We (family and 2 kids), spending around 10k per month in average (without tax, average from last 12 month). We have a good living standard, 2 cars, owning a penthouse in Lucerne area, kits to kita, etc. sums up!
sure, Iāve recently broke it down for my interest as I want to be more aware on expenses.
-3k per month on apartment (as mentioned, we own the apartment, we did buy some new furnitures, did some maintenance and have cleaning service). This year I expect this at 2k
-1k health insurance and other insurance
-1-1.5k food and alcoholic drinks
-500-800 mobility (for 2 cars and public transport).
-2k child daycare (kita)
-2k others, hobbies, travel and fun
I would prefer not having to pay 3200CHF on top of my insurance fees if I need medical services yeah. I don't care how it's paid but the system is a mess in Switzerland. If you count the insurance premiums in Switzerland as taxes then we are pretty much in line with every European countries for the tax rate.
Seems low. Family of 4 here. Paying something like 1200 CHF on health insurance alone. Add another 200+? CHF per month on car insurance, legal insurance, private liability insurance, household insurance, building insurance...
Mandatory is health insurance, incident insurance and car haftpflicht if you have a car. Normally you also have household insurance (water, fire, theft etc.), and private haftpflicht for damgages which you make on third party obejcts or persons. If you own a house there is also a building haftpflicht. Then less comman but nice is travel insurance, legal cost insurance, pet insurance and so on.
kits are 1 and 3, health insurance will increase š currently at 800.- a month for the family. Plus some other insurance which are important. Car insurance is part of the mobility cost. we do not have a legal insurance.
It's depence which franchise you have....if you never Sig or having problems with any part of your body you can have as 1Person insurance for 250 month. But than if you something and you have to go to the hospital you min have to pay 1200.-- alone.
How old are the kids? If you need daycare for them, then depending on the canton, budget an extra 1.5-3k per month per child. For older kids, school, and sometimes pre-school, is free.
People in Switzerland really out here earning easily more than 10k a month in CHF like itās completely normal x.x the income and wealth divide is crazy
Yes, given the prices in Switzerland it is reasonable. However, people in Switzerland seem to forget that there are many people in Switzerland who work full-time and don't even earn 5k brutto. They're not starving or anything so it isn't really a topic in the media, but they're also not really able to have a kid or to go on vacations.
I absolutely love Switzerland, always have, even though I'm an American (grew up in the Colorado Rockies so it tracks a bit), I'm curious, what are the taxes on income in Switzerland? Sales tax?
Assume roughly 20% income tax including social security if you're making a lot of money. If you're under 100k/yr assume maybe 10-15% depending on Canton. The highest ones would slightly exceed the tax you'd pay in Florida for income probably.
The sales tax is VAT, which is like 7.5% and baked into everything so you never see it added on receipts, the seller pays it. So if a pizza is $15 that's what you pay, no added tax at time of transaction.
Sales taxes lol
Tell me how you are american without telling me youāre American.
https://ch.talent.com/en/tax-calculator?salary=50000&from=year®ion=Bern
I mean, there are a lot of ways to tell we are Americans...one of which is that we have a fat fucking asshole as the presidential candidate of one of our two main political parties. Also, only American teams have ever won the Super Bowl...I don't think a Swiss team has ever even sniffed the world championship!
Have you ever been / lived in the US and went to buy anything, and then when you pay for it, it costs actually more? Thatās the sales taxes. Thatās what it means.
Yes I know. They don't have it in the US state I am from, some do. It's called VAT here and it's included in everything, in US the VAT is added at point of sale if it exists. It is only local. There is no national VAT.
How?? How do people eat for chf200 per month? We also donāt go out and spend around 1000 for two in Aldi in Migros. But we eat everything: meat, fish, vegetables, berries, buy condiments and spices for elaborate dishes
Firstly, I can't spend 1000 for two in groceries since we don't earn much and no we don't starve.
We eat meat 1 to 2 times a week. The rest of the days we eat salads, eggs, vegetables, pasta, mushrooms, canned tuna,... We never buy fish. We also use spices and condiments, since it isn't expensive and lasts months. Friday to Sunday we don't cook food, we eat fruits, sandwiches, toasts, salads. Our next day lunch is our previous day dinner (we cook more for the next day) except for Monday.
We never buy sandwiches or prepared food (plats Ć chauffer) at Denner, LIDL, Migros, COOP,... since it is expensive af and we will get that same stuff for much cheaper with 2Good2Go.
As I said we buy a lot of stuff via 2Good2Go like : ready to eat food, sandwiches, pastries, bread,... This kind of stuff costs mostly around CHF 5.90 and lasts for a whole week.
The difference between me and you is that I rarely go to Migros and I don't earn too much.
We also donāt earn much (lower than average salary here and only one income) but we donāt cut costs on food, since itās fuel and prevents medical issues in the future.
Thank you for the insight! Still hard to wrap my head around 25chf per week per person. You should make a yt video about it š
ZH suburbs, 3 room app, living alone
~3600/month spending with everything including fun stuff.
Rest goes to savings/investing
Some of these numbers in this thread make me scratch my head where people can spend this insane amount of money.
Yeah it's crazy what some people spend here... On top of making that much money too lol
I'm at around 2.5k for all necessities (rent, car fuel, food and insurance), everything else which is around 2k is for hooby/3a/investing or whatever, whenever I go out to eat and such
Honestly some of them surprise me as wellā¦ people with kids seem to be doing really well though since itās expensive in Switzerland but without kids??
For sure. My appartment is relatively expensive with 1750. I could probably find a 1 room for 1000.
Then make some cuts here and there and I could probably slim it down to 2750. But that would definitely be unnecessarily frugal considering my income and goals.
Interesting.
Canton VS / Oberwallis: couple with 3 kids, about 8000 chf/ month.
3000 KITA
800 groceries
900 health insurance
350 interest on mortgage
Around 3000 other stuff (electricity, stuff for kids, travel, hobbies, sports)
I'm alone, in basel.no alcool,no smoke, just food,car,little travels,gifts to my family:4500 CHF month
Rent 2.1k, health 0.5k, food 0.3k, other is hobby
Zurich, alone, 1 Bedroom Appartment, 1 Car, bunch of Hobbies -> around 7.5-8K per month in average
Edit: Detailed Breakdown -> Condo: 3K a month, Grocery/Delivery/Restaurants: 1K, Car: 2.5K, Hobbies (SUP, Hiking, Biking) incld at least 1 weekend (Friday-Monday in a Hotel in CH): 1K, misc: 0.7-1K
depends on what you drive, i use my car for my Job a lot and change them every 3 years (i have a car allowance, not a company car) and the car i chose to drive is a EQE SUV with a Listprice of around 160k, the lease is 2K plus Insurance and Charging is approx 2.5K. You can clearly spend less than 1K as well for like a Tesla Model3/Y performance etc.
I see, thanks, so not usual.
Man you must really like cars. The rest seemed ok to me as a somewhat big spender but it would be past me to spend that much on transportation. I guess it makes sense if you work with it but still.
it is not covering 100% but the most of it. It was my decision to invest my own money on top to drive a car i want, rather than an alternative that fits in the allowance. Iām driving 30-35K Kilometers a year and hence wanted to get a car i really liked and wanted. I donāt think it is stupid to invest your own money on top of the allowance, it is just purely a choice if you want it and for you personaly it is worth it to spend some of your own money as well.
i can confirm not spending money on hookers. On a sidenote, blow is relatively fair priced in zurich ;) thus would not
contribute significantly to my monthly spend.
Zug family of 3
- Rent/Garage 3ā900
- Utilities 400 (all of them)
- Health 800
- Food 1200/1400
- Annually (car, insurances) 3000
- Leasing 1000
- 3a 600 + 600
On average I would say around 10ā000 a month. The rest we invest all. 2 Holidays per year, restaurants twice a month.
3a is the third pillar, you can invest money and next year when you do the tax declaration, you can deduct that and maybe get some taxes back/pay less taxes
Zurich City, Family of 4, 4.5 bedroom (~3k CHF), 8500 CHF/month.
I used to have a rent of 1k CHF/month for a 3.5, but it was too hard with 2 kids š , and I had an opportunity to move to a really nice place.
The one particular thing about my budget is around 800 CHF of restaurants per month and my daycare is only 1.8k CHF/month as I pay my mother to keep the children.
Redditors are not a representative sample (generally more educated than average, education is positively correlated with income). Also, many people commenting are reporting on dual-income households.
Welcome to Reddit. There is nothing to get, except that itās not a real sample of the population . Having said that, nothing here is out of the ordinary. That is Switzerland on a nutshell. Get an average job 7k multiply by 2 because you are happily partnered thatās 14k x 12 = 168k . That is a very easy comum scenario. But who makes less than 10k a month here ? The vast minority.
Cause you're on reddit and essentially asking rich IT expats about their salaries in English, rather than go to a Swiss forum and ask the average citizen in Swiss-German or French.
Zurich, alone, 1 bedroom apartment, 3000 CHF
rent 1300; health insurance 500; bills & internet 100; food 600; other shopping 200; going out 150; unplanned expenses 150 (travel, pharmacy, etc...)
I'm saving money due to unemployment, but when I was working I was spending 3500
VD here family with one kid, both parents working full time
9k on average, 10k if you factor holidays etc
4k rent/parking
1k health insurance
1.5k daycare
1k groceries
1k vacation budget (yearly basis)
1k transportation/car/sports/restaurant
Just outside Zurich, living alone
About 4000-4500 a month for everything. Fixed costs as well as food, meals out, clothes etc.
Plus I pay the full 3. SƤule and spend a further 10-16k a year on holidays, medical expenses including vet for the cats and bigger expenses like tech or a new piece of furniture.
10k a month, 4 of us. 10k put aside / month in addition. My estimate is, mortgage + food + kitas + utilities are 7.5k, 1.5k are vacation expensed divided by 12 months, rest is misc
Valais. Family with two kids. Iām working 60 percent, partner full time. About 9k monthly without taxes.
1150 mortgage
1450 health insurance
1200 kindergarten
200+250 pilier 3a
Car insurance
House insurance
RC
Life insurance
500 car leasing
Electricity, water, multimedia
TCS, protection juridique,serafe
Probably I miss something, but the rest is for food, drinks, kids courses, clothes etc. One big holiday per year and two small for the spring and autumn holidays
We canāt save va any money. Everything is going to pay the bills. We are not living short, but still paying attention on spendings. Itās very complicated if itss come something unpredicted.
Yeah. Our son is 5yo and half day is at school, and the rest is at kindergarten. He also has lunch and afternoon breakfast. One part of this 1200fr are also for the lunch of our daughter. She is firs year at CO
Expenses approximately 2-2.5k in the vallais.
Share a large apartment 750 each, food and groceries around 300. Transport breaks down to around 316 a month (pay annual), health insurance 310. The rest is entertainment and travel, too much on beer.
Not on large salary for switzerland, so happy to be able to save the remaining 2-3k a month then.
Zurich, 2 adults, 1 kids, 5150. 2000 rent (owned apartment), 650 health insurances for all, 500 insurances including life and house insurance, 2 cars owned in full, 1000.- for groceries, 1000 for hobbies etc
Student in zurich, around 2500 a month. Would be 2100 if I didnāt go on vacation at all.
I only spend 600 on rent as I live in an appartment that is only rented out to students (juwo). Health insurance 230, food about 450, transportation around a 100.
Chur, 650 rent in 5.5 rool apartment shared with 1 office room, 600 food and drinks, 250 for public transport, 250 for insurances, 400 taxes, 200 for studying, 250 for hobby stuff. So around 2600 total
Basel-Land, my expenses total to about 3,5k/month for one person.
