Kassel leads the happiness ranking: This is how happy its residents will be in 2025!

Kassel leads the happiness ranking: This is how happy its residents will be in 2025!

Kassel is the undisputed leader in the happiness ranking of the 40 largest German cities. With an impressive score of 7.44 on a scale of 0 to 10, the city shows that life satisfaction is very important here. This is reported by the Rhine Palatinate. The current survey was carried out by the renowned Allensbach Institute for Demoscopy between January 2022 and April 2025 and shows that general life satisfaction has increased in major German cities.

The criteria that catapulted Kassel to first place are diverse: from familiar, manageable and safe living conditions to a young population to good medical care and plenty of green spaces. All of these factors pack a healthy amount of joie de vivre into the city mix. The city is also an important transport and hub, known for the Documenta and Wilhelmshöhe Castle.

Happiness ranking details

The satisfaction ranking that has now been published shows that Kassel, with 7.44 points, is clearly ahead of other cities such as Krefeld (7.39) and Düsseldorf (7.36). Rostock brings up the rear with just 6.08 points, which means a gap of 1.36 points to Kassel. The average life satisfaction in the big cities rose by 0.13 points compared to the previous year, which was also reflected in the Press release the SKL is confirmed.

Kassel and Erfurt stand out for their even distribution of life satisfaction. In contrast, large cities such as Frankfurt and Rostock record striking differences between satisfied and dissatisfied citizens. It is particularly noticeable that in many larger cities there is a tendency towards less happiness in life. This is also reflected in the rankings: cities with fewer than 400,000 inhabitants score an average of 7.01 points, while cities with millions of inhabitants such as Munich and Berlin only score an average of 6.90 points.

The challenges of city dwellers

If you take a closer look, it becomes clear that quality of life does not always correspond to life satisfaction. Karlsruhe takes first place in terms of objective quality of life factors, but is only in 38th place in terms of residents' feelings of happiness. In contrast, Krefeld and Erfurt experience high levels of satisfaction, even though their objective living conditions are not the best.

Life satisfaction in Germany has changed in recent years. After a low point in 2021, when the value fell to 6.58 points, it now shows that citizens are back on the “happiness track” - a trend that is continuing in the current period daily news is mentioned.

Data suggests that younger people, people living alone and working mothers are particularly benefiting from this increase. The reasons for this positive development are diverse: collective bargaining agreements and a decline in inflation seem to contribute significantly to increasing satisfaction. Kassel's position in the top ranking is not only a sign of the city's quality, but also an indication that people feel comfortable in their city.