Purchasing power in regional prices: Wunsiedel beats Munich
The highest purchasing power in Bavaria is not in the cities. If per capita income is adjusted for the regional cost of living, the top five places in Bavaria go to rural districts, as calculations by the German Economic Institute (IW) show. And the cheapest district, Wunsiedel, is suddenly ahead of the most expensive city, Munich - even though the average nominal, i.e. not price-adjusted, annual income in Munich is almost 8,500 euros higher.
The highest price-adjusted disposable income - or real income - in Bavaria can be found in Starnberg. At around 32,800 euros, it is just under 12,000 euros higher than Augsburg, which brings up the rear. The district and the city are also the extremes in terms of nominal income, but the price adjustment narrows the gap by a good 3,500 euros.
The next highest real incomes in Bavaria can be found in the districts of Miesbach, Munich, Erlangen-Höchstadt and Wunsiedel. The first independent city is Schwabach in 6th place, followed by Munich City in 8th place.
Wunsiedel's ranking is particularly striking. This is because the district owes its position not to high incomes - here it is only in the Bavarian midfield - but to its position as the cheapest in Bavaria: it is 9.2 percent cheaper than the national average. This is enough to overtake the city of Munich in terms of purchasing power. Although Munich has the second-highest nominal income per capita in Bavaria, it has by far the highest cost of living - 25.1 percent above the German average - which eats up a large part of this.
Cities are at the bottom of the ranking. Behind Augsburg, where low incomes meet rather high costs, come Passau, Bayreuth, Rosenheim, Regensburg, Nuremberg, Kempten, Bamberg and Ingolstadt. In some cases, nominal incomes are rather low and are not offset by low costs (as in Passau or Bayreuth), while in other cases the city's cost of living is well above average, as in Rosenheim, Regensburg and especially Ingolstadt.
The areas surrounding the cities often fare better. For example, the district of Nürnberger Land is 83 places ahead of the city of Nuremberg and the district of Augsburg is in the solid midfield.
Overall, the cost of living generally levels out the differences to a certain extent. And there is another piece of good news for Bavaria: Only 17 Bavarian cities and districts are below the German average in terms of real income, 79 above.
The calculations are based on a regional price index developed by the IW and the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) as of 2022 and income data from the Federal Statistical Office as of 2021.
Even with a lower nominal income, consumers in Wunsiedel benefit from lower prices, allowing them to maintain a higher purchasing power compared to consumers in Munich. Despite having a higher nominal income, the high prices in Munich significantly reduce its consumers' purchasing power.
Source: www.dpa.com