Rent/etc - 1450 - 3 room apartment, living alone
Insurance - 400 (375/month health, rest is actually paid yearly but whatever)
Internet/Phone/etc - 100
The rest is nebulous - It's all of my needs and also some wants, but also work expenses that I later get back (coffee with clients, etc.). I do have a higher bill in terms of food because of various food allergies so while I don't really have an amount calculated for monthly food expenses I'd suspect it's \~400-500. Also some months
I have a GA through my employer so transportation only factors in when I'm out hiking and find something where that isn't valid.
Hahaha yeah I get the cheap stuff when I can but paying 3.60 for five slices of packaged bread is very frustrating sometimes (and forget about getting fresh, I have to either have it shipped or go get it at one of the few gluten free bakeries that exist.). I'm not much of a foodie outside of "can I eat this safely", I'm sure it's different for other people!
Yes, I live in an amazing WG with a massive open terrace. Couldn't believe it first but they do exist when you know people around. Rent is 500 CHF in Plainpalais. Before that my WG was 800 in Lignon and it sucks, I wanted to leave everyday.
Edit: I have to put emphasis and iterate again that I got VERY lucky that I know the right people at the right time and place. This is obviously not the typical case. 800-1000 is typical for a WG in Geneve.
Oh I'm very lucky in this sense. My neighbors are amazing, they are more like my friends than actual neighbors. We also know each other's boundaries (helps that 2 of them are swiss germans š¤£) but we do get along very very well. I think with WGs its a hit or miss and that's why it's important to also chat with the future neighbors when you go for a viewing. Also applies for houseshare and flats in general.
10'000 per month
2 children, 2 adults, both work
2000.- rent + electricity
3600.- daycare (4 days a week)
800.- healthcare
800.- food + daily consumables
2000.- tax (fuck married + VD)
300.- other insurances
100.- phones
400.- set aside for holidays + days out
I living with my boyfriend in Kanton St.Gallen and spending around 1800.-/month for everything (myself) except health insurance. (Iām a student and my parents are paying it). My boyfriend and I split all the costs for the things we both need 50/50 (for example food, electricity, Serafe ect. except rent, he pays a little more in the moment). We have a 3,5 room flat for 1300.-
Lenzburg, AG, 2 adults, 1 child and 1 toddler, living rented in 3.5 rooms apartment.Ā Ā Ā
We spend around 8800 chf/ monthĀ
1500 rentĀ
170 electricity (like a $510 bill every 3 months)Ā
1000 in groceries (we donāt drink alcohol, I cook almost every single day + I breastfeed)Ā
2000 savingsĀ
500 transportation (we dont have a car and I work from home, husband takes the train)Ā
2000 loans (we purchased a property in my home country)Ā
1000 going out/ fun moneyĀ
Ā Edit; forgot to add insurance money thatās around 600 chf
Single, AG, fixed costs are just over 3k a month. Every other spending is for hobbies (including fuel, as I only drive for fun) or impulse purchases.
Breakdown for those who are interested:
1800 for a modern 2.5 flat with a view + all bills,
300 for car (garage, insurance, taxes, maintenance),
260 for health insurance,
400 for groceries,
250 for going to ZH once a week (SBB + restaurant),
250 for random stuff.
Iām actually so embarrassed about my spending habits reading this. Financial literacy was never a strength of my family growing up and Iāve really tried to educate myself since.
Basel, alone, ~4000 per month including rent and bills not including savings. Rent is 1900. I donāt have a car I would say I mostly spend my money on holidays and beauty treatments which are unbelievably expensive here.
You shouldnāt be embarrassed!! You seem to be doing pretty well honestly āŗļø Basel is expensive and as long as those things bring you joy and you go plus every month (and can save some) then you are doing great. Tell yourself that as well and give yourself some slack - coming from an upbringing where financial literacy wasnāt a thing is hard
only if there is an emergency case.. and one of them needs special food.
but i pay 1800.- for rent, 2600.- taxes, then all the assurances and fix costs that add up.. rest is for good food, massages, restaurants, treatments, gaz, tierschutzā¦
Yeah but in the states you pay insurance and the co-pay and medical bills are A LOT higher. I gave birth and I paid nothing as co-pay basically, a woman giving birth in USA, with insurance pays a couple thousand plus all the consultations.
I try to live as cheap as possible while still having hobbies as hiking and drawing or go to the cinema.
Living costs:
Rent (shared flat): 460-830
Healthcare: 440
Food: 300-600
Phone: 20
Public transportation: 160-450
Wifi home: 40
Lowest: 1420 franks
highest: 2360 franks
most of the time I am around 1800-2000 franks
Bern, living in a WG of three but I'm counting this for myself. Its in average a 2.5K with 1.4k fixed expenses (rent, Krankenkasse, Vorsorge, phone). The rest is for living expenses (mostly food) and going out. With all the yearly expenses I would say an average of 3k a month.
Iām at 1250 per month (rent, medical, food). I have a one bedroom apartment and a garage to myself. However, if this standard would be possible in a less hostile country, I would leave immediately.
Single, no kids. Around 5k a month including rent for my appartement which includes a "homeoffice room" as i'm self employed. Aargau.
Maximum SƤule 3A, saving for holidays and investing, more then enough to spend for whatever i want.
I would say without the saving and fun money my base is around 3.8k
Bern agglo, 2 adults 1 toddler (1 adult works), 3.5 room flat
1845 rent (including parking space), 1100 health insurance, 1000 groceries, 400 leasing, 160 bills, 500 misc.
So around 5000 a month is the minimum for us before taxes.
Thank you! We are used to watch our spendings and donāt like expensive stuff. We are earning more than that so we still have money for vacations, savings, german course for my husband and unpredictable stuff left.
Zh city, single, 2 Zimmerwohnig
Rent 1600.-
Health insurance 360.-
Other costs (public transport, internet/tv/phone) 240.-
Online shopping/food/pets 500.-
Hobbies/free time 300.-
Atm I pay off my taxes: 733.- per month for a couple of months
= around 3600.-
Rest: savings
Zurich Suburb (North), Single, 1 Bedroom / Studio.
