There are clear differences in per capita income between the districts and urban districts in Germany.

The employees of the Economic and Social Science Institute of the trade union-affiliated Hans Böckler Foundation have calculated how large these are in detail.

The city of Heilbronn, with 42,275 euros, and the district of Starnberg, with 38,509 euros, were the front runners in their new study of the average per capita income in the 401 German administrative districts and urban districts, which was published this Wednesday.

The lowest per capita income in 2019 was in the Ruhr area cities of Gelsenkirchen and Duisburg, at EUR 17,015 and EUR 17,741 respectively.

For their study, the researchers Eric Seils and Toralf Pusch used the current data from the national accounts of the federal states for 2019 and new data on regional price levels.

Accordingly, even 30 years after German reunification, the income gap from west to east has not disappeared.

In the new federal states, there was only one district in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district (EUR 24,127) in which the disposable per capita income exceeded the average for the Federal Republic (EUR 23,706).

According to the information, there is still a south-north divide in the old federal states.

On average, the per capita income in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg is about 2,600 euros higher than in the rest of western Germany.

Especially in some smaller towns or rural areas with very high incomes, the average is influenced by a manageable number of very wealthy households.

"What appears here as regional inequality is actually also related to the very high incomes of individuals," said Seils.

Nevertheless, the state system of taxes and transfers - such as child benefit, unemployment benefit or pensions - ensures a reduction in the income differences between the municipalities, it said.

"Above all, state redistribution corrects the distribution of real disposable income between the regions to a considerable extent," explained Seils.

Considerable inequality remains, however, particularly in the distribution of personal income.

In addition, regionally different price levels contribute to a certain harmonization of per capita income.

In high-income regions, the cost of living is usually higher.

"People will then have more money in their wallets, but they cannot afford more to the same extent," explained scientist Pusch.