Debrecen4U July 29, 2026

Debrecen Becomes Hungary’s Strongest Industry Outside Budapest

According to the latest figures, Debrecen has not only caught up with Hungary’s traditional regional economic centres in terms of revenue from the local business tax, but has surpassed several of them in a number of respects, according to a publication by the EDC Debrecen.

Based on the 2025 ranking, Budapest remains by far the leader, with HUF 311.34 billion in local business tax revenue. Debrecen is in second place with HUF 38.19 billion, followed by Győr, Székesfehérvár and Kecskemét. This ranking shows that Hungary’s economy remains heavily concentrated in the capital; however, Debrecen has firmly established itself as the strongest of the country’s major cities outside the capital.

Debrecen’s current position is the result of a longer-term realignment. In 2014, the city’s local business tax revenue stood at HUF 10.7 billion, with both Győr and Székesfehérvár ahead of it outside Budapest. By 2025, this figure had risen by more than three and a half times to HUF 38.2 billion, representing growth of 257 per cent. This is not only a significant advance in absolute terms, but also an exceptional rate of growth, with Debrecen’s momentum substantially exceeding the average among Hungary’s major cities.

From a national perspective, the dual trend is even more pronounced. In 2024, 41 per cent of all local business tax revenue collected nationwide originated in Budapest, while Debrecen accounted for 2.6 per cent, making it the largest individual municipality outside the capital. Győr followed with 2.3 per cent, Székesfehérvár with 2.1 per cent and Kecskemét with 1.8 per cent. Moreover, Debrecen’s share increased by 0.4 percentage points compared with 2019, while Budapest’s rose by 3 percentage points. This means that, although the national economy has become even more concentrated around Budapest, Debrecen has continued to strengthen its leading role among provincial cities.

Per capita figures reveal even more striking progress

Absolute local business tax revenue primarily reflects the size of the local economy, meaning that larger cities naturally enjoy an advantage. Revenue per resident removes the direct effect of settlement size, making the economic performance of major cities more comparable. Although it is not strictly a measure of productivity, it provides a useful indication of how the size of the corporate tax base relates to a city’s population.

Debrecen has achieved particularly impressive convergence according to this indicator. In 2014, local business tax revenue per resident amounted to just HUF 52,000, placing the city 15th among the major cities surveyed. By 2025, the figure had risen to nearly HUF 189,000, elevating Debrecen to sixth place. Growth of more than 260 per cent represents the highest increase among Hungary’s major cities, while Debrecen has already exceeded both the average of HUF 153,000 and Budapest’s figure of HUF 185,000 per resident. In 2025, only Esztergom, Székesfehérvár, Veszprém, Győr and Kecskemét ranked ahead of Debrecen, according to the study.

However, changes in population must also be taken into account when interpreting per capita figures. In a city experiencing significant population decline, revenue per resident may increase even if tax revenues themselves grow only modestly. Debrecen’s progress, however, cannot be attributed to such a statistical effect. Between 2014 and 2025, the city’s population declined by just 1.3 per cent, while the average decrease among the major cities surveyed was nearly 7 per cent. Population growth was recorded in only a handful of cities, and between 2024 and 2025, Debrecen and Érd were the only two municipalities in the study to record an increase. Debrecen’s population had reached 202,130 by this year.

This means that the improvement in per capita local business tax revenue was driven not by a significant decline in population, but primarily by the rapid expansion of the local economic tax base. Debrecen has therefore moved into the leading group in the per capita rankings while maintaining a broadly stable demographic position.

Debrecen’s growth outpaced the national rate

The improvement in per capita figures has been underpinned by sustained growth in absolute local business tax revenue that has exceeded national trends. Although Hungary’s total local business tax revenues increased significantly in nominal terms between 2014 and 2025, Debrecen’s growth trajectory was even more dynamic as the city’s revenue increased from HUF 10.7 billion to HUF 38.2 billion, representing an increase of more than three and a half times. The process was not entirely uniform. The gradual expansion seen during the second half of the 2010s was interrupted by a temporary decline in 2020; however, Debrecen’s local business tax revenue subsequently returned to a growth path.

The most significant increase came after 2022, when revenue rose from HUF 18.7 billion to HUF 28.7 billion. It exceeded HUF 35 billion in 2024 and surpassed HUF 38 billion in 2025. This indicates that Debrecen’s economic tax base has not merely kept pace with rising prices and national revenue growth, but has expanded more rapidly than both.

The full study is available here in Hungarian.

Source and photo credit: dehir.hu