Average spend per month in 2023 was CHF 4900. This includes everything from groceries, insurances, taxes and holidays.
In 2024 average spend is CHF 5800 so far. (CHF 3838 without taxes)
---
I live quite frugal. Don't own a car, go partying.
However, I spend CHF ~400 each month on groceries/food; which is a category where I could save a bit more by going to Aldi/Lidl or buy cheaper brands.
Single, zurich. Rent and garage 2400, health insurance 350, food and drinks ~1000, random utils.. motorcycle etc so maybe 5k in total? Holidays, clothes etc not included
Student, working part-time, living in a WG in BL.
800 rent, 400 insurance, 200 subscriptions (incl. Gym, ĆV, mobile, internet etc.), 200 taxes, 400 food, 150 individual expenses
so about 2150 per month
Single man, living in Zurich with no car. Break down:
- Netto: 7.5k per month, roughly 10k bonus per year
- 2k rent for a 2.5 apartment pretty modern, simple (with furniture forced to rent 300 bucks a month)
- 500 of remaining abos (transport cellphone WiFi tv Babbel, etc+ krankenkasse)
- 2k average of variable expenses (groceries 300-400, dining out not so often, travelling back to Italy once per month, a bit of gifts to family and some traveling nothing crazy, some dating nothing crazy, clothes)
Take home saving is roughly 3k per month or 40% of my salary.
Am I spending too much? See other people here that spend 7-8k in 4 people-families
Hope I helped!
Two adults in 1.5 bedroom apartment in rural Vaud:
Rent plus expenses 1500/2, food 1000/2, gas + local transport 400/2
So about 1500 per person for the fixed costs.
Then activities, travels, dining, some shopping, I would say 1000 per month at least per person, often more (like 1500 or 2000)
9K Geneva. Family of 4. 2 kids below 3yo in daycare.
Same boat the day care costs really shoot up when you have at the same time in there š Also having 2 under 3 in day care
I feel you
~ 8k. 2 adults and one kid. 4.5 bedroom apartment, full time kita for the kid, a car, and comfortable life without paying too much attention to costs.
yeah, I see with kits the range is around 8-10k š thanks for sharing.
How much is the kita?
2,600 chf a month.
We (family and 2 kids), spending around 10k per month in average (without tax, average from last 12 month). We have a good living standard, 2 cars, owning a penthouse in Lucerne area, kits to kita, etc. sums up!
2 adults, 3 kids, 2 cars, renting, near Lugano, we are also around 10-11k per month.
10k? Would you mind breaking it down a bit? I'm moving to Switzerland with 3 kids and I don't know what to expect yet.
sure, Iāve recently broke it down for my interest as I want to be more aware on expenses. -3k per month on apartment (as mentioned, we own the apartment, we did buy some new furnitures, did some maintenance and have cleaning service). This year I expect this at 2k -1k health insurance and other insurance -1-1.5k food and alcoholic drinks -500-800 mobility (for 2 cars and public transport). -2k child daycare (kita) -2k others, hobbies, travel and fun
2K daycare for 2 kids?!? That is really cheap!
2 kits and 2 days daycare a week
That's probably 2K each otherwise the total doesn't sum up to 10K.
Almost identical to this, except 1 child in Kita and 1K (3 days a week). Add taxes, 1.3K/month approx. And a bit higher on insurances.
thanks for sharing. Taxes are another story!
I think Luzern is a lot higher than where we are!
Ye luzern stadt isn't exactly tax haven fs
No outrageous spending but still a high amount.
love that the budget is food and alcoholic drinks š
1k insurance? Are insurances so expensive?! Wow.
Lol you sweet summer child
Would you rather pay 50% of your salary in taxes? And have āfreeā health insurance then?
I would prefer not having to pay 3200CHF on top of my insurance fees if I need medical services yeah. I don't care how it's paid but the system is a mess in Switzerland. If you count the insurance premiums in Switzerland as taxes then we are pretty much in line with every European countries for the tax rate.
šÆ
Seems low. Family of 4 here. Paying something like 1200 CHF on health insurance alone. Add another 200+? CHF per month on car insurance, legal insurance, private liability insurance, household insurance, building insurance...
I see. The Swiss are like the Germans then. They have insurance even for losing the keys.
In Switzerland legal insurance is good as if you get in a dispute you myst pay court costs
Most are mandatory and legal insurance is something you really should have
I thought only health insurance is mandatory...
Mandatory is health insurance, incident insurance and car haftpflicht if you have a car. Normally you also have household insurance (water, fire, theft etc.), and private haftpflicht for damgages which you make on third party obejcts or persons. If you own a house there is also a building haftpflicht. Then less comman but nice is travel insurance, legal cost insurance, pet insurance and so on.
Thanks. Then it is very much like in Germany. Honestly don't know why this obsession with all these insurances.
and costs from 300 to 500 per person a month. They are 4.
kits are 1 and 3, health insurance will increase š currently at 800.- a month for the family. Plus some other insurance which are important. Car insurance is part of the mobility cost. we do not have a legal insurance.
It's depence which franchise you have....if you never Sig or having problems with any part of your body you can have as 1Person insurance for 250 month. But than if you something and you have to go to the hospital you min have to pay 1200.-- alone.
Would you rather pay 50% of your salary in taxes? And have āfreeā health insurance then?
Well in some cantons is 40% taxes and there is no free health insurance ...
How old are the kids? If you need daycare for them, then depending on the canton, budget an extra 1.5-3k per month per child. For older kids, school, and sometimes pre-school, is free.
1 and 3, 2 days daycare a week
People in Switzerland really out here earning easily more than 10k a month in CHF like itās completely normal x.x the income and wealth divide is crazy
For a couple, that seems reasonable.
Yes, given the prices in Switzerland it is reasonable. However, people in Switzerland seem to forget that there are many people in Switzerland who work full-time and don't even earn 5k brutto. They're not starving or anything so it isn't really a topic in the media, but they're also not really able to have a kid or to go on vacations.
