#1 in the Level Ranking
Once again this year, Munich tops the city ranking, which evaluates Germany’s largest cities in terms of their economic strength and quality of location. In 2026, the sub-rankings in the quality and dynamism rankings are supplemented by the newly created AI index.
Since 2013, Munich has been the undisputed leader in the “Level” ranking, which assesses the economic and social conditions of cities—followed this year by Frankfurt am Main and Stuttgart. Munich scores particularly high due to its broad mix of industries and strong focus on high-growth high-tech sectors such as the AI industry, biotech, defense and aerospace.
In the dynamism ranking, which examines development over the past five years, Munich ranked 4th this year. As in the past, cities starting from a weaker position could secure the top spots due so more significant changes. Frankfurt am Main (#1), Düsseldorf (#2), and Berlin (#3) this time came in with more dynamic developments in the job market, construction activity and per-capita growth here.
However, Munich confidently took first place in the newly developed AI ranking. This index reflects the extent to which entrepreneurial clusters in the field of artificial intelligence have already emerged in the city. This was measured based on AI startup density, the number of patent applications, the number of job advertisements related to AI and the number of companies considered AI pioneers.
