Purchasing power ranking
Where people can afford the most
The highest purchasing power in Germany can be found in two districts with “millionaire lakes”. But income isn’t everything, as fifth place shows.
Nowhere in Germany do people have as much purchasing power as in the two Bavarian districts of Starnberg and Miesbach. Even if life near Lake Starnberg and Lake Tegernsee is above average expensive, incomes there are so high that they more than compensate for this, as a data analysis by the German Economic Institute (IW) in Cologne shows, which was provided to the German Press Agency. Agency available in advance. In Starnberg, a nominal disposable average income of 40,205 euros remains a real income of 35,392 euros given the high prices; in Miesbach it is nominally 38,621 euros and real 35,335 euros. Enough for first and second places nationwide. The German average is 25,790 euros. The numbers are based on data from 2022 and 2023.
There are also two districts with beautiful landscapes behind them, as study author Christoph Schröder notes: The Hochtaunuskreis near Frankfurt and North Friesland with Sylt with purchasing power values of 33,011 and 31,378 euros. They are also already way ahead in terms of nominal income. But because nominally higher-income regions such as the Munich district are sliding backwards due to particularly high prices, they are going all the way to the top.
Hidden purchasing power giants
The comparatively inconspicuous Bavarian district of Wunsiedel in the Fichtelgebirge comes in at fifth place. The district owes its top position to the fact that income is not everything when it comes to purchasing power: the mixture of 55th place in income and the fourth lowest cost of living is enough for a strong purchasing power of 31,011 euros. The majority of the following places also go to such “hidden champions” with solid incomes and average or below-average costs, as Schröder says.
At the lower end of the real income scale are Duisburg, Gelsenkirchen and, in last place, Offenbach with a real income of 19,022 euros per resident. In Offenbach, a low nominal income comes together with an above-average cost of living.
According to IW, the decisive factor for the differences in price levels is housing costs. Beyond them, there is little difference between even the most expensive and cheapest regions. The most expensive city is Munich, which is 24.4 percent above the average, and the cheapest is Vogtlandkreis, 9.6 percent below the national average.
The calculations were based on income figures from the federal and state statistical offices for 2022 and a regional price index collected by the IW itself based on millions of partially automated data from 2023.
dpa
Source: Stern