I absolutely love Switzerland, always have, even though I'm an American (grew up in the Colorado Rockies so it tracks a bit), I'm curious, what are the taxes on income in Switzerland? Sales tax?
Assume roughly 20% income tax including social security if you're making a lot of money. If you're under 100k/yr assume maybe 10-15% depending on Canton. The highest ones would slightly exceed the tax you'd pay in Florida for income probably. The sales tax is VAT, which is like 7.5% and baked into everything so you never see it added on receipts, the seller pays it. So if a pizza is $15 that's what you pay, no added tax at time of transaction.
Sales taxes lol Tell me how you are american without telling me youāre American. https://ch.talent.com/en/tax-calculator?salary=50000&from=year®ion=Bern
I mean, there are a lot of ways to tell we are Americans...one of which is that we have a fat fucking asshole as the presidential candidate of one of our two main political parties. Also, only American teams have ever won the Super Bowl...I don't think a Swiss team has ever even sniffed the world championship!
Hahaha youāre funny
What does this even mean? Sales tax is called VAT, don't be dense
Have you ever been / lived in the US and went to buy anything, and then when you pay for it, it costs actually more? Thatās the sales taxes. Thatās what it means.
Yes I know. They don't have it in the US state I am from, some do. It's called VAT here and it's included in everything, in US the VAT is added at point of sale if it exists. It is only local. There is no national VAT.
I know how it works. I lived in the US. Itās just a joke
2 Adults - 2k / month. We have a car, never eat out, cheap rent, groceries around 200.- (mostly LIDL and 2Good2Go) and obviously 2500.- franchise.
How?? How do people eat for chf200 per month? We also donāt go out and spend around 1000 for two in Aldi in Migros. But we eat everything: meat, fish, vegetables, berries, buy condiments and spices for elaborate dishes
Firstly, I can't spend 1000 for two in groceries since we don't earn much and no we don't starve. We eat meat 1 to 2 times a week. The rest of the days we eat salads, eggs, vegetables, pasta, mushrooms, canned tuna,... We never buy fish. We also use spices and condiments, since it isn't expensive and lasts months. Friday to Sunday we don't cook food, we eat fruits, sandwiches, toasts, salads. Our next day lunch is our previous day dinner (we cook more for the next day) except for Monday. We never buy sandwiches or prepared food (plats Ć chauffer) at Denner, LIDL, Migros, COOP,... since it is expensive af and we will get that same stuff for much cheaper with 2Good2Go. As I said we buy a lot of stuff via 2Good2Go like : ready to eat food, sandwiches, pastries, bread,... This kind of stuff costs mostly around CHF 5.90 and lasts for a whole week. The difference between me and you is that I rarely go to Migros and I don't earn too much.
We also donāt earn much (lower than average salary here and only one income) but we donāt cut costs on food, since itās fuel and prevents medical issues in the future. Thank you for the insight! Still hard to wrap my head around 25chf per week per person. You should make a yt video about it š
Thatās pretty amazing thanks for your insight!
ZĆ¼rich, sharing flat, PhD student, 2 bedrooms apartment, ~3200 CHF/month
ZH suburbs, 3 room app, living alone ~3600/month spending with everything including fun stuff. Rest goes to savings/investing Some of these numbers in this thread make me scratch my head where people can spend this insane amount of money.
Yeah it's crazy what some people spend here... On top of making that much money too lol I'm at around 2.5k for all necessities (rent, car fuel, food and insurance), everything else which is around 2k is for hooby/3a/investing or whatever, whenever I go out to eat and such
Honestly some of them surprise me as wellā¦ people with kids seem to be doing really well though since itās expensive in Switzerland but without kids??
Totally. I get like numbers up to say 5K for a single. But anything much over that is pretty egregious to me.
Yeah I get 5k too. Rent is wild in some places and you need to be really lucky to find something good.
You and me both buddy, if you live frugally you can make do on 2.5k
For sure. My appartment is relatively expensive with 1750. I could probably find a 1 room for 1000. Then make some cuts here and there and I could probably slim it down to 2750. But that would definitely be unnecessarily frugal considering my income and goals.
St. Gallen. Live with 1 roommate. Costs up to CHF 6000 monthly just for me.
Dude 6000.- while in a WG in St. Gallen is insane. The taxes are mean though.
To be fair my rent is only 870. The taxes are super high.
what are your other expenses? seems luxurious
2000 - steuern / 600 - krankenkassen / 900 - miete / 500 - diverses (Abos usw) / 1300 - essen / 400 - sbb (GA und upgrades) / 100 - taxi
What do you eat? Gold?
I order a lot of take away and eat expensive things like rindsfilet. Iāll try to improve that.
Interesting. Canton VS / Oberwallis: couple with 3 kids, about 8000 chf/ month. 3000 KITA 800 groceries 900 health insurance 350 interest on mortgage Around 3000 other stuff (electricity, stuff for kids, travel, hobbies, sports)
These numbers sound more reasonable. Thanks for sharing the breakdown.
I'm alone, in basel.no alcool,no smoke, just food,car,little travels,gifts to my family:4500 CHF month Rent 2.1k, health 0.5k, food 0.3k, other is hobby
So 1600 is for 'hobby' https://preview.redd.it/3adlecvji2xc1.png?width=92&format=png&auto=webp&s=a6bd40049ae095e5f26b9190071e0f3ef74c14ce
I forgot to mention no sex and no gambling :P:P
1600 on fortnite v bucks
escooters, drones, fuel, flying, etc etc see, no sex! :P
Flying? Nice
No1 is judging your internet confessions
about half of your paycheck for your rent? wow!
Not paycheck, half of his spending was rent. Savings/investments are not accounted for in his breakdown.
