Overview
- The SKL‑Glücksatlas 2026, released in early June, ranks Erfurt first among 40 German cities with a life‑satisfaction score of 7.74 and confirms Rostock as the lowest at 5.80.
- The ranking is based on about 23,286 face‑to‑face interviews by Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach conducted between January 2023 and April 2026 and an objective index built from roughly 30 indicators in eight categories.
- Seven cities from North Rhine‑Westphalia appear in the top ten, showing a regional pattern where smaller and mid‑sized western cities often report higher subjective satisfaction than larger or wealthier southern cities.
- The report labels many high‑ranking places as 'overperformers' because residents report strong wellbeing despite weaker objective measures, while several wealthy southern cities are 'underperformers' with lower than expected satisfaction.
- National averages edged up slightly to 7.02 and the share of very dissatisfied people fell to 8.6 percent, findings that point to policy relevance for housing costs, local services and efforts to strengthen community ties.