Hagen, Germany

At just 190,490 people, Hagen may be small, but its budget woes loom large. The city is saddled with a staggering €1.383 billion debt, forcing cutbacks to public services. Bureaucracy is a persistent headache, with the city center largely destroyed in World War II and now unrecognizable from its Wilhelminian heyday. Yet Hagen has an outsized cultural footprint, home to the FernUniversität and a lively music scene that earned it the nickname "the Liverpool of New German Wave." For those drawn to this industrial hub's gritty charms, Hagen offers an authentic taste of working-class Germany.