Kassel leads Glücksranking 2025: Why the city shines!

Kassel leads Glücksranking 2025: Why the city shines!

What a pleasant message for the city of Kassel! According to the current survey of the southern German class lottery, it is the city with the happiest people in Germany. In the "Glücksatlas" special study, which was held between January 2022 and April 2025, Kassel takes the top position among the 40 largest German cities on a scale from 0 to 10 on a scale from 0 to 10. In the previous year, the North Hessian metropolis was already number one and she is happy to retain this title. The FAZ reports on the consistently high satisfaction and emphasizes that Kassel not only scores in the residents, but also in many aspects that lives lives make.

Krefeld followed in the other places of the ranking with 7.39 and Düsseldorf with 7.36. Krefeld and Düsseldorf have improved significantly compared to the previous year and occupy the ranks two and three. At the other end of the scale, Rostock, which with 6.08 points, is the bottom, as already in 2024. While the survey looks at life satisfaction in the larger cities, the values ​​show that smaller cities tend to make happier.

Kassel as overperformer

The Glücksatlas places a special focus on the comparison between subjective life satisfaction and objectively measurable quality of life factors. Here Kassel cuts off as a "overperformer" - a city that does not have the highest objective quality of life, but still makes its residents happy. In 15th place in the objective quality of life, determined by factors such as infrastructure, education and environmental conditions, Kassel shows that it is often the community that makes the difference. Der Spiegel Life satisfaction is distributed more evenly.

In a broader perspective, the survey shows that life satisfaction usually decreases with the size of the city. Only Düsseldorf and Hamburg make it among the top ten of the largest German cities, while Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin are clearly hanging; You can find yourself in places 27, 35 and 37. This phenomenon is also evident on average life satisfaction in cities with fewer than 400,000 inhabitants, which is 7.01 points. In addition, the study says that people's life satisfaction has increased in almost all cities analyzed compared to the previous year.

social cohesion as the key to happiness

Bernd Raffelhüschen, economist from the University of Freiburg, emphasizes how important social cohesion is for the happiness of the soul. The fact that neighborhood relationships are intact in Kassel makes a significant contribution to high satisfaction. While there are big differences between satisfied and dissatisfied residents in large cities such as Frankfurt and Rostock, Kassel shows a much more harmonious picture.

The survey results also seem surprising at first glance, because cities with high unemployment rates and low incomes, such as Mönchengladbach and Duisburg, have also made it into the first ten places. These “outperformers” are characterized by a strong community and a high level of quality of life that often goes beyond financial indicators. The time explains that the focus is on the subjectively perceived quality of life, which often exceeds the objective wealth indicators.

The results clearly show that the attitude to life of the people in Kassel is still strong and is shaped by social factors, the environment and the sense of community. A gratifying balance for all Kasselers who have found a piece of quality of life in their city!