NUTS-3 DE255 · Germany
Population
40,8352025
GDP
€1,847M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.7%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
40.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE255 · DEB31
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Frankenthal (Pfalz), Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 49). Runner-up: Schwabach, Kreisfreie Stadt (46). Contrarian pick: Schwabach, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 86).
Strengths
Industrial base (81) · Labour market (76)
No red flags
Strengths
Labour market (86) · Connectivity (77)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Frankenthal (Pfalz), Kreisfreie Stadt
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 26) — Schwabach, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Frankenthal (Pfalz), Kreisfreie Stadt · Manufacturing → Frankenthal (Pfalz), Kreisfreie Stadt · Office → Schwabach, Kreisfreie Stadt · Residential → Schwabach, Kreisfreie Stadt.
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
48.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
43.8
54.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
62.2
51.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
57.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
77.0
60.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
62.8
57.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
43.2
44.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.5% 5y
0.6% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
2.9% 5y
1.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€45,237
€45,730
Population density
999 /km²
1,090 /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)
€1,687M
€2,011M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€2M
€31M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€422M
€600M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€397M
€532M
GVA — construction (F)
€101M
€63M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€271M
€456M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€30,000
€27,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
40,200 PPS
40,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€45,200
€45,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€21,016M
€20,699M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,272M
€4,472M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€54,755M
€49,098M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€497M
€408M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€395M
€453M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,600M
€1,871M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€83,970
€89,407
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€398M
€473M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
23,120
25,790
Self-employed persons
2,080
1,960
Employment in manufacturing (C)
5,420
4,830
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
82.9%
81.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
6.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.7%
4.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
21,800
25,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
1,764
1,470
Enterprise births
125
121
Enterprise deaths
162
143
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.2%
3.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.5%
5.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.8%
6.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.7%
2.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
38.6%
36.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
45.4%
41.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.3%
10.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
25.8%
25.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.0%
9.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
103,300
93,770
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
594 /1k
621 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
716 kt
1,202 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
244
165
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
598
343
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
19
57
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)
25,489
29,649
Population aged 65+
9,476
11,441
Population aged under 15
5,870
7,050
Median age of population
46.7 yrs
45.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
37.2%
38.6%
Crude rate of total population change
-3.9 /1k
0.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
0.1 /1k
5.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.3 /1k
8.7 /1k
Crude death rate
12.3 /1k
13.6 /1k
Live births
341
421
Deaths
504
656
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.2%
62.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.45
1.58
Population density (persons per km²)
998 /km²
1,119 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
39,030
44,543
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
18.6%
23.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.4 yrs
81.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.7%
16.8%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,065 /100k
1,015 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
225 /100k
231 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
4.9 /100k
2.1 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
12.2 /100k
52.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
102 /100k
270 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
800 /100k
1,453 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
33 /M
25 /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)
355 m
96 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
10 days/yr
22 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
70 days/yr
47 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr