Stuttgart earns almost as well as Munich from automotive and engineering and pays 40 percent less for housing. The purchasing power of 120 is the second highest, the savings rate the highest. The basin is tight, the hinterland prospers.
Buy or rent?
25.6 years of rentpurchase price divided by annual cold rentBetween 25 and 30 it is balanced: buying pays off with a long horizon and equity.
milinia’s take
- Purchase prices €4,600 per square metre, the hillside and Killesberg over €7,000, Bad Cannstatt and Zuffenhausen around €4,000.
- Transfer tax 5 percent, trade tax multiplier 420 percent, property tax under the land value model 520 percent.
- Salaries in automotive, engineering and suppliers under the IG Metall agreement above a €5,500 median.
- Hinterland Esslingen, Ludwigsburg, Böblingen: same salaries, 20 percent lower prices.
Living
Existing flats cost €4,600 per square metre, on the hillside, the Killesberg and in Degerloch over €7,000, in Bad Cannstatt, Zuffenhausen and Feuerbach around €4,000. New lettings at €15 excluding utilities. The basin location limits construction; the hinterland with Esslingen, Ludwigsburg, Böblingen, Sindelfingen and Waiblingen offers proximity to the corporations at 20 percent lower prices. The correction since 2022 came to around 12 percent.
Earning
Median €5,100 gross, in automotive, engineering and the supplier industry with collective agreements well above €5,500. Purchasing power index 120. The region has the highest savings rate in Germany and the highest home ownership rate among the big-city regions; building your own house is culture. The transformation of the car industry is the risk: job cuts at manufacturers and suppliers have hit the region noticeably since 2024.
Taxes and levies
Baden-Württemberg charges 5 percent transfer tax and has its own land value model for property tax that taxes only the land value: large plots with small houses pay more, flats in apartment blocks less. Multiplier 520 percent. Trade tax multiplier 420 percent. Church tax 8 percent.
Investing
The gross yield sits at 3.9 percent, in Bad Cannstatt and the hinterland at 4.5. Stuttgart is a solid market with corporate dependence; whoever sees the car industry’s transformation as an opportunity buys now, whoever sees it as a risk diversifies. The Rosenstein quarter on the old rail land after Stuttgart 21 will become the largest new development from 2030 and drive prices near the station.
milinia’s view
Stuttgart has the best ratio of salary to housing costs among the top five. Whoever buys in Zuffenhausen on a collectively agreed salary has the Munich sums without the Munich prices.
Try it yourself
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