Ottakring (16th district)

Ottakring lies west of the inner districts, between the Gürtel ring road and the hills of the Vienna Woods (Wienerwald). It was formed in 1892 from the villages of Ottakring and Neulerchenfeld. It had 102,770 residents on 1 January 2024 on 8.7 km², a density of 11,849 people per km², and grew by 3.7% between 2014 and 2024. Its highest point is the Gallitzinberg (449 m), where Schloss Wilhelminenberg stands.

• Two faces: dense housing built for workers near the factories along the Gürtel, and more suburban, greener areas towards the west.
• History: in the interwar years the city built large municipal housing estates here, among them the Sandleitenhof, at the time Vienna's largest.
• Everyday life: the Brunnenmarkt is the district's permanent market. The Ottakring Brewery and the coffee roaster Julius Meinl still operate in the district, and the stretch of Ottakringer Straße known as the "Balkan Mile" reflects its Serbian influence.
• Population: 59% Austrian citizens, 16% EU citizens and 24% other nationals on 1 January 2024. The largest foreign groups were from Serbia (6.2% of residents), Syria (4.0%), Turkey (3.2%), Romania (2.9%) and Poland (2.9%). The average age was 41.

• U3: terminus at Ottakring and Kendlerstraße; the U3 extension in 1998 helped revitalise the area.
• U6 on the Gürtel at the district's eastern edge (Thaliastraße, Josefstädter Straße).
• Trams and buses connect the hillside areas; check the WienMobil app for routes.

In the 2021 census, 45% of residents lived in privately financed rentals, 21% in municipal housing, 14% in cooperative flats and 15% in owner-occupied homes. Buildings range from about 2,108 from before 1919 to 1,737 built between 1981 and 2021.

There is no official rent figure for the district. Older buildings near the Gürtel often fall fully under the Tenancy Act; check the building date and the lease type before you sign.

Almost half of the district's area (49%) is green space and water, much of it on the western hillsides, and the city counts 37 parks. Kindergarten places are allocated through the city's central registration; see our family guide.