Relocating to Offenbach: Cost of Living, Jobs & Taxes

Relocating to Offenbach 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.

Education colours Offenbach, with a young, Abitur-heavy population. Building land is the headline: the 6th priciest for building land of Hesse’s 26 districts.

Residents
358,022
2024
Density
1,005
per km²
Unemployment
5.4%
2025
Income / resident
€29,536
2023
Avg rent
€8.58
per m² · 2022
≥100 Mbit/s
98%
2025
Benchmark

How Offenbach compares

Offenbach 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.

Income
Higher than 70% of districts
Jobs per 1,000
Higher than 58% of districts
Unemployment
Lower than 52% of districts
Building land price
More expensive than 92% of districts
Rent vs Germany
More expensive than 90% of districts

See how Offenbach stacks up across Hesse: Cheapest to rent · Safest · Best for families.


Population

Who lives in Offenbach

Age profile and household make-up from the 2022 census.

Age distribution

0–15
14.8%
15–25
10.0%
25–45
25.1%
45–65
28.2%
65+
21.9%
Migration history
31.4%
self or both parents
Foreign nationals
19.5%
of residents
Single-person HH
40.5%
of households
Abitur / uni-entrance
38.6%
of adults 15+

25.1% of residents are aged 25 to 45, the prime working-age band, with 14.8% under 15 and 21.9% at 65 or older. The rest of the 2022 census picture: 31.4% of residents have a migration history (19.5% are foreign nationals); 40.5% of households are single-person; 38.6% of adults hold an Abitur / university-entrance qualification. As a newcomer from abroad you would blend straight in; this is a properly international place. Local schools serve 40,493 pupils. Daycare places get easier to find as children get older: about 1.4% of under-1s, 33.2% of 1 to 2 year olds and 54.4% of 2 to 3 year olds have a place, so finding care for an infant is harder than for a toddler.


Cost & housing

Cost of living and housing

Avg net rent
€8.58
per m² · existing leases

18% above DE avg

Income / resident
€29,536
per year · 2023

4% above DE avg

Building land
€546
per m²
70 m² flat
€601
cold rent / month

The average net cold rent (Nettokaltmiete) is €8.58 per m², about 18% above 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 €29,536 (120th highest of 400 German districts, 8th in Hesse). That sits roughly 4% above 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 €546 per m², the 30th 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 €8.58/m², a 70 m² flat works out to about €601 a month in cold rent (existing-tenancy 2022 level; a new lease costs more). Measured against local incomes, it sits 21st most affordable in Hesse. For scale, that is about 81% of the rent in Frankfurt (€10.58/m²).


Housing market

The local housing market

Rented homes
53.7%
vs owner-occupied
Vacancy
3.2%
of dwellings
Avg home size
96 m²
per dwelling
Homes total
174,111
all types
Owner-occupied 46.3%Rented 53.7%

Here is the shape of the market, from the 2022 census: 53.7% of homes are rented rather than owner-occupied; the vacancy rate is 3.2% (a fairly balanced market); the average home measures 96 m². The stock is 174,111 homes in 71,894 buildings, about 2.4 per building, so this is mostly houses rather than flats. In the latest year 158 new dwellings were completed against 127 permits, a gauge of whether new supply keeps up with demand.


Economy

Jobs and the economy

Jobs total
137,687
at workplaces, 2025
Per 1,000 residents
385
incl. commuters, 2025
Businesses
18,916
registered, 2024
Unemployment
5.4%
2025

14% below DE avg

Jobs and people are in rough balance in Offenbach: 137,687 jobs at local workplaces in 2025, 385 per 1,000 residents. Those jobs are spread across 18,916 registered businesses (2024), a rough measure of how varied the local employers are. Unemployment stands at 5.4% in 2025 (German average 6.3%), roughly one in 19 of the local workforce.

Median wage
€4,300
full-time, gross / month · 2024

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. This is a different measure from the disposable income per resident above: it is what people in work earn, not what each resident has left to spend. Source: Bundesagentur für Arbeit, 2024.


Connectivity

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.

≥100 Mbit/s
98%
Gigabit (1 Gbit/s)
89%
True fibre (FTTB/H)
49%
5G mobile
100%

98% of households can get a fixed line of at least 100 Mbit/s, and 89% can reach gigabit (1,000 Mbit/s) speeds (Breitbandatlas, end of 2025). Of that, 49% 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. If you are keeping a job abroad, a home office works at most addresses here.


Location

Where Offenbach is in Germany


Safety

Recorded crime

The local rate of recorded offences, per 100,000 residents.

Recorded offences
4,194
per 100,000 residents · 2025

In 2025 the police logged 4,194 offences per 100,000 residents here (the Häufigkeitszahl), 18% 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.


Taxes

Local taxes

Trade tax
367%
Gewerbesteuer multiplier

Unless you start a business, local tax is a footnote here. The trade-tax multiplier (Gewerbesteuer) is 367%, 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.


Migration

Moving in and out

Moved in
24,071
in 2024
Moved out
22,057
in 2024
Net change
+2,014
net, 2024

growing

Naturalisations
1,960
2024

The headcount in Offenbach is rising. In 2024, 24,071 moved in and 22,057 moved out, a net of +2,014. Arrivals outnumber departures, so the rental market stays tight. It granted 1,960 citizenships in 2024, a naturalisation rate of 2.6%. Some 14,850 people here hold or are seeking protection status, about 41.5 per 1,000 residents, the combined asylum, refugee and humanitarian total, with Ukrainians counted here since 2022. Voter turnout last time around was 83.1%.

Just arrived in Offenbach? Sort these first

Offenbach sees a lot of churn, so internet hook-ups and bank appointments book out quickly. Sort the essentials before you land.

W
Written by Willem
Built from official German statistics · 2026-06-08

FAQ

FAQ: relocating to Offenbach

Is Offenbach expensive to live in?

The average net cold rent is €8.58 per m² (18% above the €7.28 German average), from existing 2022 tenancies, so a new lease runs higher. Disposable income per resident is €29,536 (120th highest of 400 German districts, 8th in Hesse). That sits roughly 4% above the national average of €28,453. It is not adjusted for local prices, so treat it as a headline only.

Is it easy to find a job in Offenbach?

Offenbach has 137,687 jobs (385 per 1,000 residents, including commuters) and 5.4% unemployment, roughly one in 19 of the local workforce, against 6.3% across Germany.

How well does Offenbach suit families?

What the data shows: 14.8% of residents are under 15, local schools serve 40,493 pupils, daycare reaches about 54.4% of two-to-three-year-olds.

Is Offenbach urban or countryside?

With about 1,005 residents per km², Offenbach is firmly on the urban side.

Is Offenbach gaining or losing people?

Offenbach is gaining residents: over a year 24,071 people moved in and 22,057 moved out, a net of +2,014, about 0.6% of the population in a year.

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 ›

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