For anyone relocating to Kassel from overseas, here is the data that matters before you commit: income, jobs, housing, connectivity, taxes and who lives here, straight from German Regionalstatistik, the Zensus 2022 and the Breitbandatlas.
As one of Hesse’s cities, Kassel concentrates people, work and cost into a small area. Earnings are on the low side, among the lowest-income in Hesse.
How Kassel compares
Kassel 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 Kassel stacks up across Hesse: Cheapest to rent · Safest · Best for families.
Jobs and the economy
43% above DE avg
More people work in Kassel than its size suggests. It holds 117,482 jobs at local workplaces in 2025, 596 for every 1,000 residents, the kind of ratio you only get where commuters pour in each morning rather than out. Those jobs are spread across 9,467 registered businesses (2024), which gives a feel for the spread of employers here. Unemployment stands at 9.0% in 2025 (German average 6.3%), roughly one in 11 of the local workforce.
Full-time employees living here take home a median gross wage of €4,000 a month (about the national median), before tax and 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.
Cost of living and housing
7% below DE avg
15% below DE avg
The average net cold rent (Nettokaltmiete) is €6.77 per m², about 7% below the German average of €7.28. Sitting tenants pay this 2022 census rate, and newcomers on the open market generally pay a step up. Disposable income per resident runs to €24,320 (375th highest of 400 German districts, 25th in Hesse). That sits roughly 15% 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. Building plots go for around €136 per m², the 191st highest of 394 districts with a recorded price, the bare ground before a brick is laid and the floor under every local rent. The median German district is around €132 per m². At €6.77/m², a 70 m² flat works out to about €474 a month in cold rent (existing-tenancy 2022 level; a new lease costs more). Relative to what people here earn, it is the 19th most affordable of Hesse’s 26 districts. By comparison, rent here is roughly 64% of Frankfurt’s (€10.58/m²).
The local housing market
What you are renting into, on the 2022 census: 74.1% of homes are rented rather than owner-occupied; the vacancy rate is 4.1% (neither tight nor slack); the average home measures 80 m². The stock is 111,373 homes in 32,000 buildings, about 3.5 per building, so this is dominated by apartment blocks. In the latest year 104 new dwellings were completed against 33 permits, which hints at how much new housing is actually coming through.
Who lives in Kassel
Age profile and household make-up from the 2022 census.
Age distribution
The age mix here leans young and working-age. 29.3% of residents are aged 25 to 45, the bracket most relocations fall into, with 13.7% under 15 and 20.4% at 65 or older. A few more strokes from the 2022 census: 33.2% of residents have a migration history (19.6% are foreign nationals); 52.9% of households are single-person; 43.0% of adults hold an Abitur / university-entrance qualification. For an international moving in, that is reassuring: you would be far from the only foreigner here. School rolls come to 22,562 pupils. Daycare places get easier to find as children get older: about 2.3% of under-1s, 33.8% of 1 to 2 year olds and 60.4% 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.
Internet & connectivity
How many households can reach each speed (Breitbandatlas, end of 2025). Gigabit can arrive over fibre or upgraded cable; true fibre (FTTB/H) is broken out separately.
98% of households can get a fixed line of at least 100 Mbit/s, and 85% can reach gigabit (1,000 Mbit/s) speeds (Breitbandatlas, end of 2025). Of that, 40% 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 100% of households. Working remotely as a newcomer is straightforward; the connection is rarely the problem here.
Where Kassel is in Germany
Recorded crime
Police-recorded offences in the district, per 100,000 residents.
In 2025 the police logged 10,263 offences per 100,000 residents here (the Häufigkeitszahl), 101% above 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
Local tax barely registers for a typical newcomer. The trade-tax multiplier (Gewerbesteuer) is 440%, 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 Kassel is rising. In 2024, 13,606 moved in and 13,001 moved out, a net of +605. More arrive than leave, which keeps steady pressure on the rental market. In 2024 the district naturalised 945 residents, a naturalisation rate of 2.2%. Some 24,095 people here hold or are seeking protection status, about 122.2 per 1,000 residents, the combined asylum, refugee and humanitarian total, with Ukrainians counted here since 2022. At the last election, 79.8% turned out to vote.
Just arrived in Kassel? Sort these first
Kassel sees a lot of churn, so internet hook-ups and bank appointments book out quickly. Sort the essentials before you land.
FAQ: relocating to Kassel
What does it cost to live in Kassel?
The average net cold rent is €6.77 per m² (7% below the €7.28 German average), from existing 2022 tenancies, so a new lease runs higher. Disposable income per resident is €24,320 (375th highest of 400 German districts, 25th in Hesse). That sits roughly 15% below the national average of €28,453. Remember it is a nominal figure and ignores what life actually costs here.
Is Kassel urban or countryside?
With about 1,847 residents per km², Kassel is firmly on the urban side.
Is it easy to find a job in Kassel?
Kassel has 117,482 jobs (596 per 1,000 residents, including commuters) and 9.0% unemployment, roughly one in 11 of the local workforce, against 6.3% across Germany.
Can I work remotely from Kassel?
98% of households can get a fixed line of at least 100 Mbit/s, 85% gigabit of which 40% true fibre (FTTB/H); 5G mobile reaches 100% (Breitbandatlas, end of 2025), so a home office works at most addresses here.
How does Kassel compare to the rest of Germany?
Versus the national average: unemployment 9.0% versus 6.3% nationally; income €24,320 (15% below the €28,453 average); building land €136/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 ›