GlobeQuest

Where to live in Frankfurt

Expensive by German standards but well below Munich, and unusually easy to solve because the city is small and the regional rail network is excellent — Offenbach, Bad Homburg, Wiesbaden and Mainz are all realistic on a commute the Deutschlandticket already covers. Rents are quoted cold; your bill is warm. The deposit is capped by §551 BGB at three months' cold rent, payable in three instalments, and the binding document is a Schufa report you will not yet have. Unlike Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne, Frankfurt's Mietpreisbremse is under live legal challenge — do not count on it.

The neighbourhoods

Nordend & Bornheim

EUR 1,100–1,500 / month cold for a 1-bed

Leafy Altbau streets north of the centre — the classic choice for people who want to like where they live

FamiliesWalkableQuietFoodies

Commute: 10–15 minutes to the banking district on the U-Bahn

  • Beautiful Altbau stock with high ceilings
  • Genuinely walkable with good local shops and cafés
  • Berger Straße in Bornheim is the best neighbourhood high street in the city
  • Popular and competitive
  • Older buildings often without lifts
  • Rents have risen steadily

Sachsenhausen

EUR 1,050–1,450 / month cold for a 1-bed

South of the river — apple wine taverns, the museum embankment, and a mix of old lanes and solid residential streets

CultureWalkableFamiliesNightlife

Commute: 10 minutes to the centre on foot or by U-Bahn

  • Museumsufer and the riverbank on the doorstep
  • Traditional taverns and a real local identity
  • Quick walk into the centre across the bridges
  • Alt-Sachsenhausen's tavern quarter is loud at weekends
  • Competitive for the better streets
  • Prices climbing as it gentrifies further

Westend

EUR 1,250–1,700 / month cold for a 1-bed

The affluent core between the banking district and the Palmengarten — villas, consulates and the university

Walk to workQuietParksFamilies

Commute: Walk to the banking towers, or a few minutes on the U-Bahn

  • Walk to the ECB-adjacent financial district and the university
  • Palmengarten and Grüneburgpark on the doorstep
  • The most handsome residential streets in the city
  • The most expensive district
  • Quiet in the evenings
  • Limited everyday retail for the price

Bahnhofsviertel & Gallus

EUR 850–1,200 / month cold for a 1-bed

The station quarter and the district behind it — the cheapest genuinely central option, and the most contradictory

BudgetCentralFoodiesTransit

Commute: Walk to the banking district; every rail line meets here

  • Cheapest central rents and unbeatable transport access
  • The best and most diverse food in the city
  • Gallus has substantial new development
  • The Bahnhofsviertel has a visible open drug scene the city manages rather than hides
  • Noise and traffic
  • Not right for everyone, particularly with children

Ostend & Riederwald

EUR 950–1,300 / month cold for a 1-bed

East of the centre around the ECB tower — formerly industrial, now steadily residential

Walk to workValueModern buildingsCentral

Commute: Walk to the ECB; 10 minutes to the centre

  • Walk to the European Central Bank and the eastern harbour developments
  • Better value than Nordend or Westend
  • Riverside and the zoo nearby
  • Still transitioning, with patchy retail
  • Some blocks remain industrial in character
  • Less charm than the Altbau districts

The regional belt — Offenbach, Bad Homburg, Mainz, Wiesbaden

EUR 650–1,000 / month cold for a 1-bed

Separate towns and cities on the S-Bahn, each with its own character and materially lower rents

BudgetFamiliesSpaceTransit

Commute: 15–40 minutes on the S-Bahn, all covered by the Deutschlandticket

  • Dramatically better value with more space
  • Offenbach is minutes away and much cheaper; Mainz and Wiesbaden are genuinely attractive cities
  • The commute is already paid for by the Deutschlandticket
  • You are not in Frankfurt, socially or administratively
  • Different municipality means a different Bürgeramt for your Anmeldung
  • Mainz is in Rhineland-Palatinate — a different state again

How renting works in Frankfurt

Leases are usually open-ended, which makes German tenants very hard to evict once installed — getting in is the difficulty. Landlords ask for a Schufa report, recent payslips, ID and often a previous landlord's confirmation. Frankfurt's saving grace is geography: the city is small and the S-Bahn network reaches four other cities, so widening your search radius genuinely solves the problem in a way it cannot in Munich. Note that Hesse's Mietpreisbremse is currently contested in court — treat it as unreliable protection rather than a floor under your budget, and note that Mainz is in Rhineland-Palatinate under a different state ordinance again.

