Karlsruhe at the end of the lucky scale: the citizens are so dissatisfied!

Karlsruhe at the end of the lucky scale: the citizens are so dissatisfied!

The results of the current “SLK Glücksatlas 2025” are published and bring exciting knowledge of life satisfaction in major German cities. According to the analysis, who surveyed 23,468 people between January 2022 and April 2025, Kassel, Krefeld and Düsseldorf are at the top of the list of the happiest cities. Kassel shines here with 7.44 points and thus fulfills several criteria for quality of life, such as safe and green living conditions, a young population and good medical care. The many green areas that contribute to high life satisfaction should also be emphasized. Nice to know: 56 % of the Kasselers are very satisfied, while only 3 % are seriously dissatisfied. In addition, Kassel has also made a jump in the objective quality of life and is now ranked 15, despite the ongoing economic challenges. This picture describes the situation in Kassel, such as goodnews4.de reports.

But the ranking also offers disillusionment for some cities. Karlsruhe, once a hopeful in terms of quality of life, ends up with only 6.61 points. Despite the first place in the quality of life ranking, the city is only classified in 38th place in terms of life satisfaction. The situation is similar in Wiesbaden (6.45 points) and Rostock, which is the bottom with 6.08 points. The latter has further a distance of 1.36 points from Kassel. Here are the big differences between subjective and objectively measurable quality of life that becomes clear throughout the ranking. Interestingly, almost all 40 cities in the ranking recorded growth in life satisfaction, which is a general trend for improvement.

Kassel's top position

Kassel not only scores with his living conditions, but also with sights such as the large mountain park Wilhelmshöhe and the Hercules Monument. These attractions contribute to the attractiveness of the city and support the mentioned young, student -shaped population. The big cities with over 400,000 inhabitants often cut off worse in the satisfaction rankings, which underlines the general trends that smaller cities tend to do better.

In the top ten of the ranking, Krefeld (7.39 points) and Düsseldorf (7.36 points) are also located. The two cities show encouraging results, because Krefeld was able to work up in second place from fifth place. Düsseldorf remains stable and offers a high standard of living thanks to its high life satisfaction. These cities are characterized by good public infrastructure, which is of great importance, especially in today's world.

life satisfaction and objective quality of life

The examination of the lucky atlas clearly shows that there are differences between the subjective perception of life satisfaction and the objectively measurable factors. Cities like Karlsruhe can shine in the objective quality of life while falling in the lucky ranking. This emphasizes that high life satisfaction not only depends on prosperity, but also on the distribution of satisfaction among the population. In wealthy cities, life satisfaction is often not significantly higher than in poorer regions. Cities like Lübeck, Bonn and Essen, on the other hand, have the greatest increase in life satisfaction, which points out that a lot is going on here too.

Life satisfaction in major German cities has recorded a general increase of 0.13 points compared to the previous year. In this sense, it remains to be seen how the trends will continue to develop and whether cities like Karlsruhe can improve their place in life satisfaction in the future. The exciting debate about quality of life and satisfaction is opened and will certainly remain an important topic in the Federal Republic. Further information on the urban ranking and the methodics can also be found on skl-gluecksatlas.de and and Reisereporter.de.