Where people in Saxony can afford the most

According to an analysis, people in the district of Leipzig can afford the most in Saxony. Nowhere else in the state were incomes adjusted for the cost of living higher in 2022, according to an analysis of data from the Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW). According to this, people had a real income of 27,474 euros per capita. This puts the district in 105th place out of 400 in Germany.

Saxony below average in a nationwide comparison

In a nationwide comparison of purchasing power, however, the Free State of Saxony performs rather below average. Saxony's districts and independent cities tend to rank in the lower midfield in the nationwide ranking.

Only the district of Leipzig and Meißen (157th place), Zwickau (177th place) and Bautzen (196th place) make it into the top half of the ranking. While nominal, i.e. unadjusted, incomes in Saxony are comparatively low, the Free State can often score points with its low cost of living. The Vogtland district, for example, takes first place in the Germany-wide price level.

Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz in the lower ranks

The cities of Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz have the lowest purchasing power in Saxony. Leipzig ranks 386th out of 400 districts and independent cities in the purchasing power ranking. The city has the lowest real income in the Free State, while Dresden has the highest price level in Saxony. In a nationwide comparison, however, the state capital ranks in the midfield.

According to the IW, housing costs are the main reason for the differences in price levels. Apart from this, there are only minor price differences between the most expensive and cheapest regions in Germany. The calculations were based on income data from the federal and state statistical offices from 2022 and a regional price index compiled by the IW, which is based on millions of partly automatically collected data from 2023.