These ratings are generally questionable because the cost of living is composed of numerous items which are weighed and combined into an index, e.g. rent, food, transportation, taxes... And the outcome depends on the items and the weighs.

Some of these items are irrelevant for tourists (e.g. rent), and of course, everybody has his/her own style of living. E.g. if you have a car costs of public transport do not matter and vice versa.

>So I fail to see how "favorable cost of living" could be true by most any measure.

Cost of living is probably balanced against average earnings - and in this regard Zürich isn´t bad at all. Plus, what remains after taxes looks ABSOLUTELY dfferent in Zürich in comparison to Scandinavia.

>But just to assuage my idle curiosity, can anyone comment from first/second/third-hand experience as to the cost of living in Zurich?

I have spent almost 5 years in Zürich - but as a grad student, so my requirements might have been different from yours.

If you want to live in the city the rent will have the highest impact on your spendings. A 100 sqm flat in a central area of the city will easily cost 3000-4000 CHF per month. OTOH I have often seen ads for newly built flats in Baden (15 min by train) or in Aarau (25 min by train) for 1/3 of this price or less. A small town might be also better if you have a family.

Food is comparable to the UK prices (both restaurants and supermarkets), although the lowest price segment is missing. Fuel is cheaper, electronics are cheaper.

1. Never lived there, though often been mildly disconcerted at Zurich's highish prices. But the report the article cited said Zurich was pricier than New York and Paris. Anyone who believes this equates to "a favourable cost of living" just can't read a table of data. Or uses English in exactly the opposite way to the rest of us, where "favourable" means "favourable to rip off retailers". The ad you cited was written by IT people, so both innumeracy and illiteracy are equally likely explanations.

Moral: never trust advertisers' puffery. And never believe anything an IT person says, because chances are they don't understand what they're saying anyway

Thanks for your responses.

I think the odds of me a) applying, b) getting an interview, c) getting an offer, and d) accepting, combine to a very low probability, but I always believe in being prepared.

WillTravel,

It depends on how qualified you are. Switzerland is experiencing a wave of highly qualified immigrants right now. People with technical and business degrees are flocking to Zürich and the surrounding areas... and are finding jobs! I'd give it a try.

It's quite difficult to find a reasonably priced apartment too but it all depends on where you are looking.

Check out englishforum.ch for information on moving to Switzerland.

A tourist may find Zurich to be quite expensive when his attention is focused on hotel and restaurant expenditures mostly.

As others have posted before, rent is a major factor. Compared with mega cities like London, New York, or Paris, Zurich has the advantage of being much smaller. So a 20-45 minute commute (with excellent rail services) will get you to areas where rent is much more affordable.
Rent is high in downtown Zurich and along the Gold Coast - but you will find true alternatives within the agglomeration. Something you would have to travel much farther to in the big cities mentioned before.

Grocery shopping was a bit more expensive or equal to what I was used to. So were other items, like phone, mobile phones, broadband. Not by scary margins, though.

On the other hand, I found the disposable income (i.e. after taxes, mandatory insurances etc.) to be higher than elsewhere. Also perks and bonuses, like a company car, which get taxed towards your income elsewhere, were tax-exempt in CH.
Gas is on the lower end of the European price range.

Finally, I would say that the overall quality of life was very good in Zurich. Soft factors like location, surroundings, leisure time activities, culture & music were great.

>>>So a 20-45 minute commute (with excellent rail services) will get you to areas where rent is much more affordable.<<<

An example would be Schlieren. The train to Zürich Hbf leaves every 15min and takes 11min. Schlieren is not a posh town, because it has a industrial history, but has some nice neighborhoods and offers a good quality of living for considerably lower rents than in Zürich.

Zürich metropolitan area is a very attractive place to live. I would not hesitate to take a job there.

That sounds like saying Los Angeles is affordable because it's less expensive than San Francisco.

What is your point?

First off, I would suggest looking at a more current cost of living index. Here is the latest Mercer index:

http://www.mercer.com/costofliving#Cost_of_living_top_50_cities

This should clear up the Oslo issue.

