St. Pauli

St. Pauli is a neighbourhood (Stadtteil) in the district of Hamburg-Mitte, between the city centre, Altona and the Elbe. On 31 December 2025, 22,028 people were registered here on 2.2 km², about 10,000 residents per km², according to the Statistikamt Nord's neighbourhood profiles. It became an official part of the city of Hamburg in 1894.

The city portal calls it Hamburg's "cult neighbourhood" and describes it as "different, alternative", with an identity shaped by much more than its nightlife and harbour.

• Reeperbahn and Große Freiheit: "Hamburg's number one entertainment mile", lively around the clock, with musical theatres, cabaret, clubs and concert venues, and events such as the Reeperbahn Festival.
• Karolinenviertel: a small quarter next to the Schanze with boutiques, bars and cafés.
• Harbour front: the Landungsbrücken piers, harbour boat tours and the Old Elbe Tunnel (Alter Elbtunnel), opened in 1911, which you can cross on foot or by bike.
• Heiligengeistfeld: the open space where the Hamburger Dom, a fair held three times a year that the portal calls the biggest public festival in northern Germany, takes place, next to the Millerntor stadium of FC St. Pauli.
• Messe and Dammtor edge: the exhibition halls, the congress centre and the northern part of the Planten un Blomen park.

• U-Bahn: the U3 ring line runs through St. Pauli along the harbour.
• S-Bahn: the S1, S3 and S7 stop at Reeperbahn and Landungsbrücken.
• Ferries: HADAG harbour ferries leave from the Landungsbrücken and are included in hvv tickets.

The city centre, Altona and the Schanze are within one or two stops.

• Dense older apartment buildings with small flats: the average flat measured 62.9 m² in 2025 (Hamburg: 76 m²), and 70.4% of households were single-person households (Hamburg: 55.4%).
• Social housing made up 11.3% of flats in January 2026 (Hamburg: 7.6%).
• Listed prices for owner-occupied flats were about €7,000 per m² in January 2026 (Hamburg average €6,278).

Flats come up rarely and attract many applicants. Check the rent against the Hamburg rent index and the rent cap before signing.

St. Pauli is not a typical family neighbourhood: at the end of 2025 only 11.7% of households included children (Hamburg: 17.5%). It had 16 day-care centres (Kitas, March 2026) and 1 primary school (2025/26). Planten un Blomen, with its lake, Japanese garden and summer water-light concerts, is the main green space nearby.