Young firms are known to grow at a faster rate than incumbents. With administrative firm data from Germany, we show that the higher growth rates indeed translate into upward mobility within the sector-specific firm size distribution. Young firms are therefore not only able to catch up with incumbents, but also able to grow larger in absolute values. Recentered influence function regression results reveal that young firms cause significant rank mobility within the stock of firms, which even holds when the local skewness of the firm size distribution is accounted for. The results clearly indicate a Schumpeterian growth process where young firms challenge established ones."It is inherent in any dynamic capitalist economy that some firms enter, thrive, and grow, while others decline and sometimes exit." (Haltiwanger 2012, p. 18) I have benefited from comments by David Audretsch, Alex Coad, Sergio Firpo, three anonymous referees, and participants at workshops in Wiesbaden, Siegen, as well as the 8th Leuphana Conference on Entrepreneurship. Thanks to Melanie Scheller for assistance with data issues. This study is based on the Umsatzsteuerpanel (2001-2011) from the German Statistical Office (Destatis). Remote data access was provided by the Research Data Centre of the German Federal Statistical Office (FDZ der StatistischenÄmter des Bundes und der Länder). All results have been reviewed to ensure that no confidential information is disclosed. The author's program codes will be provided upon request. Any errors are my own. This paper reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.