Flensburg is the northernmost city in Germany and is located directly on the border with Denmark. It is the third largest city in Schleswig-Holstein after Kiel and Lübeck. On the north-south axis, Flensburg is connected to Kiel and Hamburg to the south and Aarhus (Denmark) to the north via motorway 7.

Flensburg harbour, which was also an important naval base until the 1990s, is gradually declining in importance as an industrial port, which is why the eastern side of the harbour is to be developed into a mixed-use urban quarter. However, it is gaining relevance as a tourist and leisure harbour. Flensburg is also home to the Mürwik naval school, which is home to the Gorch Fock sailing training ship, among others.

Flensburg, a medium-sized city with around 92,600 inhabitants, is characterised by dynamic population development. The youth dependency ratio is 29% and the old-age dependency ratio is 32%, which indicates a balanced age structure. Despite a negative natural population balance, Flensburg has recorded population growth of 4.6% in the last five years, mainly due to a positive migration balance. Further growth of 2.5% is expected by 2035, which puts the city in an above-average position compared to other RIWIS cities. The household structure shows around 50,500 households, with single-person households accounting for 42.4%. The number of households has grown by around 4.3% in the last five years and is expected to increase by a further 6.8% by 2035, which is also above the average for RIWIS cities. The proportion of students is 10.4%, which emphasises the youthful and dynamic atmosphere of the city.

Around 46,500 people are employed in Flensburg and subject to social insurance contributions. This makes the regional centre of Flensburg one of the smaller labour markets among the RIWIS cities. Over the last five years, the city has recorded employment growth of 5.5%, although the number of employees is forecast to fall by -4.4% by 2035. More than half of employees, namely 53%, work in large companies with over 100 employees. The dominant sectors in Flensburg are manufacturing and construction (14%), wholesale and retail (14%), public administration (11%) and health and social services (20%). With a positive commuter balance of around 11,100 people, Flensburg demonstrates its high attractiveness as a place to work. The catchment area is regionally concentrated on the immediate neighbouring municipalities. The unemployment rate was 7.9% in 2023 and has fallen by -0.4 percentage points in the last five years. This means that the unemployment rate is still well above the national average despite the downward trend.

In Flensburg, a city in Germany, each household has an average of 1.04 flats. Around 18.3% of these flats are 1- or 2-room flats, while the proportion of flats in apartment blocks is around 74.1%. In the last five years, an average of around 500 flats have been completed each year. In view of the calculated annual additional and replacement demand of 392 flats by 2035, it is likely that demand will be exceeded in the coming years if this construction activity continues. Land prices for apartment blocks in medium locations are around 205 euros/sqm. The average rent in Flensburg is around EUR 8.5/sqm, while the average value of owner-occupied flats is EUR 2,150/sqm. The basic rent takes up around 22.3% of the monthly household income, and an average property costs 6.4 times the average annual net income. An average of around 9.4 property transactions per 1,000 inhabitants have been recorded in the last five years. The average multiplier for apartment blocks in Flensburg is 16.0.