WiWo City Ranking 2023: Munich in front

23. November 2023

The City of Munich achieved first place in the ranking for the 20th consecutive time and remains the clear national leader despite the success of other cities.

Current success factors

Access to family-owned companies and major corporations, the Universities of Excellence LMU and TUM, and the strong startup scene are all reasons why Munich is a magnet for people from all over the world and has achieved such a strong result in this year’s IW Consult ranking, carried out on behalf of WirtschaftsWoche.

Munich scores highly for its diverse and well-balanced mix of sectors as well as its vibrant startup and entrepreneurial scene. According to the WirtschaftsWoche ranking, entrepreneurs with groundbreaking technological ideas can find no better environment to flourish in Germany than in the cooperation between the two Universities of Excellence – Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) – and established companies.

In addition to outstanding university-based research, Munich is renowned for a wide range of scientific and academic institutions as well as intensive research in the private sector. The high number of employees in R&D is also reflected positively in the ranking. The same goes for Munich’s standard of living. The city has a low crime rate, and its tourism industry is again enjoying a boom

Stadtansicht München © Sigi Müller, München Tourismus

Photo: Sigi Müller, München Tourismus

Benefits of Munich’s innovation ecosystem

LMU and TUM both have affiliated startup centers, namely UnternehmerTUM and LMU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center. The not-for-profit organization UnternehmerTUM is considered Europe’s leading center for entrepreneurship and innovation. More than 70 fast-growing technology startups are launched here every year.

Clemens Baumgärtner, Head of the City of Munich’s Department of Labor and Economic Development:

“Munich companies also benefit from the outstanding education that young people from all over the world enjoy at the two universities, as the rich pool of highly qualified skilled workers is a key regional advantage. Thanks to close cooperation with established companies, startups, other Munich universities and research institutions, as well as with the City of Munich itself, the two universities play a key role in making Munich fit for the future.”

The ranking

WirtschaftsWoche, IW Consult, and ImmoScout24 jointly examine life and work in 71 Germany cities with a population of at least 100,000.

They use three indices to compare the cities: the status quo (level ranking), development over the last five years (dynamism ranking), and ecological fitness for the future (sustainability ranking). A total of 109 indicators are evaluated.