Hamburg remains top economic location for companies

20 April 2023

Analysis of over 3,500 German places by “Die Deutsche Wirtschaft”

Hamburg has topped a ranking of 3,807 German cities and towns by "Die Deutsche Wirtschaft" (DDW) followed by Munich and Berlin. The Hanseatic city scored 2.07 points thanks to over 1,000 top companies including 33 global market leaders that are base in the city. (April 2023). Hapag-Lloyd, the copper producer and recycler Aurubis, and Otto with its multichannel retail, financial and customer services are the top three global market leaders in Hamburg.

Importance for family businesses, SMEs and investors

Hamburg also topped the list of the 10,000 most important SMEs with 348 companies ahead of Berlin (281) and Munich (216). Around 191 of the top 5,000 family businesses in terms of turnover are based in Hamburg ahead of Munich (103) and Berlin (95). The Hanseatic city is also home to the most foreign-owned companies (484), including Airbus Operations GmbH, which is owned by the French Airbus Group. In terms of investment companies, Hamburg ranked third with 203, including 20 Scoops Venture Capital GmbH, which specialises in private equity. Around 158 Hamburg-based companies, such as the logistics service provider APL Logistics Deutschland, are listed in trend and future markets. DDW's list of top companies employ 766,893 people in Hamburg, including the Asklepios Group with 67,000 employees.

Ranking of 22,500 companies nationwide

DDW's ranking is updated every quarter based on the number of top companies in a given location. This is based on corporate qualifications and DDW rankings in various categories. Around 22,500 companies and 1,705 investment companies all over Germany are rated as significant. The overall ranking consists of individual ratings (top 10,000, German global market leaders), which determines a score. Decision-makers rank various locations from one to six for a separate ranking.
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