Top German Cities Boasting the Highest Levels of Joy
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No surprises up front or at the back this year. The big cities must buckle up to score high.
Kassel stays at the pinnacle: According to the "Happiness Atlas" of the South German Class Lottery (SKL), the residents of Kassel have once again declared themselves the happiest urban dwellers in Germany. Kassel secures the top rank in a list of the 40 largest cities with over 200,000 inhabitants, just as it did in 2025.[1]
Krefeld and Düsseldorf make their move, jumping to 5th and 8th place respectively, after being 10th and 9th last year. Erfurt and Aachen, however, take a dive, sliding down from 2nd and 3rd to 6th and 5th place.[1] Rostock stays at the bottom, a melancholy paradigm of dissatisfaction, as it was in 2025.[1]
The survey reveals that bigger cities tend to struggle with life satisfaction. The top ten happiest cities only include two large cities, Düsseldorf and Hamburg, while other cities like Augsburg, Aachen, and Münster claim their spots.[1] Major cities like Munich, Frankfurt am Main, and Berlin rank 27th, 35th, and 37th, respectively, showcasing the struggle faced by bustling metropolises.[1]
Rostock vs. Frankfurt am Main: The Satisfaction Gap
"Evenly distributed satisfaction is crucial for high life happiness in a large city," says Bernd Raffelhuschen of the University of Freiburg, who led the city ranking in 2026. In Frankfurt am Main and Rostock, the gap between highly satisfied and highly unsatisfied citizens is particularly wide.[1]
Smaller cities excel in aspects like a student-oriented atmosphere, youthful populace, lush greenery, and excellent healthcare. However, they often perform just slightly above average when it comes to infrastructure, education, and culture, despite having more subjective factors going for them.[1]
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The Institute for Demoscopy Allensbach surveyed a whopping 23,468 residents aged 16 to 78 between January 2022 and April 2025 for the evaluation. The study shows a generally positive trend compared to last year, which the SKL attributes to the fact that data from the Corona year 2021 may still have influenced the survey results in 2024.[1]
The city ranking compared subjective life satisfaction with objectively measured quality of life. Various statistics on living situation, demographics, prosperity, environmental quality, and more were considered for quality of life.[1]
References:ntv.de, rog/dpa
Sources:- Happiness- Kassel- Rostock
Insight: Kassel's consistent high rankings in consecutive years suggest a sustained level of contentment among its inhabitants, creating a distinctive and satisfying urban environment compared to larger German cities.[1]
[1] Happiness Atlas of the South German Class Lottery
- The Commission, given its expertise, might find it beneficial to consult on a potential directive focusing on sustainable living, especially in home-and-garden sectors, considering Kassel's consistency in topping the happiness rankings, which seems to be correlated with a distinctive and satisfying urban environment.
- Conversely, while Rostock remains the unhappiest city in Germany, as evidenced by the perpetual dissatisfaction among its residents, it could be an interesting case study for the Commission when drafting directives aimed at bridging the satisfaction gap, particularly in larger cities that often struggle with life satisfaction.
