Photo: Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de · CC BY SA 3.0 DE · Wikimedia Commons
Switzerland
French, German, Italian, Romansh · CHF · Central European Time
How it scores for living there
- 112%Cost of livingRated 1 of 5 for living there, bad
- 25%Income tax, new arrivalsRated 3 of 5 for living there, workable. This is the Lump-sum (forfait) rate for new arrivals, not the 45 per cent ordinary top rate
- NoneCapital gainsRated 5 of 5 for living there, ideal
- 87MbpsInternetRated 5 of 5 for living there, ideal
- 4.48Doctors /1,000Rated 5 of 5 for living there, ideal
- 8PM2.5 ug/m3Rated 4 of 5 for living there, good
- 0.6Homicide /100kRated 5 of 5 for living there, ideal
- 84.4Life expectancyRated 5 of 5 for living there, ideal
- 97%People onlineRated 5 of 5 for living there, ideal
- 81Corruption indexRated 5 of 5 for living there, ideal
- 4of 12Mild monthsRated 2 of 5 for living there, poor
Facts, not judgements
- UTC+1Time zone
- CHFCurrency
- French+3Language
- C, JPower plug
- 11.8mVisitors in 2019
Colour says whether a figure is good for someone moving in, not whether it is high: cheap is green and expensive is red. Every coloured box carries the reason for its colour, the bar under it repeats the score as a width, and boxes with no data are not drawn.
Nomads in Switzerland
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Who can help you in Switzerland
Vetted partners for the move: immigration and tax lawyers, relocation services, banking and eSIM, guides and local experts. One Gold partner and up to three standard listings per country.
Climate and cost by city
Average monthly temperature and rainfall from Open-Meteo ERA5 (2019-2023 mean, CC BY 4.0). Sea surface temperature from Open-Meteo Marine. Price level from the World Bank ICP survey, same-year pairing, omitted where the survey does not cover the country.
Cost of living and lifestyle
Day to day, Switzerland costs about 112% of the US level, on a World Bank income of $102k per person (PPP, 2025).
That percentage is measured against your country, not against ours. It follows the country picker in the header, or your account if you are signed in. With neither, it falls back to the United States, which is the 100 of the World Bank index, and the sentence says so.
World Bank ICP price level (US=100) and GNI per capita PPP, CC BY 4.0. It is a national average: a capital runs above it and a small town below it.
Getting to Switzerland
Its main airport has non-stop service to 100 airports in the OpenFlights route database.
| From | Routing | Flight time | Cheapest fare |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paris | Non-stop | 1h 10m | €99 |
| Frankfurt | Non-stop | 1h 20m | €496 |
| London | Non-stop | 1h 30m | €74 |
| Amsterdam | Non-stop | 1h 30m | €129 |
| London | Non-stop | 1h 35m | €137 |
| Barcelona | Non-stop | 1h 45m | €41 |
| Madrid | Non-stop | 1h 55m | €79 |
| Dublin | Non-stop | 2h 15m | €185 |
| Dubai | Non-stop | 7h 15m | €829 |
| New York | Non-stop | 7h 45m | €756 |
| Newark | Non-stop | 7h 50m | €966 |
Airports and non-stop routes from OpenFlights (Open Database License). Fares and flight times are cached one-way economy prices from Travelpayouts, the cheapest seen recently rather than a live quote or an average. They move; treat them as an order of magnitude.
What to see in Switzerland
Ordered by how many people looked each place up over the last twelve months, so the list is measured interest and not our taste.
river
Rhine
42,974 readers a month look it up
mountain range
Alps
42,897 readers a month look it up
mountain
Matterhorn
42,659 readers a month look it up
international sport governing body
International Basketball Federation
15,840 readers a month look it up
river
Rhône
15,424 readers a month look it up
mountain
Eiger
13,171 readers a month look it up
glacial lake
Lake Geneva
12,127 readers a month look it up
castle ruin
Habsburg Castle
10,398 readers a month look it up
Photo credits
- Rhine: Jörg Braukmann, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Alps: Terra (EOS AM-1) satellite, PUBLIC DOMAIN, via Wikimedia Commons
- Matterhorn: Gianluca Miscione, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- International Basketball Federation: Christophe Badoux, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Rhône: Chiugoran, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Eiger: qwesy qwesy, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Lake Geneva: kallerna, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Habsburg Castle: Roland Zumbuehl, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The practical basics
- Local time…Central European Time, Europe/Zurich
- CurrencyCHFISO 4217
- LanguagesFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
- PlugsC, J230/400 V 50 Hz
- Safe tap water97%of people on a safely managed supply, World Bank 2024
- UK travel adviceNo blanket warningFCDO, reviewed 2026-08-11
- Population9.1mWorld Bank
Currency codes ISO 4217; plugs and voltage from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); time zone and flag from the countries-states-cities database (ODbL 1.0); travel advice from the UK FCDO (Open Government Licence v3).
How many people visit
Switzerland logged 11.8 million international arrivals in 2019, the last year the World Bank series covers.
World Bank indicator ST.INT.ARVL, international tourism arrivals, CC BY 4.0. Arrivals count trips, not people: the same visitor twice in a year counts twice.
Tax in Switzerland, in one line
Personal income tax runs up to 45 per cent, but a new arrival who qualifies for the Lump-sum (forfait) regime is taxed at 25 per cent. Capital gains: Private capital gains on movable assets tax-exempt; real estate gains taxed at cantonal/communal level.
Tax figures are compiled by us and are being re-verified against primary sources. General information, not tax advice.
Data: World Bank, Open-Meteo, M-Lab, Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, under open licences. General information, not tax or legal advice.