Brief Review

Cost of Living

The median gross monthly wage for a full-time employee in Switzerland was 5.674 CHF in 2006, according to the Swiss Statistical Office. According to several sources, Switzerland is the second most expensive country in Europe, after Norway. The Swiss pay particularly high prices for meat, cooking oil, fish and vegetables, much of which is imported.

Nevertheless, Swiss wages take the cost of living into account. A survey of 71 cities round the world carried out by the Swiss bank UBS in 2006 showed that it takes less time for workers in Switzerland to earn enough to buy a loaf of bread or a hamburger than it does in many other countries.

Though no area of Switzerland is cheap to live in, the major cities, such as Zurich and Geneva, are naturally the most expensive places to live. The largest portion of a person’s income goes to housing and energy costs (25,2%), followed by health costs (a large part of which is the cost of mandatory insurance) (14,5%), transportation (11,3%), food (11,1%) and clothing (4,4%), adding up to nearly 67% of salaries for the basic necessities of life. What remains goes to leisure activities (10,6%), hotels and restaurants (8,1%), household items (4,8%) and communications (2,9%).