The best in Germany: the 10,000 most important medium-sized companies

Which are the strongest medium-sized companies in Germany? Die Deutsche Wirtschaft has determined and analysed the 10,000 most important medium-sized companies.

The Germans call it the “Mittelstand” – and the unique structure of Germany’s strong sector of medium-sized companies has become a synonym for technological strength, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit all over the world. In fact, the Mittelstand not only accounts for the overwhelming majority of all businesses in Germany (over 3 million), it also provides some 60 percent of all jobs and over 80 percent of all apprenticeships. Depending on its specific definition, the Mittelstand ranges all the way from small craft workshops to hidden champions worth up to a billion euros.

The German Mittelstand rankings

Which, however, are the leading medium-sized companies in Germany? In its new “Mittelstand 10,000” database project, the research team at Die Deutsche Wirtschaft has identified and analysed Germany’s most important medium-sized companies and created a ranking list. To supplement the ranking of the 1,000 biggest family-owned companies in Germany, the new database list now encompasses the full range of relevant family-owned market participants in the German economy.

To ascertain the actual importance of a specific company, the rankings were determined by much more than simply the levels of annual turnover. An index value includes 31 factors including turnover, number of employees, research collaborations, partnerships with universities and association memberships, search-engine rankings (given by a cooperation with Sistrix) or a sustainability valuation (given by a cooperation with XDC). The score is also supplemented by an editorial assessment.

Turnover from 25 million to 1 billion euros

The results provide an interesting insight into the structure, distribution and relevance of the most important medium-sized companies in Germany. In this respect, turnover at the top 10,000 firms ranges from approximately 25 million to the ranking limit of 1 billion euros. The average turnover is 96 million euros. All in all, the top 10,000 companies account for roughly one billion euros in turnover and provide approximately 5.3 million jobs.

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Industry leads in the Mittelstand

When ranked according to sector, most companies are from the automotive trade, followed by mechanical engineering and construction. 51 percent are to be classified as industry, 33 percent as service providers and 16 percent as retailers. When ranked according to federal state, most are based in North Rhine-Westphalia (2,296), followed by Bavaria (1,952). With 357 such companies, the city of Hamburg is home to the most large-scale medium-sized companies, followed by Berlin with 271 and Munich with 218.

“Mittelstand 10,000” can be ordered as an excel-list. For market and B2B use, leading companies such as most of the biggest international consultant and law firms, banks, 3 of the Top-5 US-Tech-Companies, or agencies and industrial companies work with this ranking.

The complete ranking is available here in the DDW Reader Service as a list in Excel format. In addition to the address details, turnover and employee data, the ranking also includes a description of the particular field of each company and information on its year of foundation, directors and structure of ownership. 

The Top-100 of the 10,000 most important medium-sized companies

Version: V42, April 2025