  1. 1

    Widen the search to the S-Bahn belt immediately

    Offenbach is minutes from the centre and substantially cheaper; Mainz, Wiesbaden and Bad Homburg are all real cities on the network. The Deutschlandticket covers the commute. Restricting yourself to the Frankfurt city boundary makes the search far harder than it needs to be.

  2. 2

    Assemble a complete application folder

    Schufa-Auskunft, employment contract or employer letter, passport copy and Anmeldung confirmation, as a single PDF ready to send. The complete folder at the viewing is what wins.

  3. 3

    Understand Kaltmiete versus Warmmiete

    Listings quote cold rent; your real cost is warm, adding heating, water, rubbish and building maintenance. Check which a listing quotes before comparing.

  4. 4

    Know the deposit rules

    Capped at three months' cold rent, held separately from the landlord's assets earning interest for you, and payable in three monthly instalments — a right landlords rarely mention.

  5. 5

    Check whether the flat has a kitchen

    German 'unfurnished' can mean no kitchen at all. Outgoing tenants often sell theirs to the incoming one. Establish what is included before you commit.

  6. 6

    Note which municipality you are in

    If you take a flat in Offenbach, Eschborn or Bad Homburg, your Anmeldung goes to that town's office, not Frankfurt's, and the local tax and school arrangements are theirs. Mainz is in another state entirely. It rarely causes problems but it does change which office you deal with.

Upfront cost

Three months' cold rent as deposit — the legal maximum, payable in three instalments if you invoke the right — plus the first month's warm rent. Since 2015 the Bestellerprinzip means whoever instructs an agent pays them, so tenants generally no longer pay agent commission on rentals. Budget separately for a kitchen if the flat has none.

Where to search

ImmobilienScout24 — the dominant portalImmowelt and ImmonetWG-Gesucht for shared flats and sublets, the most realistic first step without a Schufa recordCompany relocation partners — Frankfurt's large financial employers often have standing arrangements and serviced apartmentsNassauische Heimstätte and other municipal housing companies, for subsidised stock if you qualifyFrankfurter Neue Presse and FAZ classifieds, still used by older private landlords

Insider tips

  • The S-Bahn belt is the answer to Frankfurt's rental market. Offenbach in particular is minutes away and much cheaper, and the stigma is largely historical.
  • Ask your employer about relocation support before you start. Frankfurt's banks and consultancies house incoming international staff routinely and often have serviced apartments to bridge the first months.
  • Hesse's Mietpreisbremse is the one piece of this that is genuinely unsettled, so do not budget on it. The Mieterschutzverordnung of 2020 covers Frankfurt and 48 other Hessian municipalities and caps a new letting at 10% over the comparative rent, but the extension the state signed in November 2025 was declared ineffective for Frankfurt by the Amtsgericht Frankfurt in June 2026 for want of a published justification. That ruling is under appeal and other courts may go the other way, and the state has said it will issue a fresh five-year ordinance by November 2026. Check the position with a Mieterverein before relying on the cap.
  • The city is small enough to walk across. A flat anywhere inside the Anlagenring is within twenty minutes of the banking district on foot.
  • If you will fly often, weigh proximity to an S-Bahn line serving the airport — it is fifteen minutes from the Hauptbahnhof and that is a genuine daily-life advantage over other German cities.
  • Check the building's construction year. Altbau means high ceilings and character; it also often means single glazing and expensive heating in the Nebenkosten.

Avoid these

  • Restricting the search to the Frankfurt city boundary when the S-Bahn belt is cheaper and minutes away.
  • Comparing a cold rent against a warm rent and misjudging the real cost.
  • Turning up to a viewing without a complete document folder.
  • Not knowing the deposit is capped at three months and payable in instalments.
  • Renting an 'unfurnished' flat without realising it has no kitchen.
  • Taking a Bahnhofsviertel flat on price alone without visiting the street at night first.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.

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