I would also bear in mind what the indexes are designed to do. They are designed to help companies guage ex-pat allowances. Accordingly, I could see that they may be biased toward a relatively high standard of living, and that some places may have a wider gulf between cheap and mid-range and expensive. This is certainly the case for places like Moscow or Beijing, which place impossibly high, given the average income.

Regardless, Zurich IS expensive and Google is smoking something.

Sorry to say that but the Mercer index is completely bullshit.

The Mercer index reflects mainly exchange rate differences. If you get a salary in US dollars, almost every European city will be expensive.

However, if you work in Zürich you get a salary in Schweizer Franken which will allow you a decent living style in Zürich.

Believe me, I am regularly working in Zürich and I do not have the impression that my Swiss colleagues are starving.

The Mercer index reflects mainly exchange rate differences. If you get a salary in US dollars, almost every European city will be expensive.

Absolutely not. It is a cost of living calculation (whether it is good or not is open for debate, of course). If it were just about fx differences, then how could a city like Hamburg place so much lower on the list than Paris?

Indeed, Mercer suggests using both the index AND fx rates to split the salary of ex-Pats between USD and the host currency. This is precisely to ensure that the employee neither loses nor gains from fx or cost of living fluctuations.

The formula that Mercer suggests (and which is derived from the index) basically works like this:

- Salary and USD are broken into buckets: housing spend, living expense spend, tax spend, 401(k)/retirement savings, remainder (spending money).
- The housing spend and living expense spend are calculated based upon the averages for your home city and are multiplied by the cost of living index for your host city. This amount is then multiplied by the fx rate.
- The tax spend is usually held constant in USD.
- Savings is usually held constant in USD, often by continued participation in a 401(k).
- The remainder is multiplied by the fx rate.

In the above scenario, it matters not whether you are paid in USD or EUR. You should be equalized either way. Whether you come out ahead or behind depends upon what cost of living rates your company chooses to use - Mercer provides varying rates (staff, management, executive, etc) that can make the package more or less generous.

Hi WillTravel,

We have been living in Zurich for 21 months. We are paid in USD, although I just started a position here so I'll be paid in Swiss Francs. Professional salaries are similar to NYC areas but lower level salaries are quite good compared to home - and you can survive as a cashier here unlike in the US.

We moved from the NYC area (outside the city). We get a cost of living adjustment from my husband's company but I don't think they are using a very accurate method to calculate it. Each quarter we also get adjusted according to where the dollar is against the franc. Tricky if the dollar falls at the beginning of the quarter! Also, Switz. is not on the EU like the rest of Europe so travel for us is easy due to the ideal location, but very costly as it's mostly in EU which is hard against the dollar.

Cars, electronics, housing, clothes and especially food/dining are all very, very expensive here even compared to NYC. We try to buy a lot of things when we visit home - particularly clothing. We have not bought certain appliances because they are cheaply made and cost a lot. We just do without a toaster and a microwave and a fancy coffee machine and 3 of us share one hair dryer. Don't really have space for all that anyway.

We live on the Gold Coast - 5 minutes outside the city center. Our apt is very nice - don't know the meters squared but LR, DR with galley kitchen, 2.5 baths, 2 bedrooms and a small study plus a nice deck. Cost is 8000chf/month. The Silver Coast is much more reasonable, but we found parts of it kind of industrial looking. Friends on that side of the lake pay less for larger places. But we love, love, love our location and we have a W/D in our apt which isn't standard here...

We have one car here compared to 2 in the US - same car almost twice the price. We could survive without it I suppose. We dine out a lot less and there is less take-out. A small pizza costs around 18 dollars... We need three to feed our family of 4...Salmon for 4 - around 45 dollars...beef - 4 small flavorless steaks around 50 dollars...Still a lot cheaper than dining out. We eat more pasta and chicken. Veal tends to be better tasting and not as costly...Lamb is also expensive and flavorless.

The way we've been able to maintain a QOL is we rented our home in the US and our company covers most of our housing here. The rent from the US is what we use for travel and to offset the higher costs etc.

