Growth centre
Top arena for business life and living
A city with a population of 120,000 and the centre of an economic area with more than 200,000 residents, Lahti is the nearest actual city to Helsinki; the region is home to more than 10,000 businesses and offers a wide range of recreational opportunities, and the city is constantly evolving. The growth of the region has been boosted by investments into university and higher education institution operations, business areas, transport connections, housing and comfort, among other things.
Lahti is a unique combination of a city in the front garden and nature in the back garden. Here you can find an active urban city of culture and events, the best sports and outdoor recreation opportunities in Southern Finland, and fast transport connections to metropolises around the world.
Because of Lahti’s central location, commuter traffic is busy from Southern Finland to the Lahti region and from there to elsewhere.
Lahti's national and international rankings:
1ST PLACE
On the promotion of a sustainable built environment (SAFA)
2ND PLACE
Among cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants
(Suomen Yrittäjät)
3RD PLACE
Resident satisfaction in large cities (EPSI rating)
4TH PLACE
The world's most sustainable city (Corporate Knights)
Finland’s youngest university city
Lahti is the first new university city in Finland in several decades! The official name of LUT University has been Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology since the end of 2018. As a result of this change, Lahti gained more students, new fields of education and new professorships, in addition to new cooperation opportunities for businesses.
The Lahti University Campus is used by the University of Helsinki and LUT University, which form a science community of approximately 200 experts in Lahti.
Part of the metropolitan area
The Lahti region is closely connected to the Helsinki metropolitan area thanks to its location and efficient rail and road connections – Helsinki is less than 50 minutes away by train and approximately one hour away by car. Finland’s new logistics zone along the Lahti Southern Ring Road and Henna Railway Station in Orimattila connect the Lahti region more closely to the Helsinki metropolitan area.
The region’s location and good transport connections also ensure that the commuting area is wide and commuter traffic is easy – skilled labour is available in the Lahti region and the Helsinki metropolitan area. Instead of competing, Lahti is a challenger – and provides businesses with an option that is efficient, affordable and located near an international airport and harbours and in the middle of the domestic market.
The most diverse industrial structure among Finland’s major cities
Lahti is home to approximately 8,500 businesses, which employ roughly 40,000 people. Approximately 700–800 new businesses are established each year.
The special strength of the business scene of the Lahti region is its diversity. The region’s business scene has many sturdy support legs, and the businesses form a network, complementing each other and engaging in cross-sector cooperation.
The Lahti region has a higher number of family businesses than other towns in Finland on average, and the local businesses have the desire and ability to evolve; they keep up with global trends, create new business and make use of the region’s strengths in developing their business activities. Many internationally recognised brands come from the Lahti region. The proximity of the Helsinki metropolitan area, combined with unique nature, sports and cultural opportunities, create the growth conditions for travel businesses.
Photo: Vierumäki Sports Centre
Everything needed for a good life
The Lahti region offers housing options for a variety of needs – urban life in the city, or life in the countryside, by a lake, in the city centre or at the edge of a field. Lahti, an internationally well-known city of winter sports, and the other municipalities in the region offer a wide variety of recreational opportunities – everything from ice surfing and rock climbing to golf and figure skating, and from concerts and theatre to the arts and technology.
The region’s environmental values are evident in the residents and businesses’ everyday activities. Waste sorting is in the locals’ genes, and 96% of waste is reused. The clean Lake Vesijärvi offers a magnificent setting for outdoor recreation, leisure activities and living. Here we also drink water ‘straight from the tap’ – the best groundwater in the world, filtered by the eskers of Salpausselkä!
Best of all, the average housing prices are less than half of the housing prices in the Helsinki metropolitan area. In the Lahti region, owning a detached house or flat by a lake, near the city centre, is not only a distant dream.
Lahti | Asikkala | Hartola | Hollola | Iitti | Orimattila | Padasjoki
Commuting to the Lahti region is easy, regardless of where you live, but you benefit the most by relocating here.
“Lahti won us over with its comprehensive approach. Our existing factories employ approximately 900 people, and Lahti would offer an excellent setting for our employees to lead comfortable daily lives. In the long term, this is a basic requirement for the wellbeing and availability of employees.”
Markus Hellström, Managing Director of Fazer Confectionery
At your company’s service – contact us!
