This study deals with the impact of socioeconomic conditions and social integration into a local neighborhood on individual
life satisfaction in Germany. While the majority of ecological studies to date are based on very broad neighborhood concepts,
using large research units for defining neighborhood the present study contains micro-geographic information on a representative
sample of private households in Germany, including features of their respective residential environments. The data was derived
from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study and enriched with data from the Micromarketing-Systeme and Consult GmbH
(microm) for the years 2000–2006. Our analyses reveal neighborhood effects on various facets of life satisfaction. Controlling
for several covariates at the household and individual level, life satisfaction increases when a person lives in a neighborhood
with a higher socioeconomic status. In addition, the individual gap between a person’s economic status and the status of the
neighborhood also affects individual well-being. However, when comparing with other neighborhood aspects, the strongest effects
on individual life satisfaction have social networks.
Keywords Life satisfaction - Neighborhood