10.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.4 /1k
9.3 /1k
Crude death rate
10.8 /1k
9.7 /1k
Live births
1,268
1,214
Deaths
1,460
1,265
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
54.8%
54.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.44
1.56
Population density (persons per km²)
1,378 /km²
173 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
134,813
131,078
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.5%
15.3%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.2 yrs
82.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.9%
11.8%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
980 /100k
931 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
216 /100k
204 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
48.9 /100k
8.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
305 /100k
91.9 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,466 /100k
475 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
26 /M
35 /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)
356 m
465 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
9 days/yr
9 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
59 days/yr
77 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
4 days/yr