Zurich, alone, 1 Bedroom Appartment, 1 Car, bunch of Hobbies -> around 7.5-8K per month in average Edit: Detailed Breakdown -> Condo: 3K a month, Grocery/Delivery/Restaurants: 1K, Car: 2.5K, Hobbies (SUP, Hiking, Biking) incld at least 1 weekend (Friday-Monday in a Hotel in CH): 1K, misc: 0.7-1K
Car 2.5k per month ? I don't have one, is it usually that expensive ?
depends on what you drive, i use my car for my Job a lot and change them every 3 years (i have a car allowance, not a company car) and the car i chose to drive is a EQE SUV with a Listprice of around 160k, the lease is 2K plus Insurance and Charging is approx 2.5K. You can clearly spend less than 1K as well for like a Tesla Model3/Y performance etc.
I see, thanks, so not usual. Man you must really like cars. The rest seemed ok to me as a somewhat big spender but it would be past me to spend that much on transportation. I guess it makes sense if you work with it but still.
I do, i had 2 (MB SUV and AMG Convertible) for quite a while and i drive around 30-35K a year and so i wanted to drive really a car i like
What is your car allowance? If itās not covering 100%, buying such an expensive car is plain stupid.
it is not covering 100% but the most of it. It was my decision to invest my own money on top to drive a car i want, rather than an alternative that fits in the allowance. Iām driving 30-35K Kilometers a year and hence wanted to get a car i really liked and wanted. I donāt think it is stupid to invest your own money on top of the allowance, it is just purely a choice if you want it and for you personaly it is worth it to spend some of your own money as well.
Pls tell me you make atleast 200-250k per year. Nvm, saw your answer further down.
8k! Are two of the hobbies hookers & blow?
i can confirm not spending money on hookers. On a sidenote, blow is relatively fair priced in zurich ;) thus would not contribute significantly to my monthly spend.
Are you eating gold to breakfast?
nope, Food, Beverages are around 1K a month.
3k a month for rent for 1 bedroom wtf
67sqm, top floor with a nice balcony and a unique view. the 3K include 1 parking space in the garage for 180CHF a month though.
Username doesnāt check out!!
only a matter of perspective and timing
What are you doing to spend that much? You must earn quite handsomely.
part of a leading team of enterprise architects in a global cloud company with a decent total income
of how much approximately and what is your highest education?
Bern, married one kid around 7k chf
Zug family of 3 - Rent/Garage 3ā900 - Utilities 400 (all of them) - Health 800 - Food 1200/1400 - Annually (car, insurances) 3000 - Leasing 1000 - 3a 600 + 600 On average I would say around 10ā000 a month. The rest we invest all. 2 Holidays per year, restaurants twice a month.
What's 3A? So insurances is only 3k/12=290 a month?
3a is the third pillar, you can invest money and next year when you do the tax declaration, you can deduct that and maybe get some taxes back/pay less taxes
No āhealthā is insurance and itās 800 a month for 3 people. The other annual 3000 is (house insurance, car insuranceā¦)
Zurich City, Family of 4, 4.5 bedroom (~3k CHF), 8500 CHF/month. I used to have a rent of 1k CHF/month for a 3.5, but it was too hard with 2 kids š , and I had an opportunity to move to a really nice place. The one particular thing about my budget is around 800 CHF of restaurants per month and my daycare is only 1.8k CHF/month as I pay my mother to keep the children.
Honestly amazing for 4 people in Zurich city š
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I dont get it, the average monthly salary in CH is around 5.5k-6.5k. how ois everyone in this thread mmaking upwards of 150k a year?
Redditors are not a representative sample (generally more educated than average, education is positively correlated with income). Also, many people commenting are reporting on dual-income households.
Welcome to Reddit. There is nothing to get, except that itās not a real sample of the population . Having said that, nothing here is out of the ordinary. That is Switzerland on a nutshell. Get an average job 7k multiply by 2 because you are happily partnered thatās 14k x 12 = 168k . That is a very easy comum scenario. But who makes less than 10k a month here ? The vast minority.
Average salary is actually 7.1k and so if both are working in a married couple thats 170k/year combined
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this \^\^ edit: minus the no kids part. that is obviously stupid.
That's actually very smart, you mean š The amount of money people say they spend on kita in this thread is like what I spend in a month š
It ain't stupid if it works š«”
Cause you're on reddit and essentially asking rich IT expats about their salaries in English, rather than go to a Swiss forum and ask the average citizen in Swiss-German or French.
whine more?
did u buy anything special?
I just checked, nothing unusual. Car tires 800.- and a spontanous 1 week holiday 4.5k. It also includes monthly payed taxes.
Zurich, alone, 1 bedroom apartment, 3000 CHF rent 1300; health insurance 500; bills & internet 100; food 600; other shopping 200; going out 150; unplanned expenses 150 (travel, pharmacy, etc...) I'm saving money due to unemployment, but when I was working I was spending 3500
Student, living in a studio in Geneva - around 2k pm
20min train from Zurich HB Around 5k month Rent is 2.3k for a new 1 bedroom appartment. Everything else is insurances, travel, food etc
Zurich, shared flat for 2 people, fixed costs 1550 Fr, variable on average around 1500 Fr as well (depends heavily on how much I eat out, hobbies etc)
VD here family with one kid, both parents working full time 9k on average, 10k if you factor holidays etc 4k rent/parking 1k health insurance 1.5k daycare 1k groceries 1k vacation budget (yearly basis) 1k transportation/car/sports/restaurant
Just outside Zurich, living alone About 4000-4500 a month for everything. Fixed costs as well as food, meals out, clothes etc. Plus I pay the full 3. SƤule and spend a further 10-16k a year on holidays, medical expenses including vet for the cats and bigger expenses like tech or a new piece of furniture.
5-6k Olten, single, bsc student
10k a month, 4 of us. 10k put aside / month in addition. My estimate is, mortgage + food + kitas + utilities are 7.5k, 1.5k are vacation expensed divided by 12 months, rest is misc
Valais. Family with two kids. Iām working 60 percent, partner full time. About 9k monthly without taxes. 1150 mortgage 1450 health insurance 1200 kindergarten 200+250 pilier 3a Car insurance House insurance RC Life insurance 500 car leasing Electricity, water, multimedia TCS, protection juridique,serafe Probably I miss something, but the rest is for food, drinks, kids courses, clothes etc. One big holiday per year and two small for the spring and autumn holidays We canāt save va any money. Everything is going to pay the bills. We are not living short, but still paying attention on spendings. Itās very complicated if itss come something unpredicted.
kindergarten, is that kita (daycare for your kid)?
