Moving to Frankfurt: city profile, where to live in Frankfurt, International Schools and expatriate life in Frankfurt.
Frankfurt for Expatriates
Frankfurt landed in the top 10 best cities for expatriates in the recent Mercer’s Quality of Life Ranking. Its high ranking Frankfurt wins thanks to great infrastructure, numerous international schools, availability of amenities such as hospitals, culture, high standard of housing and a mild climate, not to mention the stable political and economic situation of Germany in general. Criminality rate is very low, which only adds another plus points.
Expatriates moving to Frankfurt can choose to send their children to various international schools. View the full list of international and bilingual schools in the Frankfurt region on our pages.
Living in Frankfurt offers expatriates many hobby activities, both for families, singles and couples. Many activities, courses, and classes are offered in foreign languages and in English.
Frankfurt Expatriate Community
Frankfurt being a true melting pot of Germany has a wide international community. Almost every expatriate moving to Frankfurt can find a community of similar minded people: International Women’s Club, Newcomers Meetings and family clubs are widespread and offer a good choice of activities.
City and Regional Profile
Frankfurt is the center of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region which derives its name from the two rivers Rhine and Main connecting just west from Frankfurt.
In the triangle of Frankfurt, Wiesbaden and Mainz live over 5.5 million people and 365,000 companies and a workforce of 2.88 million people produce an annual GDP of over 200 billion Euro.
Frankfurt Districts – Where to live
The city of Frankfurt, although size-wise it’s rather small (about 600k citizens), it gives a big city feel when you wander around the banking district and its downtown. It is a headquarter to many international corporations and also to the European Bank. The international community is well developed here.
Frankfurt with its surroundings offers a wide range of rental property. One can choose between luxurious single apartments near the banking district, large family apartments, sometimes with its own private garden, or a mansion in or out of town. Every Frankfurt district has its own flair and feel. Young bankers choose Westend, while young families move to Nordend or Sachsenhausen.
The core of Frankfurt itself belongs to rather costly places to live when it comes to rental prices.
Surroundings of Frankfurt are often chosen by families, especially with children in school age. International schools have its base on the outskirts of the city and hence the Taunus area with Bad Soden, Königstein and Kronberg, are chosen by expats with families.
As an alternative to Frankfurt, Wiesbaden offers a quieter atmosphere. There is an international school there and bi-lingual kindergartens. It is a spa town with a park located in the middle of the city. It offers a good choice of shopping and leisure activities. The feeling of the town is rather residential.
The driving times to Frankfurt, however, are around 40 minutes without the traffic.
Westend
It‘s the poshest & expensive area of the city, offering very good quality of residential properties with many beginning-of-the-century houses. This part of the city is very popular amongst bankers, thanks to its proximity to Frankfurt‘s city. Frankfurt’s Botanical Garden (Palmengarten) invites to linger after long working hours.
Nordend
Another up-market district, beloved by Frankfurters, both young professionals as well as young families. It is home to many restaurants and bars, as well as fancy boutiques located at the Oeder Weg or Berger Strasse. Nordend belongs to one of the greenest districts in Frankfurt with several parks and Chinese Garden. It’s part of Holzhausenviertel, is one of the most desired and expensive places to live in the city.
Sachsenhausen
Lively & vibrant district preferred by young people offers a mix of newly built high-quality apartments & ancient buildings. Schweizer Platz with Schweizer Street is the core of the area with international restaurants and bars.
Museumsufer, the river bank, is home to world-class museums and galleries holding important temporary exhibitions and permanent German heritage art.
Its recent addition Deutschherrnufer is a newly built area of modern houses facing the Main river with various restaurants and cafes.
Bockenheim
An old students‘ district offers more value for money housing with good infrastructure and proximity to the city center. It is very international with sophisticated cafes and shops.
The area called Diplomatenviertel is home to big villas which used to be home to diplomatic corps in the city.
