If you are moving to Bergstraße from abroad, here is what you would actually be arriving into, on the official numbers: income, jobs, housing, connectivity, taxes and who already lives here. Every figure comes from German Regionalstatistik, the Zensus 2022 and the Breitbandatlas, not guesswork.
Bergstraße is residential commuter country more than a workplace in its own right. It reads as a commuter base: among the lightest on local jobs in Hesse.
How Bergstraße compares
How Bergstraße sits among Germany’s 400 districts (Kreise); building-land prices are recorded for 394 of them. Each bar shows the percentile; hover for the underlying figure.
See how Bergstraße stacks up across Hesse: Cheapest to rent · Safest · Best for families.
Cost of living and housing
2% below DE avg
5% above DE avg
Building plots go for around €165 per m², the 157th highest of 394 districts with a recorded price, the raw land cost that ultimately works its way into what you pay in rent. The median German district is around €132 per m². The average net cold rent (Nettokaltmiete) is €7.12 per m², about 2% below the German average of €7.28. That is the 2022 census figure for tenants already in place, so a fresh lease on the open market usually costs more. Disposable income per resident runs to €29,794 (109th highest of 400 German districts, 6th in Hesse). That puts it about 5% above Germany’s €28,453 average. Bear in mind it is nominal: it says nothing about what rent and daily life cost here. At €7.12/m², a 70 m² flat works out to about €498 a month in cold rent (existing-tenancy 2022 level; a new lease costs more). Against local incomes, that ranks 12th most affordable of Hesse’s 26 districts. By comparison, rent here is roughly 67% of Frankfurt’s (€10.58/m²).
The local housing market
Here is the shape of the market, from the 2022 census: 44.0% of homes are rented rather than owner-occupied; the vacancy rate is 3.7% (a fairly balanced market); the average home measures 108 m². The stock is 132,099 homes in 70,312 buildings, about 1.9 per building, so this is house-heavy rather than high-rise. In the latest year 300 new dwellings were completed against 158 permits, a rough read on how fast the housing stock is growing.
Who lives in Bergstraße
Age profile and household make-up from the 2022 census.
Age distribution
23.8% of residents are aged 25 to 45, the age group most newcomers belong to, with 14.1% under 15 and 23.7% at 65 or older. A few more strokes from the 2022 census: 22.2% of residents have a migration history (14.1% are foreign nationals); 37.4% of households are single-person; 33.9% of adults hold an Abitur / university-entrance qualification. There is a real international community to plug into, even if German still runs daily life. There are 29,345 pupils in local schools. Daycare coverage rises with age: about 1.0% of under-1s, 32.1% of 1 to 2 year olds and 57.6% of 2 to 3 year olds have a place, so a place for a baby is the hard part, much less so for a toddler.
Jobs and the economy
27% below DE avg
A good share of Bergstraße commutes out each morning. Its 79,192 local jobs in 2025 come to 289 per 1,000 residents, a sign that many people who live here earn their money a train or motorway ride away. Those jobs are spread across 13,345 registered businesses (2024), a rough measure of how varied the local employers are. Unemployment stands at 4.6% in 2025 (German average 6.3%), roughly one in 22 of the local workforce.
The median full-time worker here earns €4,300 a month gross (9% above the German median of €3,950), before tax and social contributions. Read it alongside, not instead of, the disposable income above: one is gross pay for workers, the other is what each resident has to spend. Source: Bundesagentur für Arbeit, 2024.
Internet & connectivity
Share of households that can get each speed (Breitbandatlas, end of 2025). Gigabit may run over fibre or upgraded cable; true fibre (FTTB/H) is shown separately.
90% of households can get a fixed line of at least 100 Mbit/s, and 83% can reach gigabit (1,000 Mbit/s) speeds (Breitbandatlas, end of 2025). Of that, 48% of households can get true fibre to the building (FTTB/H); the rest of the gigabit coverage runs over upgraded cable. On mobile, 5G reaches 99% of households. For remote work, including for an overseas employer, most addresses here are well covered.
Where Bergstraße is in Germany
Recorded crime
Police-recorded offences in the district, per 100,000 residents.
In 2025 the police logged 2,766 offences per 100,000 residents here (the Häufigkeitszahl), 46% below the German district median of about 5,096. It records reported offences rather than convictions, and runs high in places with lots of through-traffic (stations, motorways, airports, busy centres) where many cases involve non-residents. Treat it as a measure of recorded activity, not of personal risk for residents. Source: Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik, BKA 2025.
Local taxes
For most people moving here, local tax is a non-event. The trade-tax multiplier (Gewerbesteuer) is 380%, but it only touches you if you register a business: the tax office sets a base amount, the municipality multiplies it. The property tax (Grundsteuer B) reaches you as a tenant through the service charges (Nebenkosten), and it was reset in the 2025 reform, so there is no settled rate to quote yet.
Moving in and out
growing
Bergstraße is gaining people. In 2024, 17,537 moved in and 16,652 moved out, a net of +885. The inflow tops the outflow, which keeps demand on housing up. In 2024 the district naturalised 1,050 residents, a naturalisation rate of 2.5%. Around 12,915 residents hold or are seeking protection status, about 47.1 per 1,000 residents, the combined asylum, refugee and humanitarian total, with Ukrainians counted here since 2022. Voter turnout last time around was 84.4%.
Just arrived in Bergstraße? Sort these first
As a more rural district, at about 381 people per km², Bergstraße all but needs a car. Line up insurance and a bank account before you arrive.
FAQ: relocating to Bergstraße
What does it cost to live in Bergstraße?
The average net cold rent is €7.12 per m² (2% below the €7.28 German average), from existing 2022 tenancies, so a new lease runs higher. Disposable income per resident is €29,794 (109th highest of 400 German districts, 6th in Hesse). That puts it about 5% above Germany’s €28,453 average. Building land is around €165 per m², which feeds into local rents. This figure is nominal, not adjusted for the local cost of living.
Will broadband in Bergstraße support remote work?
90% of households can get a fixed line of at least 100 Mbit/s, 83% gigabit of which 48% true fibre (FTTB/H); 5G mobile reaches 99% (Breitbandatlas, end of 2025), so remote work is fine at most addresses.
What is the job market like in Bergstraße?
Bergstraße has 79,192 jobs (289 per 1,000 residents, including commuters) and 4.6% unemployment, roughly one in 22 of the local workforce, against 6.3% across Germany.
Do I need a car in Bergstraße?
Bergstraße has about 381 residents per km². As a more rural district that usually means a car is essential for commuting and errands.
How well does Bergstraße suit families?
On the numbers: 14.1% of residents are under 15, local schools serve 29,345 pupils, daycare reaches about 57.6% of two-to-three-year-olds.
Other places in Hessen
Source: Regionaldatenbank Deutschland (regionalstatistik.de), Statistische Ämter des Bundes und der Länder; supplementary data via Destatis GENESIS-Online. Housing, household, education and migration figures from the Zensus 2022. Broadband coverage from the Breitbandatlas (© MIG, BMDV). Recorded crime from the Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik (BKA, 2025). Median full-time gross wages from the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (2024). Years per field: population 2024, jobs and unemployment 2025, income 2023, businesses, building activity and land 2024, naturalisations 2024, childcare 2025; rent, vacancy, ownership, dwelling size, single-person households, education and migration 2022 (Zensus); broadband end of 2025 (Breitbandatlas). · How we built this ›