We are a young Swedish couple that moved to Switzerland about one year ago. For now we are discussing if we should stay here or give US a try. It is not that we don't like it here, we just feel that the costs are so high and maybe we could have a better life quality over seas.

What are your opinions regarding the US versus Switzerland?

hard to say - where in the US are you thinking?

As above. Switzerland is much more varied than most imagine- life in Cham is very different to life in Lugano or Lausanne, etc. Same for US on a larger scale. Life in Williamsburg is very different to life in NY City or deepest Colorado, Detroit or ...

Must say I hate these impossible comparisons..

We have been looking on a number of places like; San Diego, Denver, Washington, Boston... I just feel that you get a lot more for the money over there. Buying a house here for example feels almost out of the question...

San Diego is a lovely place

Wow - 4 totally different areas- totally different from practically all points of view!

How many areas of Switzerland have you visited properly? There are areas of Switzerland where buying a house can still be very reasonable, but Cham is not one of them. You can't just compare the price of houses, but also salaries, taxes, health insurance and cover, etc, etc.

still hard to say - and I don't know anything about the town you're living in now. We moved from Seattle to Zurich. Zurich is definitely more expensive. We would never considering buying a house here. Our rent for an apartment with similar amenities as what we had in Seattle is literally twice as much. We don't go out to eat here as much, both because there's less of a "go out to eat" culture and because it's expensive. However, it's easier to travel without a car and get to places, and for us, that's great. We use the train tons, we can get on a plane and in less than two hours be in a totally different place, we have no need for a car in Zurich. It's not forever, but it's interesting and nice for now.

So. I don't know. Go on an US road trip and check out some places and see what you think! All the places you mention have great qualities, but are all very different. For me, it'd be San Diego > WashingtonDC > Denver > Boston out of those four, but you may think something entirely different.

Odile's right - impossible comparisons!

lived 5 years in Minneapolis. If I could I would move tomorrow. getting married to an American so by then we actually can move.

IF you earn ok money there it is much much much better to live in the USA imho.

convenience, quality of life, no monopolies, friendly people, unlimited options and I can go on and on.

If you make no money well then you are royally f'ed

so for me def the USA.

just on another note also; I notice many people that have not lived in the USA (not holiday) always have their opinion to be that of stupid people, money driven, crazy politics etc etc. (im not only talking EF but in general) dont listen to them for a second, there is some of that put it is not thrown in your face everyday like here... just a observation

I used to have dreams about moving to the US and having a big house in the suburbs. But slowly things have eroded my opinion of the US.

Things like:

0 statutory maternity leave in many states
0 paid leave under law. Anything you get is a bonus from work

I have a cousin living there who was unwell for a few weeks. He had to take a week of unpaid leave because his sick days were finished. It only makes sense that you have sick leave for as long as you are sick

I lived 3 years in Hawaii.
20 years in California (Oakland, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Sunnyvale)
4 years in the deep south (Atlanta)
24 years here in and around Zurich.

Believe me, you don't want to live in the USA now. Especially now.
I can give you a long list of reasons why.
Believe me, the USA is no longer what you think it is, actually it never was. And now it's not even close to what you think it is.

You want quality of life? Stay in Sweden or Switzerland.

Now, go make beautiful babies and be happy.

Good point - at my old job, I had:
3 weeks vacation / year
3 sick days / year
3 months maternity leave paid at 60% - you could take more unpaid
5 days paternity leave paid at 60% (which is actually the same as Switzerland)

This was all provided by the company, rather than mandated by anyone, as it was a smaller company (30 employees).

For larger companies (more than 50 employees), however, they are regulated under the Family and Medical Leave act, which mandates 12 weeks a year of unpaid leave to be used as necessary for things like sick employee or family members children and birth. So there is statutory maternity leave and paternity leave, but it's unpaid unless your company goes above and beyond.

Understand that it's hard to compare just like that, but interesting to hear some other peoples point of view. Cham has a lot of qualities, a really nice lake, peaceful, close to both Zurich and Luzern and overall a really pretty little town. It's just that a "normal" apartment would cost like 1.500.000 CHF and a house a lot more. I have been looking at other parts of Switzerland to but then it would be harder for both of us to get a job I guess.

Anthony- what are you waiting for? No sarcasm here at all - but if you hate is so much and marrying an American - the sooner the better (for YOU). Enjoy.

Most of the people I know in the US actually feel that the country is sinking, and would give their mind's eye to come and live in Switzerland. Funny world we live in. They would tell you that if you've got a job and a permit to stay - giving it up would be total madness. but hey - each to their own and good luck (but please take those rose tinted glasses off first - when did you last live in the US - things have changed somewhat recently).

To the OP,are you able to get a job over in the US? Maybe your current job has offices over there.
I'd look into the process of obtaining a green card before you start looking at anything else. I had to jump through enough hoops and I am married to an American.

On the other hand, I have been here for just over a month (Florida) and am loving it.

I think I could get a job quit easily and my fiancé has got a greencard, so we just need to get married .

Kevleg, love your picture! I'm a big Jack Russel fan

left in 2008 so still recent enough (yet right before the recession I guess)

Thats why I mentioned IF you make good money you are better of there.

Getting the greencard is not a day to day project, it takes months to get and we just started it. Also my gf is finishing her degree here.(8 more months) I Just started applying for jobs outside of ch though as I really would like to leave, it simply isnt my thing.
My buddy just moved to the USA also and is loving it (he lived with me in MN and then here in Geneva) so same experience.

my x s dad for example just opened another boat store (4 now) so I dont believe the media to much about how everyone is living on the street etc. yes it is tougher than before but if you are smart about it then imho it is better. actually the economy is getting better , as are real estate prices.
as the opposite is happening here at the moment.
The USA will never go down, they are simply to big. unlike the EU which has nothing in common with its member states besides the currency....

just my opinion though and when I move i will be happier but at the moment got to wait a bit longer

Glad you are enjoying it!!! btw you wouldnt have a "cheat sheet" on the process of obtaining the card would you?

I'm guessing that's a bit (quite a bit) of an exaggeration. But Ok. Anyway, real estate in Boston & DC are also very expensive.

The two countries are so completely different. I'm not sure anyone can make this decision for you.

Personally, I would not live in the US again. I was going to say never, but you know, never say never. But, I've already lived there. If I hadn't I'd be much more inclined to give it a go.

I'd say take all your holiday entitlement and go for as long as poss and visit different areas, talk to lots of people to get the feel for the place, look at rentals and property, etc.

And also try to visit as much of CH as poss over week-ends, etc- and do the same. How much have you explored so far? Some areas have lower taxes and yet much higher everything - you need to balance all the elements. At the end of the day - it isn't all about money, security, etc- but about feelings, what suits YOU- horses for courses.

Being a US citizen and having lived in Switzerland for 6 years, I fully concur; I would be very very hesitant to move back to the US unless I stumble upon a really exceptional opportunity. The quality of life in the US is much much lower than in Switzerland. A Swiss C Permit is gold compared to a US Green Card.