Munich is considered a wealthy city. The 2017 purchasing power study by the market research institute GfK confirms this with figures: Residents in the greater Munich area have Germany's highest purchasing power.
Only those who have more money at their disposal than they need to live can spend it on innovative products. Therefore, private purchasing power is also relevant for startups. This is calculated from net income and government transfer income received. Rent and living expenses are not yet deducted.
Among all German districts, the city of Munich ranks fourth. Each Munich resident has an average of 30,136 net residents per year. However, the top 10 also includes the districts of Starnberg (1st), Munich (3rd), Ebersberg (6th), Fürstenfeldbruck (7th), and Dachau (9th). Overall, districts in the Munich metropolitan region occupy six of the top ten places in the nationwide ranking.
Overall, more purchasing power in Munich than in the larger city of Hamburg
In total, all Munich residents can spend €43.708 billion annually. This puts the Munich urban district slightly ahead of Hamburg, even though the Hanseatic city has almost 340,000 more residents. Only Berlin, with its approximately 2 million more residents than Munich, has a higher purchasing power as a single district.
Purchasing power, of course, says nothing about the distribution of income. The values given are arithmetic means. Individual very high incomes significantly distort the value upwards. At the same time, Munich is home to many students and low-income earners whose disposable income will be well below the average. Furthermore, Munich's high rents must be paid from this income.
Further information about the study is available online.
