Viernheim (German pronunciation: [ˈfɪʁnhaɪ̯m]) is a midsize industrial town on Mannheim's outskirts and is found in the Rhine Neckar agglomeration and economic area.

Among the other neighbourhoods are the Nordstadt ("North Town", north of Nibelungenstraße and Wormser Straße), the Nordweststadt ("Northwest Town", west of Kreuzstraße and Am Königsacker), the Tivoli (in the south at the Rhein-Neckar-Zentrum), Hinter den Zäunen (“Behind the Fences”, south of the OEG tracks), Gewerbegebiet Eins ("Commercial Area One", in the northeast, north of Friedrich-Ebert-Straße and east of Lorscher Straße) and the new development that has sprung up over the last few years, Bannholzgraben, east of Janusz-Korczak-Allee (L 3111).

Bad harvests and widespread hunger in 1852 led to 458 inhabitants emigrating in this year to North America.

With industrialization and the opening of the Oberrheinische Eisenbahn (a regional narrow-gauge railway still serving a roughly triangular route among Weinheim, Mannheim and Heidelberg) in 1887, the town began to become more of a workers’ residential community as many inhabitants found work in the factories in nearby Mannheim and Weinheim.

The location of industry in Viernheim itself began with the opening of the Weinheim-Worms railway (now mostly derelict) in 1905, and further strengthened after the Second World War, bringing along with it a sharp rise in population.

During World War II, Viernheim did not suffer severe damage, since the town had no strategic or industrial importance.

When the town passed back to the Electorate of Mainz, however, Roman Catholicism kept its place as the local denomination.

Today in Viernheim, there are three Catholic parishes, St. Michael, St. Hildegard merged in 2015,[4] St. Marien and St. Aposteln, which belong to the deanery of Bergstraße-West of the Bishopric of Mainz, and two Lutheran parishes, Auferstehungskirche ("Church of the Resurrection") and Christuskirche, which both belong to the deanery of Bergstraße-Süd of the Lutheran Church in Hesse and Nassau.

The synagogue on Hügelstraße, consecrated on 31 August 1827, was destroyed by the SA along with some locals on 10 November 1938 during the Kristallnacht pogrom.

Following is a list of the town's mayors since 1822 (from 1649 to 1822, eight Schultheißen – roughly "sheriffs" – are known to history): The town's arms might be described thus: Party per fess, above azure the Lion of Hesse armed and crowned Or and langued gules, below party per pale gules a six-spoked wheel argent and Or a Gothic four sable.

On the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side is a Gothic figure of four, which used to be the local logo, making the arms canting, that is to say, suggestive of the town's name, since the German word for “four” is vier.

Although it sounds rather like the first syllable in the town's name, it seems likelier that this comes from the Old High German firni (“old”, “from long ago”) or the Celtic vernos (“alder”).

The electric narrow-gauge railway (Oberrheinische Eisenbahn, OEG), nowadays designated line 5R, is usually regarded as an interurban.

Viernheim is the endpoint of the Weinheim–Viernheim railway line built in 1905, which originally ran on by way of Lampertheim to Worms to afford a link with the Weschnitztalbahn there.

In Viernheim there are two regional daily newspapers: The following free advertising fliers are distributed weekly: The following regional media see Viernheim as part of their feeder and distribution area: Further schools with specific profiles are to be found in the neighbouring cities.