In which German metropolis (bar Berlin) would you rather want to live?

[Senator Incitatus]

Munich is practically the only German city I'd want to live in. (The rurals are a different story.)

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

I have to admit that David is correct. The South of Germany is much wealthier than the North. Hamburg is just an oasis surrounded by its indebted neighbors; it even has the highest millionaire density within the whole of Germany.
Cologne is rather a poor city. Düsseldorf, 28 miles north of Cologne, is by contrast one of the wealthiest cities within the European Union.
Bremen, which is also a German state (consisting of Bremen and Bremerhaven only) is so poor and so heavily indebted that I couldn't even survive without the Länderfinanzausgleich, which only three states (some years ago Hamburg used to do also) pay into:

Cologne is the fifth wealthiest city in Germany; Düsseldorf ranks only eighth. There are indeed several wealthy South German cities, the most prominent being Munich, Stuttgart, and Nuremberg, but the list of wealthiest German cities is otherwise dominated by northern cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Hanover. Even when adjusting per capita, most of the larger wealthier cities are in the north, with Stuttgart and Munich again being really the only exceptions.

You have no clue.

Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen are the most indebted cities in Germany. Bremen especially can be seen as Germany's Detroit in that matter. Do you realize that states like Bayern or BW or Hessen and most of their communities there have only a fraction of the debt of these cities ? And this with a significantly higher lifestyle and life expectancy, lower crime and the same level of economic power and much lower unemployment and welfare rates ?

I've cited the relevant statistics whereas you have not, so I don't really think you get to be calling anyone out for having "no clue". Anyway, public debt really is not as big as a factor as you think. Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Connecticut all have the largest debts compared to the other U.S. states, despite having some of the highest incomes per capita. The states with the lowest debts are ones like North Dakota and Wyoming, which have nowhere near the income levels as the more debt-ridden states.

If you want to compare Human Development Index, Hamburg still comes out on top, and Bremen is tied for second place. Hamburg is also first for household income.

Cologne is the fifth wealthiest city in Germany; Düsseldorf ranks only eighth. There are indeed several wealthy South German cities, the most prominent being Munich, Stuttgart, and Nuremberg, but the list of wealthiest German cities is otherwise dominated by northern cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Hanover. Even when adjusting per capita, most of the larger wealthier cities are in the north, with Stuttgart and Munich again being really the only exceptions.

You mistake GDP for wealth. A high GDP doesn't necessarily need to translate into public and private wealth, as you can observe by reference to real-life facts.
If you ask a genuine German, they will always tell you that the North is poorer than the South. If you tell them that you perceive Düsseldorf as a poorer city than Cologne, you will be laughed out of court.

The overall wealth of a political entity is usually defined by GDP. When people talk about the "wealthiest countries", for instance, they're usually talking about the ones with the largest nominal GDP (i.e., the United States, China, Japan, Germany, Great Britain, etc.) But in my post I also said that even when you look into the GDP per capita, the larger cities tend to be in the North (Wolfsburg, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf). How else would you suggest measuring wealth, if not by nominal GDP or GDP per capita?

Here is a map of the average disposable income per capita; the statistic comes from a study of a pro-union foundation (Hans-Böckler-Stiftung) recently conducted, which made headlines in the German news. It shows that Gelsenkirchen (NRW) bring up the caboose with 16,203 €/capita, whereas the private households' income per capita is in Starnberg County (Bavaria) more than twice as high (34,987 €).

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

I have to admit that David is correct. The South of Germany is much wealthier than the North. Hamburg is just an oasis surrounded by its indebted neighbors; it even has the highest millionaire density within the whole of Germany.
Cologne is rather a poor city. Düsseldorf, 28 miles north of Cologne, is by contrast one of the wealthiest cities within the European Union.
Bremen, which is also a German state (consisting of Bremen and Bremerhaven only) is so poor and so heavily indebted that I couldn't even survive without the Länderfinanzausgleich, which only three states (some years ago Hamburg used to do also) pay into:

Cologne is the fifth wealthiest city in Germany; Düsseldorf ranks only eighth. There are indeed several wealthy South German cities, the most prominent being Munich, Stuttgart, and Nuremberg, but the list of wealthiest German cities is otherwise dominated by northern cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Hanover. Even when adjusting per capita, most of the larger wealthier cities are in the north, with Stuttgart and Munich again being really the only exceptions.

You have no clue.

Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen are the most indebted cities in Germany. Bremen especially can be seen as Germany's Detroit in that matter. Do you realize that states like Bayern or BW or Hessen and most of their communities there have only a fraction of the debt of these cities ? And this with a significantly higher lifestyle and life expectancy, lower crime and the same level of economic power and much lower unemployment and welfare rates ?

Tender's right. Here is another statistic that recently made the headlines:



The number of suspects remanded in custody has risen by 25% from 2014 to 2018.
The biggest and most discernible increase obtained Bremen and Hamburg. No. 3 goes to a city-state also.

[Former President tack50]

Munich very easily

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Munich very easily

But it's extremely expensive.