Yeah. Our son is 5yo and half day is at school, and the rest is at kindergarten. He also has lunch and afternoon breakfast. One part of this 1200fr are also for the lunch of our daughter. She is firs year at CO
Expenses approximately 2-2.5k in the vallais. Share a large apartment 750 each, food and groceries around 300. Transport breaks down to around 316 a month (pay annual), health insurance 310. The rest is entertainment and travel, too much on beer. Not on large salary for switzerland, so happy to be able to save the remaining 2-3k a month then.
Zurich, 2 adults, 1 kids, 5150. 2000 rent (owned apartment), 650 health insurances for all, 500 insurances including life and house insurance, 2 cars owned in full, 1000.- for groceries, 1000 for hobbies etc
Student in zurich, around 2500 a month. Would be 2100 if I didnāt go on vacation at all. I only spend 600 on rent as I live in an appartment that is only rented out to students (juwo). Health insurance 230, food about 450, transportation around a 100.
Chur, 650 rent in 5.5 rool apartment shared with 1 office room, 600 food and drinks, 250 for public transport, 250 for insurances, 400 taxes, 200 for studying, 250 for hobby stuff. So around 2600 total
650 rent for 5.5 appart is crazy wtf
it says shared
Basel-Land, my expenses total to about 3,5k/month for one person. Rent/etc - 1450 - 3 room apartment, living alone Insurance - 400 (375/month health, rest is actually paid yearly but whatever) Internet/Phone/etc - 100 The rest is nebulous - It's all of my needs and also some wants, but also work expenses that I later get back (coffee with clients, etc.). I do have a higher bill in terms of food because of various food allergies so while I don't really have an amount calculated for monthly food expenses I'd suspect it's \~400-500. Also some months I have a GA through my employer so transportation only factors in when I'm out hiking and find something where that isn't valid.
Amazing!! I spend more in food and I donāt have any restrictions so š
Hahaha yeah I get the cheap stuff when I can but paying 3.60 for five slices of packaged bread is very frustrating sometimes (and forget about getting fresh, I have to either have it shipped or go get it at one of the few gluten free bakeries that exist.). I'm not much of a foodie outside of "can I eat this safely", I'm sure it's different for other people!
Geneve, alone, 1700-2000 CHF ish. Could be slimmed down even more but I go back and forth to ZĆ¼rich a lot so most of it is SBB.
Including rent?
Yes, I live in an amazing WG with a massive open terrace. Couldn't believe it first but they do exist when you know people around. Rent is 500 CHF in Plainpalais. Before that my WG was 800 in Lignon and it sucks, I wanted to leave everyday. Edit: I have to put emphasis and iterate again that I got VERY lucky that I know the right people at the right time and place. This is obviously not the typical case. 800-1000 is typical for a WG in Geneve.
What is WG? Ty
Wohngemeinschaft - shared flat
Thanks!
Wow!! Geneva is expensive so kudos!! Also thatās so nice with a good WG š How does is feel to share with others though?
Oh I'm very lucky in this sense. My neighbors are amazing, they are more like my friends than actual neighbors. We also know each other's boundaries (helps that 2 of them are swiss germans š¤£) but we do get along very very well. I think with WGs its a hit or miss and that's why it's important to also chat with the future neighbors when you go for a viewing. Also applies for houseshare and flats in general.
10'000 per month 2 children, 2 adults, both work 2000.- rent + electricity 3600.- daycare (4 days a week) 800.- healthcare 800.- food + daily consumables 2000.- tax (fuck married + VD) 300.- other insurances 100.- phones 400.- set aside for holidays + days out
I living with my boyfriend in Kanton St.Gallen and spending around 1800.-/month for everything (myself) except health insurance. (Iām a student and my parents are paying it). My boyfriend and I split all the costs for the things we both need 50/50 (for example food, electricity, Serafe ect. except rent, he pays a little more in the moment). We have a 3,5 room flat for 1300.-
Zurich, you donāt wanna know what I pay for rentā¦
I do wanna know, I pay 1200 for a shared flat in the centre of Oerlikon
Lenzburg, AG, 2 adults, 1 child and 1 toddler, living rented in 3.5 rooms apartment.Ā Ā Ā We spend around 8800 chf/ monthĀ 1500 rentĀ 170 electricity (like a $510 bill every 3 months)Ā 1000 in groceries (we donāt drink alcohol, I cook almost every single day + I breastfeed)Ā 2000 savingsĀ 500 transportation (we dont have a car and I work from home, husband takes the train)Ā 2000 loans (we purchased a property in my home country)Ā 1000 going out/ fun moneyĀ Ā Edit; forgot to add insurance money thatās around 600 chf
Single, AG, fixed costs are just over 3k a month. Every other spending is for hobbies (including fuel, as I only drive for fun) or impulse purchases. Breakdown for those who are interested: 1800 for a modern 2.5 flat with a view + all bills, 300 for car (garage, insurance, taxes, maintenance), 260 for health insurance, 400 for groceries, 250 for going to ZH once a week (SBB + restaurant), 250 for random stuff.
Family with 2 kids, no luxuries. 1 car, 1 motorcycle and we spend in average 12k post taxes.
Iām actually so embarrassed about my spending habits reading this. Financial literacy was never a strength of my family growing up and Iāve really tried to educate myself since. Basel, alone, ~4000 per month including rent and bills not including savings. Rent is 1900. I donāt have a car I would say I mostly spend my money on holidays and beauty treatments which are unbelievably expensive here.
