Relocating to Waldeck-Frankenberg 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.
Waldeck-Frankenberg is quiet and spread out, where housing is cheaper but jobs are thinner. Affordability is the story: among the most affordable in Hesse.
How Waldeck-Frankenberg compares
How Waldeck-Frankenberg 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 Waldeck-Frankenberg stacks up across Hesse: Cheapest to rent · Safest · Best for families.
Cost of living and housing
30% below DE avg
5% below DE avg
Building plots go for around €55 per m², the 314th 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. Rent is gentle here by German standards. The average net cold rent (Nettokaltmiete) is €5.08 per m², about 30% 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 €27,052 (244th highest of 400 German districts, 16th in Hesse). That puts it about 5% below Germany’s €28,453 average. Bear in mind it is nominal: it says nothing about what rent and daily life cost here. At €5.08/m², a 70 m² flat works out to about €356 a month in cold rent (existing-tenancy 2022 level; a new lease costs more). Against local incomes, that is the most affordable rent in Hesse. That is around 48% of what the same metre costs in Frankfurt (€10.58/m²).
The local housing market
What you are renting into, on the 2022 census: 41.1% of homes are rented rather than owner-occupied; the vacancy rate is 4.7% (a fairly balanced market); the average home measures 111 m². The stock is 80,876 homes in 48,195 buildings, about 1.7 per building, so this is more houses than apartment blocks. In the latest year 162 new dwellings were completed against 104 permits, a rough read on how fast the housing stock is growing.
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.
88% of households can get a fixed line of at least 100 Mbit/s, and 69% can reach gigabit (1,000 Mbit/s) speeds (Breitbandatlas, end of 2025). Of that, 38% 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 97% of households. It is not universal yet, so confirm the line at your exact address if you would work from home.
Who lives in Waldeck-Frankenberg
Age profile and household make-up from the 2022 census.
Age distribution
The population here skews older. 22.8% of residents are aged 25 to 45, the bracket most relocations fall into, with 13.5% under 15 and 24.6% at 65 or older. The rest of the 2022 census picture: 22.2% of residents have a migration history (9.5% are foreign nationals); 40.1% of households are single-person; 26.2% of adults hold an Abitur / university-entrance qualification. There are 16,704 pupils in local schools. Childcare availability climbs with age: about 0.9% of under-1s, 32.0% of 1 to 2 year olds and 68.0% 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
25% below DE avg
Waldeck-Frankenberg roughly balances jobs and residents: 64,243 jobs at local workplaces in 2025, 414 per 1,000 residents. Those jobs are spread across 6,726 registered businesses (2024), a rough measure of how varied the local employers are. Unemployment stands at 4.7% in 2025 (German average 6.3%), roughly one in 21 of the local workforce.
Full-time employees living here take home a median gross wage of €3,850 a month (3% 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 Waldeck-Frankenberg is in Germany
Recorded crime
The local rate of recorded offences, per 100,000 residents.
In 2025 the police logged 3,392 offences per 100,000 residents here (the Häufigkeitszahl), 33% below the German district median of about 5,096. This counts offences registered by the police, not convictions, and is inflated wherever offenders and victims are not residents: city centres, major stations, motorways and airports all push it up. It reflects recorded activity in the area, not how dangerous the place is for the people who live there. Source: Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik, BKA 2025.
Local taxes
Local tax barely registers for a typical newcomer. The trade-tax multiplier (Gewerbesteuer) is 377%, 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
Waldeck-Frankenberg is growing. In 2024, 10,778 moved in and 9,837 moved out, a net of +941. More arrive than leave, which keeps steady pressure on the rental market. In 2024 the district naturalised 405 residents, a naturalisation rate of 2.4%. Some 7,795 people here hold or are seeking protection status, about 50.2 per 1,000 residents, the combined asylum, refugee and humanitarian total, with Ukrainians counted here since 2022. Voter turnout last time around was 82.5%.
Just arrived in Waldeck-Frankenberg? Sort these first
Expect to drive in Waldeck-Frankenberg, a more rural district, at about 84 people per km², so car insurance and a bank account are worth sorting early.
FAQ: relocating to Waldeck-Frankenberg
What does it cost to live in Waldeck-Frankenberg?
The average net cold rent is €5.08 per m² (30% below the €7.28 German average), from existing 2022 tenancies, so a new lease runs higher. Disposable income per resident is €27,052 (244th highest of 400 German districts, 16th in Hesse). That puts it about 5% below Germany’s €28,453 average. Building land is around €55 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 Waldeck-Frankenberg?
Waldeck-Frankenberg has 64,243 jobs (414 per 1,000 residents, including commuters) and 4.7% unemployment, roughly one in 21 of the local workforce, against 6.3% across Germany.
Will broadband in Waldeck-Frankenberg support remote work?
88% of households can get a fixed line of at least 100 Mbit/s, 69% gigabit of which 38% true fibre (FTTB/H); 5G mobile reaches 97% (Breitbandatlas, end of 2025), but it is patchy in places, so verify the specific address.
Is a car necessary in Waldeck-Frankenberg?
Waldeck-Frankenberg has about 84 residents per km². As a more rural district that usually means a car is essential for commuting and errands.
Is the population of Waldeck-Frankenberg rising or falling?
Waldeck-Frankenberg is gaining residents: over a year 10,778 people moved in and 9,837 moved out, a net of +941, 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 ›