Economy in Burghausen

“Burghausen Chemical Diamond”

Salt used to be the source of Burghausen’s wealth, but the chemical industry has become central to the town’s economy over the last 100 years. This is symbolised by the “Burghausen Chemical Diamond”, a signature feature for a town which despite its size is one of the most prosperous municipalities in Bavaria.

With 11,000 people employed in the chemical industry, Burghausen is the most significant location in the “Bavarian chemical triangle”, in which around € 8 billion are generated with chemical and petrochemical products every year.

Numbers & facts

Jobs in Burghausen

Gross domestic product at the Burghausen site

Budget volume (2013-2018)

Tax force number (16th place in Bavaria)

Private and public housing by 2025

University Campus Burghausen Teaching and laboratory building 2016 - 2022

Capacity expansion & maintenance costs Wacker (2019)

Per year for technical expenses Wacker / OMV / Borealis

Our manufacturing companies

Wacker Chemie AG

Crown jewel of the Burghausen economy

Wacker Chemie AG is a globally operating chemical corporation with around € 5 billion sales per year.
In five divisions, it manufactures top-quality products in silicon chemistry, polymer chemistry, speciality chemistry, fine chemistry, polysilicon production and semiconductor technology.
Founded in 1914 by Dr Alexander Wacker, the Burghausen Wacker site now provides around 10,000 of the 16,300 Wacker jobs around the world. Wacker is thus the largest employer in southeast Bavaria and the crown jewel of Burghausen’s economy.

OMV Germany

Extra-high-class refinery location

OMV Deutschland GmbH, with around € 4 billion sales, is Bavaria‘s leading petroleum and natural gas company. Their activities include refinery, customer and petrol station business.
In today’s OMV refinery in Burghausen, which was founded in 1966/67 and is one of the leading locations for petrochemical technology worldwide, around 600 employees refine around 3.6 million tons of petroleum every year into highly valuable mineral oil products, such as kerosene and automobile fuels.

Network location

Extra-efficient with magnetic effect

Burghausen enjoys an international reputation as a highly efficient network location comprising production, service providers, suppliers and manual trade enterprises, providing more than 17,000 jobs – in a population of around 19,000.
Predominantly medium-sized service companies operate in the environs of the large chemical industry locations. Of the 17,100 or so employees over 13,200 commute from the surrounding region. Burghausen is a magnet for job hunters.

Freight traffic center

The public terminal for combined transport is an important location factor for the optimization of the logistics standard and the infrastructure of the growing industrial location.
The orientation of the local chemical industry towards future-proof "high-tech standards" sets high logistical requirements with increasing transport volumes: The freight transport volume at the Burghausen site alone in 2012 was around 4.3 million t (of which 2.03 million t was rail transport), tendency rising further. For the long-term development of the industrial location Burghausen, an efficient, environmentally friendly transport infrastructure is therefore of outstanding importance.

Economic promotion Burghausen

The economic promotion-company WiFöG) is the point of contact for all aspects of the Burghausen business location and the central point of contact for all traders and those wishing to settle there who want to expand, restructure or relocate.

Zur WiFöG