Jena

A Thuringia city in a narrow valley of the Saale, home to a university and to the optics and precision-instrument companies that grew out of a famous partnership between a scientist, a glassmaker and a mathematician. Optics, laser technology and biotechnology still carry an outsized share of the local economy for a city this size.

Official website Wikidata

The place

State: Thuringia
Population: 109,353as of December 2025 ·
Area: 114.8 km²
Density: 953 people per km²
Public holidays a year: 11as of January 2026 ·

Work and pay

Unemployment rate: 6.2%as of September 2026 ·
Median gross pay: €4,401 a monthas of December 2025 ·

Local taxes and charges

Grunderwerbsteuer: 5%
Church tax: 9%
Grundsteuer B, Hebesatz: 495%as of January 2024 ·
Gewerbesteuer, Hebesatz: 450%as of January 2024 ·

Housing

Asking price, apartments: €3,801 per m²as of September 2026 · sourced · immoportal.com
Asking rent, apartments: €12.70 per m² a monthimmoportal.com
Hausgeld: €3.50 per m² a month
Prices, last 12 months: +6.5%
A 70 m² flat: To buy €266,070
Closing costs on top + €27,458
To rent, cold €889 a month
Asking rent, BBSR (re-lettings): €11 per m² a monthas of July 2024 ·
Rent in existing tenancies (Zensus 2022): €7.04 per m² a monthas of May 2022 ·
Vacant flats: 2.9%as of May 2022 ·
Owner-occupiers: 21.4%as of May 2022 ·
Paid price, resold flats: €2,981 per m²as of July 2025 ·
Paid price, new flats: €5,748 per m²as of July 2025 ·

With your own numbers

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Over time

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Unemployment rate6.2%

Monthly, Bundesagentur für Arbeit.

Median gross pay a month€4,401

Each 31 December, Bundesagentur für Arbeit, full-time employees by workplace.

To buy	€266,070
Closing costs on top	+ €27,458
To rent, cold	€889 a month