Carinthian municipalities lag in Austria’s creditworthiness ranking

Carinthia’s municipalities are among Austria’s weakest for creditworthiness, with only eight making the country’s top 250, according to a ranking by the Centre for Administrative Research (KDZ), reported by ORF.

The creditworthiness of Austrian municipalities has deteriorated in recent years, the KDZ ranking presented on Friday found. In 2019, 456 municipalities received grades of one or two on a school-style scale, where one is best. This year, the number graded four or five has more than doubled.

Of Carinthia’s 132 municipalities, about a quarter are in the bottom fifth nationwide. The KDZ cited high payments to the state for services such as social care and nursing, low shares of shared tax revenues and relatively limited sources of local income.

Schiefling am Wörthersee was Carinthia’s highest-ranked municipality, placing 36th with a grade of 1.49, a marked improvement on 2025. Krumpendorf ranked 153rd with a grade of 2.04, also slightly better than last year.

New to the top 250 were Großkirchheim, ranked 177th, and Rennweg am Katschberg, ranked 233rd. Sittersdorf placed 179th. All three received a grade of 2.13 for Großkirchheim and Sittersdorf, and 2.28 for Rennweg. Deutsch Griffen ranked 206th with 2.21, Keutschach am See 213th with 2.22, and Brückl 220th with 2.24.

Salzburg had the strongest overall results, with around a third of its municipalities in the top tenth nationally. The KDZ attributed this to high shares of tax revenues, municipal taxes and population growth. Tweng in Salzburg, Parbasdorf in Lower Austria and Niederndorf in Tyrol led the national ranking.

Vorarlberg and Styria, like Carinthia, performed relatively poorly. The KDZ cited higher material expenses and debt levels in both states, as well as Vorarlberg’s high price levels, which affect investment costs.