Although Germany's largest metropolises generate the highest absolute retail turnover, medium-sized centres record the strongest purchasing power inflows. This is demonstrated by the latest study on retail centrality by market research institute NIQ for the year 2026. German citizens have an average of 6,358 EUR per capita available for retail spending this year, although the disparity remains considerable. It ranges from 8,043 EUR per inhabitant in the district of Starnberg to 5,148 EUR in the urban district of Bremerhaven, which is thus 19 per cent below the national average.
Retail centrality compares available purchasing power with actual local turnover. Values above 100 indicate inflows of purchasing power from the surrounding area, whilst values below mark outflows. Nationwide, 185 urban and rural districts record an inflow of purchasing power, whereas 216 districts lose purchasing power to neighbouring regions. Independent cities in particular concentrate the retail offering and serve their surrounding areas.
Zweibrücken, Ansbach and Passau at the top of the centrality ranking
Zweibrücken defends its first place in the ranking once again with its Outlet City. The Palatinate town increases its centrality by 19.5 points to a score of 245.6. The Bavarian towns of Ansbach with 191.8 points and Passau with 190.6 points follow in second and third place. Hanau ranks among the top ten for the first time with a score of 155.9, after the city was detached from the Main-Kinzig district in 2026 and recorded as an independent urban district for the first time. Straubing ranks fifth with 179.9 points, while the directly adjacent district of Straubing-Bogen takes third from last place with 65.0 points. Bringing up the rear of all 401 districts is the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis with a centrality of 61.3.
Major cities, by contrast, show more moderate centrality values. Mannheim leads cities with more than 300,000 inhabitants with a score of 121.9 in 48th place. Cologne follows with 114.5 in 75th place, whilst Berlin only achieves 178th place with 101.0. In this context, Filip Vojtech, retail expert in geomarketing at NIQ, stresses that medium-sized towns take on a vital supply role for their surrounding areas and bundle considerable purchasing power. For market participants, it is therefore crucial to assess actual catchment areas above all, in addition to pure market size.
Bricks-and-mortar retail turnover and regional purchasing power distribution
Nationwide, around 432.9 billion EUR will flow into bricks-and-mortar retail in 2026. In terms of absolute turnover figures, the most populous metropolises lead the field. Berlin leads the market with 19.6 billion EUR and a 4.53 per cent share of total national turnover. Hamburg with 2.57 per cent and Munich with 2.38 per cent follow behind. The ten urban and rural districts with the highest turnover account for a combined 16.78 per cent of total bricks-and-mortar turnover.
- —District of Starnberg: Front-runner in purchasing power with 8,043 EUR per inhabitant
- —Urban district of Munich: 7,998 EUR retail purchasing power per capita
- —District of Munich: 7,941 EUR purchasing power per inhabitant
- —Urban district of Bremerhaven: Nationwide bottom place with 5,148 EUR per capita
In terms of calculated retail turnover per inhabitant, central medium-sized towns lead the table once again. Zweibrücken achieves 11,098 EUR per inhabitant, followed by Passau with 10,016 EUR and Straubing with 9,470 EUR. The district of Kaiserslautern records the lowest per capita turnover at 2,968 EUR. In terms of pure purchasing power, Upper Bavaria remains Germany's leading region: six of the ten districts with the highest purchasing power are located in this administrative region.
