If you are moving to Hersfeld-Rotenburg 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.
Hersfeld-Rotenburg is quiet and spread out, where housing is cheaper but jobs are thinner. Land is the bargain here: among the cheapest for building land in Hesse.
How Hersfeld-Rotenburg compares
Hersfeld-Rotenburg measured against all 400 German districts (Kreise); building-land prices are recorded for 394 of them. The longer the bar, the higher the percentile; hover for the figure behind it.
See how Hersfeld-Rotenburg stacks up across Hesse: Cheapest to rent · Safest · Best for families.
Cost of living and housing
26% below DE avg
6% below DE avg
Building plots go for around €45 per m², the 344th 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. Rent is gentle here by German standards. The average net cold rent (Nettokaltmiete) is €5.36 per m², about 26% below the German average of €7.28. It reflects existing tenancies from the 2022 census; expect to pay above it on a new contract. Disposable income per resident runs to €26,765 (264th highest of 400 German districts, 20th in Hesse). That sits roughly 6% below the national average of €28,453. It is a headline figure, not adjusted for local prices, so read it next to the rent above. At €5.36/m², a 70 m² flat works out to about €375 a month in cold rent (existing-tenancy 2022 level; a new lease costs more). Measured against local incomes, it sits 5th most affordable in Hesse. By comparison, rent here is roughly 51% of Frankfurt’s (€10.58/m²).
The local housing market
Here is the shape of the market, from the 2022 census: 38.1% of homes are rented rather than owner-occupied; the vacancy rate is 5.2% (roughly in balance); the average home measures 109 m². The stock is 60,552 homes in 36,740 buildings, about 1.6 per building, so this is more houses than apartment blocks. In the latest year 147 new dwellings were completed against 43 permits, which hints at how much new housing is actually coming through.
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.
94% of households can get a fixed line of at least 100 Mbit/s, and 77% can reach gigabit (1,000 Mbit/s) speeds (Breitbandatlas, end of 2025). Of that, 71% 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 98% of households. If you are keeping a job abroad, a home office works at most addresses here.
Who lives in Hersfeld-Rotenburg
Age profile and household make-up from the 2022 census.
Age distribution
The age profile here tilts towards retirement. 22.4% of residents are aged 25 to 45, the bracket most relocations fall into, with 13.8% under 15 and 25.7% at 65 or older. The rest of the 2022 census picture: 20.8% of residents have a migration history (10.5% are foreign nationals); 38.5% of households are single-person; 25.4% of adults hold an Abitur / university-entrance qualification. There is a real international community to plug into, even if German still runs daily life. School rolls come to 12,374 pupils. Childcare availability climbs with age: about 1.7% of under-1s, 39.5% of 1 to 2 year olds and 66.2% 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
32% below DE avg
Jobs and people are in rough balance in Hersfeld-Rotenburg: 49,531 jobs at local workplaces in 2025, 422 per 1,000 residents. Those jobs are spread across 4,549 registered businesses (2024), a sense of how broad the employer base is. Unemployment stands at 4.3% in 2025 (German average 6.3%), roughly one in 23 of the local workforce.
Full-time employees living here take home a median gross wage of €3,750 a month (5% below the German median of €3,950), before tax and contributions. It is not the same as the disposable income above: that is per resident after tax and transfers, this is gross pay for those in work. Source: Bundesagentur für Arbeit, 2024.
Where Hersfeld-Rotenburg is in Germany
Recorded crime
Police-recorded offences in the district, per 100,000 residents.
The local rate is 3,783 recorded offences per 100,000 residents (2025, the Häufigkeitszahl), 26% below the German district median of about 5,096. These are police-recorded cases, not convictions; transit hubs, motorways and busy centres lift the figure because much of it involves visitors rather than locals. It is not a verdict on how safe the area is to live in. Source: Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik, BKA 2025.
Local taxes
For most people moving here, local tax is a non-event. The trade-tax multiplier (Gewerbesteuer) is 398%, 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
The headcount in Hersfeld-Rotenburg is rising. In 2024, 7,348 moved in and 7,116 moved out, a net of +232. The inflow tops the outflow, which keeps demand on housing up. 380 people were naturalised here in 2024, a naturalisation rate of 2.9%. Some 4,575 people here hold or are seeking protection status, about 39.0 per 1,000 residents, the combined asylum, refugee and humanitarian total, with Ukrainians counted here since 2022. Turnout at the most recent election was 82.5%.
Just arrived in Hersfeld-Rotenburg? Sort these first
Hersfeld-Rotenburg is a more rural district, at about 107 people per km², so a car is usually essential. Sorting insurance and a bank account early saves hassle once you arrive.
FAQ: relocating to Hersfeld-Rotenburg
How expensive is Hersfeld-Rotenburg to live in?
The average net cold rent is €5.36 per m² (26% below the €7.28 German average), from existing 2022 tenancies, so a new lease runs higher. Disposable income per resident is €26,765 (264th highest of 400 German districts, 20th in Hesse). That sits roughly 6% below the national average of €28,453. Building land is around €45 per m², which feeds into local rents. Remember it is a nominal figure and ignores what life actually costs here.
Is it easy to find a job in Hersfeld-Rotenburg?
Hersfeld-Rotenburg has 49,531 jobs (422 per 1,000 residents, including commuters) and 4.3% unemployment, roughly one in 23 of the local workforce, against 6.3% across Germany.
Will broadband in Hersfeld-Rotenburg support remote work?
94% of households can get a fixed line of at least 100 Mbit/s, 77% gigabit of which 71% true fibre (FTTB/H); 5G mobile reaches 98% (Breitbandatlas, end of 2025), so remote work is fine at most addresses.
Is a car necessary in Hersfeld-Rotenburg?
Hersfeld-Rotenburg has about 107 residents per km². That is rural enough that a car is normally a must for work and errands.
How does Hersfeld-Rotenburg stack up against the rest of Germany?
Against the German average: unemployment 4.3% versus 6.3% nationally; income €26,765 (6% below the €28,453 average); building land €45/m² against a €132 median.
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 ›