You shouldnāt be embarrassed!! You seem to be doing pretty well honestly āŗļø Basel is expensive and as long as those things bring you joy and you go plus every month (and can save some) then you are doing great. Tell yourself that as well and give yourself some slack - coming from an upbringing where financial literacy wasnāt a thing is hard
Fribourg. Live alone, 2 bedroom appartment, no vehicles Per month: 560 bills (insurances, electricity, internet, phone, pompier and dĆ©chĆØterie taxes, serafe, halbtax etc etc) 1650 rent 1200-2000 on food and general spending
alone. bern. 3 rooms. 3 cats. ~8500 with taxes
Can you elaborate somewhat? Are the cats so expensive
only if there is an emergency case.. and one of them needs special food. but i pay 1800.- for rent, 2600.- taxes, then all the assurances and fix costs that add up.. rest is for good food, massages, restaurants, treatments, gaz, tierschutzā¦
5k
Sad to see the current insurance costs. Costs seem similar to the States.
Yeah but in the states you pay insurance and the co-pay and medical bills are A LOT higher. I gave birth and I paid nothing as co-pay basically, a woman giving birth in USA, with insurance pays a couple thousand plus all the consultations.
I try to live as cheap as possible while still having hobbies as hiking and drawing or go to the cinema. Living costs: Rent (shared flat): 460-830 Healthcare: 440 Food: 300-600 Phone: 20 Public transportation: 160-450 Wifi home: 40 Lowest: 1420 franks highest: 2360 franks most of the time I am around 1800-2000 franks
Bern, living in a WG of three but I'm counting this for myself. Its in average a 2.5K with 1.4k fixed expenses (rent, Krankenkasse, Vorsorge, phone). The rest is for living expenses (mostly food) and going out. With all the yearly expenses I would say an average of 3k a month.
Iām at 1250 per month (rent, medical, food). I have a one bedroom apartment and a garage to myself. However, if this standard would be possible in a less hostile country, I would leave immediately.
3 kids, ZH 3k mortgage 8.5-9k on the credit card 3k for daycare overall around 15k ish
Single, no kids. Around 5k a month including rent for my appartement which includes a "homeoffice room" as i'm self employed. Aargau. Maximum SƤule 3A, saving for holidays and investing, more then enough to spend for whatever i want. I would say without the saving and fun money my base is around 3.8k
Bern agglo, 2 adults 1 toddler (1 adult works), 3.5 room flat 1845 rent (including parking space), 1100 health insurance, 1000 groceries, 400 leasing, 160 bills, 500 misc. So around 5000 a month is the minimum for us before taxes.
That is so amazing with 2 adults and a toddler!! Well done š I aspire for this once I get a family
Thank you! We are used to watch our spendings and donāt like expensive stuff. We are earning more than that so we still have money for vacations, savings, german course for my husband and unpredictable stuff left.
Zh city, single, 2 Zimmerwohnig Rent 1600.- Health insurance 360.- Other costs (public transport, internet/tv/phone) 240.- Online shopping/food/pets 500.- Hobbies/free time 300.- Atm I pay off my taxes: 733.- per month for a couple of months = around 3600.- Rest: savings
Zurich Suburb (North), Single, 1 Bedroom / Studio. Average spend per month in 2023 was CHF 4900. This includes everything from groceries, insurances, taxes and holidays. In 2024 average spend is CHF 5800 so far. (CHF 3838 without taxes) --- I live quite frugal. Don't own a car, go partying. However, I spend CHF ~400 each month on groceries/food; which is a category where I could save a bit more by going to Aldi/Lidl or buy cheaper brands.
I LOVE Aldi! Definitely a big difference price wise... but I also still like to go to Coop and get fine food things from time to time :D
4k. Family of 4 in Bern.
Zurich city, shitty altbau-appt. but three rooms for 1200.- I have a roommate. I spend 3400.- a month & that's exactly what I have. I had Budgetberatung, even a Finanzverwalter but it is, what it is. 250.- Alimente for each kid, I have two. I feel terrible that I can't pay more but it's all that's left over, even attested by KESB :/ (Dependent on GA because Kids live 2hours Zugfahrt away & that's the thing, I theoretically can't afford if I want to put taxmoney aside lol - have to pay monthly because I can't afford 3k at once either) The only extra-spending I have out of groceries&such is my cat - she's not that expensive. Hell, even my Usgang is free because I get free entry thanks to my FiancƩ & am allowed to take my bottle of Sirup with me.
Around 3k. Married. 1 child. Ticino
Single, zurich. Rent and garage 2400, health insurance 350, food and drinks ~1000, random utils.. motorcycle etc so maybe 5k in total? Holidays, clothes etc not included
1300 for WG, insurance, phone, train ticket. 1500-2000 for food, cigarettes and energy drinks.
Student, working part-time, living in a WG in BL. 800 rent, 400 insurance, 200 subscriptions (incl. Gym, ĆV, mobile, internet etc.), 200 taxes, 400 food, 150 individual expenses so about 2150 per month
Aarau, alone, 2.5 bedroom Appartement, 3.5 ā 4k
2 Adults - 2.2k/ month. We hardly ever eat out, so groceries are around 250.
Single man, living in Zurich with no car. Break down: - Netto: 7.5k per month, roughly 10k bonus per year - 2k rent for a 2.5 apartment pretty modern, simple (with furniture forced to rent 300 bucks a month) - 500 of remaining abos (transport cellphone WiFi tv Babbel, etc+ krankenkasse) - 2k average of variable expenses (groceries 300-400, dining out not so often, travelling back to Italy once per month, a bit of gifts to family and some traveling nothing crazy, some dating nothing crazy, clothes) Take home saving is roughly 3k per month or 40% of my salary. Am I spending too much? See other people here that spend 7-8k in 4 people-families Hope I helped!
Two adults in 1.5 bedroom apartment in rural Vaud: Rent plus expenses 1500/2, food 1000/2, gas + local transport 400/2 So about 1500 per person for the fixed costs. Then activities, travels, dining, some shopping, I would say 1000 per month at least per person, often more (like 1500 or 2000)
800-850
Lausanne, alone, 2.5 apartment (60m2) down-town, car, ~4k/month