Download Germany Districts (Landkreise) Boundaries
Free download of all 401 German districts — 294 rural Landkreise plus 107 independent kreisfreie Städte. Loads automatically — pick the format you need: GeoJSON, Shapefile, KML, SVG, DXF, GeoPackage, TopoJSON, or FlatGeobuf.
Boundary data provided by geoBoundaries (Runfola et al., 2020), licensed CC-BY 4.0. Please provide attribution when using this data.
About the German districts dataset
This page provides a one-click download of every German district — both rural Landkreise and independent kreisfreie Städte — in every common geospatial and design format. Data is sourced from geoBoundaries — an open, peer-reviewed dataset released under CC-BY 4.0. The authoritative German source is the Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie (BKG).
Districts are the second-level subnational division (ADM2) in Germany, nested inside the 16 Bundesländer. For state-level boundaries, see the Germany states page.
Structure of German districts
- • Landkreis (rural district) — 294 in total. Contains multiple Gemeinden (municipalities). Administered by a Landrat (district administrator).
- • Kreisfreie Stadt (district-free city) — 107 in total. An independent city not part of any Landkreis. Includes major cities like Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Cologne, and Stuttgart.
- • Stadtkreis — a term used in Baden-Württemberg for what is functionally the same as kreisfreie Stadt elsewhere.
- • Bezirk — Berlin and Hamburg have internal Bezirke (boroughs), which are not separate districts at ADM2 — the entire city counts as one ADM2 unit.
- • Region Hannover & Städteregion Aachen — special hybrid forms that combine an urban core with surrounding rural areas under a single administration.
When to use which format
GeoJSON
The most flexible choice — opens in QGIS, ArcGIS Pro, Mapbox, Leaflet, MapLibre, D3. Use the simplified version for client-side web maps with 401 districts.
Shapefile
Use for desktop GIS workflows in ArcGIS, QGIS, or MapInfo. ZIP contains .shp / .dbf / .prj / .shx.
KML
Use for Google Earth and Google My Maps. KML preserves the district name in each feature popup.
SVG
Designer-ready vector paths with each district as a separate path, labelled with its German name. Opens in Illustrator, Figma, Sketch, or Inkscape.
DXF
AutoCAD format for engineers and architects. Each district becomes a closed polyline.
TopoJSON
Topology-encoded GeoJSON, much smaller for choropleths of all 401 districts. Common in D3.js dashboards.
GeoPackage
OGC-standard single-file SQLite container. Ideal for portable GIS workflows.
FlatGeobuf
Binary streaming format optimised for fast loading when displaying all 401 districts in MapLibre, OpenLayers, or Leaflet.
Common uses for German district boundaries
- • District-level election mapping (Bundestagswahl, Landtagswahlen)
- • Joining Destatis Kreis-level statistics to geometry
- • Public-health reporting (COVID, RKI Inzidenz, hospital catchments)
- • Aggregating PLZ (postal codes) into district-level statistics
- • Insurance and risk modelling at district level
- • Demographic and labour-market analysis (unemployment, population, BIP)
- • Backgrounds for D3.js / MapLibre choropleths
- • Sales-territory mapping at sub-state resolution
Need to process these boundaries before download?
Download the Germany districts GeoJSON above, then drop it into the Workflow Builder to simplify, buffer, clip to a bounding box, generate centroids, or chain multiple operations before exporting in any format.
Alternative German district sources
- • BKG VG250-EW — official German federal cartographic agency dataset including population (Einwohner). Highest precision, multiple vintages.
- • Destatis Genesis-Online — official statistical data linked to district AGS codes.
- • GADM — generalised administrative boundaries at multiple resolutions; commonly used in academic research.
- • OpenStreetMap — community-edited boundaries via Overpass queries or Geofabrik extracts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many districts does Germany have?
Germany has 401 districts in total: 294 rural districts (Landkreise) and 107 independent urban districts (kreisfreie Städte). They form the second-level administrative division (ADM2), nested inside the 16 federal states (Bundesländer).
What is the difference between Landkreis and kreisfreie Stadt?
A Landkreis is a rural district that contains multiple smaller municipalities (Gemeinden). A kreisfreie Stadt (literally "district-free city") is an independent city that is not part of any Landkreis — it administers itself at both the city and district level. Most major German cities including Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Cologne are kreisfreie Städte.
Where does this Germany district data come from?
The boundaries are sourced from geoBoundaries (Runfola et al., 2020), an open peer-reviewed dataset. The authoritative German source is the Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie (BKG), whose VG250-EW dataset includes Landkreis-level boundaries. geoBoundaries data is released under CC-BY 4.0.
Can I get attribute data like Kfz-Kennzeichen or AGS codes?
geoBoundaries features include the shape name and ISO-style codes. For full administrative attributes — Kfz licence-plate prefixes, AGS (Amtlicher Gemeindeschlüssel) codes, NUTS-3 codes — use the BKG VG250 dataset directly. After downloading the geometry from this page you can join it to a separate attribute table by district name.
How big is the Germany districts GeoJSON file?
The full-resolution Germany ADM2 GeoJSON is typically 15–30 MB because 401 detailed boundaries add up. The simplified version is well under 2 MB and is the right choice for client-side web maps. The SVG export is around 200–500 KB.
Can I download a single Bundesland’s districts only?
This page is the full set of all 401 German districts in one file. To extract just one Bundesland — for example, only the districts of Bavaria — download the GeoJSON above, then use the QuickMapTools Workflow Builder to filter by the parent state name or clip by the Bundesland boundary.
Can I use this data commercially?
Yes — geoBoundaries data is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY) licence. You may use it in commercial products, modify it, and redistribute it as long as you provide attribution to geoBoundaries (Runfola et al., 2020).