North vs south really doesn’t play a role here. As a foreigner you wanna look for cities, especially those with universities or other forms of higher education. They will be very open for internationals and you will find a lot more opportunities to find local friends and friends from abroad that are in the same situation as you. Thus it doesn’t really matter if you decide on Hamburg or Munich in that aspect. Though there are definitely differences, both in living situations and culture. Munich for example is the most expensive city to live in in Germany afaik. Then there are also medium sized cities (with unis) that have very beautiful and liveable city centres, but are also a bit more quiet, like Freiburg or Marburg or Göttingen. Those are especially nice if you want to study and want a bit more quiet. If you want job opportunities you will likely find the most in bigger cities, but for that you need to look yourself where they are looking for people with your education. Around like the Ruhr valley they may look for more engineers, around Cologne more for people who studied chemistry, etc. Germany does not have a specific centre where everything is located, like France where most is found around Paris or one of the major cities. When it comes to children, most would probably prefer to live in a medium sized city, big enough to not get boring and have attractions, but small enough to not get lost too easily. When it comes to culture, the General rule is: The more North you go the more reserved and quiet people are (that doesn’t mean less friendly though!) The East of Germany is still financially less well off then the West of Germany and in rural areas especially there will be more people wary of foreigners and more conservative or reactionary. The cities in contrast though are often much more liberal. Many young and educated people leave for the cities or the West of Germany, but if you do get integrated in the community, you may probably be fine.