I do love my life here. Most ex-pats are quite shocked at the costs and also complain about the packages they get (at least from my husband's company - I know some people from elsewhere who got amazing packages). OTOH, everyone adjusts to less, and most people want to extend their contracts. The international schools both have long waiting lists. We hope to stay longer.

The one dirty little secret about Zurich is the weather. Lots of gray, rain, and in the summer its muggy and hot and no place is air conditioned.

But, the location is really wonderful. The lake is clean and beautiful. The city is like a big town. Easy, pretty low-key and relatively safe. Crime does exist here - don't believe those that say it doesn't. My daughter's school has been broken into 3 times since August. 33,000 home break-ins in Zurich last year. But, we do feel very safe and my kids go most places alone on public transit as do most Swiss children from about 5 or 6 upward.

I found a job quite easily as do most who look. The work permit was easy.

Hope this helps and I'd be happy to help with any other questions.

gruezi

Gruezi, that is a very interesting summary.

I have to admit this Zurich idea was a whimsical passing thought, but it is sounding like a good idea to investigate.

Hi gruezi,

33000 sounds unrealistically high. It means a home break-in for every 10 inhabitants.

Well, my Swiss neighbor gave me the number and maybe it isn't right. I assume it's for the whole Canton. I do know that everyone here (except the ex-pats) does worry a lot about apt. security. A few of my friends have experienced break-ins so now I'm very careful.

g.

I think it remains uncontested to say that costs for dining, food, etc. are higher in Switzerland than in most € countries.
Nevertheless, most of that difference comes from the currently unfavorable exchange rate - from a $ perspective.

I would also not take the housing costs on the Gold Coast or in the more fashionable districts of Zurich (or within all of Zurich's city limits) as a general benchmark for calculating your future housing costs. I would be as if I got transfered to L.A. and were shocked about housing costs in Beverly Hills or Belair. I would probably be told by the locals to pick some other but the most expensive location and rent a place in the Valley.

Cowboy,

I mentioned the Gold Coast was more expensive than other areas...

However, I disagree that the high cost of other items is just related to a weak dollar. When we first arrive the dollar was a lot stronger and things were expensive then too.

Even after adjusting for the dollar, things like food, dining out, electronics, small appliances, and clothing are just more expensive. Dining out is a lot more expensive. Even the Swiss know their country is expensive and many travel to Germany or elsewhere to buy things.

gruezi

Sorry gruezi,

only after posting I noticed that I had an error of thought in my first paragraph.

Yes, you are right -- Switzerland always had somewhat higher costs of living with regard to groceries, restaurants, etc -- even when you deflate the strong Franc vs. Dollar impact.

Yet, when I compare costs of living vs. level of salaries and income tax, you will find few Europeans (not Americans) saying that they won't be better off in Switzerland vs. their country. (Why would they move if it was less than home).

And the Swiss go to Germany to buy electronic goods or groceries as much as the French, Dutch, or Belgians in the border regions -- and we drive to CH and AT to fill up our cars

I would try to get a job in Basel:
get paid and taxed in Switzerland, live and shop in Germany, and dine out in France

In our experience, the British love it here for lots of reasons and don't want to go back home. But then, the ones we know are paid in the GBP so of course they are feeling flush!

One time at an international school meeting we were pricing items for a sale and I was a bit shocked at how high some wanted to price things. I mentioned it would be too expensive for me to buy. A Dutch woman snapped at me, "You can't worry about how much things cost here. Get over that!" Of course, she gets paid in Euro which at the time was effectively 1.6 times more value against the Swiss Franc...

At work the other day, a woman from Mexico and a Swiss man got into a real spat over the cost of living in Switzerland. She considers it a hardship given her salary. He considers Switzerland QOL so much higher than anywhere else that it doesn't matter how much it costs...A woman from Germany chimed in that she agreed cost of living here is just very high. I just kept my mouth shut as I've learned to do quite well!

gruezi

I'd like to know when "she gets paid in Euro which at the time was effectively 1.6 times more value against the Swiss Franc". Cannot remember those times. Must be centuries ago.

Sorry, bad math. 1.4 and it was last year.