Relocating to Lahn-Dill-Kreis from another country? This is what a newcomer is moving into, on the official figures: income, jobs, housing, connectivity, taxes and who lives here, all drawn from German Regionalstatistik, the Zensus 2022 and the Breitbandatlas.
Lahn-Dill-Kreis is residential commuter country more than a workplace in its own right. On building-land prices it lands 20th of Hesse’s 26 districts.
How Lahn-Dill-Kreis compares
Lahn-Dill-Kreis 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 Lahn-Dill-Kreis stacks up across Hesse: Cheapest to rent · Safest · Best for families.
Cost of living and housing
13% below DE avg
6% below DE avg
Building plots go for around €94 per m², the 256th highest of 394 districts with a recorded price, the starting price of the ground itself, beneath every local rent. The median German district is around €132 per m². The average net cold rent (Nettokaltmiete) is €6.33 per m², about 13% 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 €26,820 (258th highest of 400 German districts, 18th in Hesse). That is about 6% below the German average of €28,453. On its own that number tells half the story; the local cost of living does the rest. At €6.33/m², a 70 m² flat works out to about €443 a month in cold rent (existing-tenancy 2022 level; a new lease costs more). Relative to what people here earn, it is the 10th most affordable of Hesse’s 26 districts. That is around 60% of what the same metre costs in Frankfurt (€10.58/m²).
The local housing market
What you are renting into, on the 2022 census: 39.9% of homes are rented rather than owner-occupied; the vacancy rate is 4.1% (roughly in balance); the average home measures 110 m². The stock is 123,445 homes in 74,592 buildings, about 1.7 per building, so this is house-heavy rather than high-rise. In the latest year 185 new dwellings were completed against 148 permits, which hints at how much new housing is actually coming through.
Who lives in Lahn-Dill-Kreis
Age profile and household make-up from the 2022 census.
Age distribution
24.0% of residents are aged 25 to 45, the age group most newcomers belong to, with 14.2% under 15 and 23.3% at 65 or older. A few more strokes from the 2022 census: 23.2% of residents have a migration history (11.4% are foreign nationals); 37.5% of households are single-person; 28.5% of adults hold an Abitur / university-entrance qualification. Enough foreign residents that you would not feel like the only newcomer, though German remains the default. Local schools serve 27,034 pupils. Childcare availability climbs with age: about 1.0% of under-1s, 26.0% of 1 to 2 year olds and 59.5% of 2 to 3 year olds have a place, so finding care for an infant is harder than for a toddler.
Jobs and the economy
5% below DE avg
Lahn-Dill-Kreis roughly balances jobs and residents: 95,773 jobs at local workplaces in 2025, 377 per 1,000 residents. Those jobs are spread across 11,061 registered businesses (2024), a rough measure of how varied the local employers are. Unemployment stands at 6.0% in 2025 (German average 6.3%), roughly one in 17 of the local workforce.
Median gross pay for full-time staff here is €4,000 a month (about the national median), before tax. 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.
97% of households can get a fixed line of at least 100 Mbit/s, and 64% can reach gigabit (1,000 Mbit/s) speeds (Breitbandatlas, end of 2025). Of that, 35% 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. For remote work, including for an overseas employer, most addresses here are well covered.
Where Lahn-Dill-Kreis is in Germany
Recorded crime
Police-recorded offences in the district, per 100,000 residents.
The local rate is 3,847 recorded offences per 100,000 residents (2025, the Häufigkeitszahl), 25% 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 378%, 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 Lahn-Dill-Kreis is rising. In 2024, 16,473 moved in and 15,508 moved out, a net of +965. The inflow tops the outflow, which keeps demand on housing up. It granted 535 citizenships in 2024, a naturalisation rate of 1.6%. Around 11,930 residents hold or are seeking protection status, about 47.0 per 1,000 residents, the combined asylum, refugee and humanitarian total, with Ukrainians counted here since 2022. Voter turnout last time around was 81.1%.
Just arrived in Lahn-Dill-Kreis? Sort these first
Lahn-Dill-Kreis is a more rural district, at about 238 people per km², so a car is usually essential. Sorting insurance and a bank account early saves hassle once you arrive.
FAQ: relocating to Lahn-Dill-Kreis
Is the internet good enough to work from home in Lahn-Dill-Kreis?
97% of households can get a fixed line of at least 100 Mbit/s, 64% gigabit of which 35% true fibre (FTTB/H); 5G mobile reaches 98% (Breitbandatlas, end of 2025), so the connection is rarely the issue for home working.
What does it cost to live in Lahn-Dill-Kreis?
The average net cold rent is €6.33 per m² (13% below the €7.28 German average), from existing 2022 tenancies, so a new lease runs higher. Disposable income per resident is €26,820 (258th highest of 400 German districts, 18th in Hesse). That is about 6% below the German average of €28,453. Building land is around €94 per m², which feeds into local rents. It is not adjusted for local prices, so treat it as a headline only.
What is the job market like in Lahn-Dill-Kreis?
Lahn-Dill-Kreis has 95,773 jobs (377 per 1,000 residents, including commuters) and 6.0% unemployment, roughly one in 17 of the local workforce, against 6.3% across Germany.
Do I need a car in Lahn-Dill-Kreis?
Lahn-Dill-Kreis has about 238 residents per km². That is rural enough that a car is normally a must for work and errands.
Is Lahn-Dill-Kreis a good place for families?
What the data shows: 14.2% of residents are under 15, local schools serve 27,034 pupils, daycare reaches about 59.5% 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 ›