Hi all - I'm looking to move to Switzerland from the UK in the next few months - just sorting employment now.

I'm trying to calculate the kind of salary to negotiate in order to make the move worthwhile - considering relocation (I'm guessing in the region of 10k in total?), taxes in switzerland (which I've heard work out lower than in the uk?), compulsory pension and healthcare which I believe exists in S-land.

Does anyone have any idea - maybe percentage-wise - how much more / less it costs to live in the Switzerland in comparison to the UK? Its just me (no family, other half) A guesstimate would do.

I'm new to my investigations so sorry if my questions sound a bit vague or dumb!

S

any help: Cost of living in Switzerland? Fact or fiction?

In my opinion, the question is way to vague to answer correctly.

its like saying "how long it a piece of string?"

It depends on your lifestyle?, what things you spend your money on? Are you willing to live outside the city....which comes to the next question.

You have not mentioned which city????

Your best idea is to do a search on this forum you will find lots of threads about the comparisons.

OK well Im no expert but from my Gross wage I pay 14.66% in deductions and tax's
which I think is less than you would in UK.
The pension scheme I get here in CH is second to none I feel.
It is true that to have Health Insurance here it is compulsory but I only pay 120CHF per month (49.72GBP) and bearing mind that wages on average are higher here than UK its really not a problem.

On a lighter note, money aside its defo worth making the move.
You will never be able to walk along the lake to a mountain backdrop on your way to work in any Uk city.
I hope this is somewhat useful to you.

Hiya - sorry, my head is spinning so much with all this relocating stuff that I'm forgetting my name most of the time!

I'd be moving from Brighton to Basel - working for one of the Pharmaceutical companies there hopefully - it would be a 12 month contract but I would certainly be looking to make it permanent after that, all being well. Everything I've seen of Basel so far has been brilliant.

I'd want to live relatively central in Basel - anywhere on a decent tram line to be honest!

14% tax is certainly lower than the UK - with tax and NI I'm currently paying about 30% so thats really useful info, thanks.

Just got back from UK yesterday.
I’m glad to be back money goes so easy in England I found it very expensive. My wife had the phone connected to our house in England total bill 200 Quid, cost connected to my new apartment 0 Franks. And fuel I thought about going to a garage to check my fuel gauge it just went, 20 quid went no where, 60 quid in Home Base for a couple tins of paint and brushes and and and.

Plus 4 hours from Eurotunnel to drive close to Gatwick just about finished it for me. I’m not going to start about the weather.

DC

__________________
was Krupp im Essen dat sind wir im Trinken
A snipit from my very first bit of German

Hello. We are thinking of moving from Central United States to Zurich with a new job. Can anybody tell me what would be a good salary for a software engineer in Zurich? We still have not been offered a salary, so we want to make sure when this new job makes us an offer, we can tell if it's good or not.
Thanks

Prices in the South of England have rocketed in recent years it would seem - driven largely by house prices. Other parts of the UK are quite a bit cheaper.

OTOH prices in Switzerland were steady for the entire 8 year time I was there.

I'd still say Switzerland is more expensive to live in but overall wage deductions are a bit lower (remembering that health insurance is compulsory and an extra cost compared to the UK) and salaries generally tend to be higher.


It's worth noting that most of the expats in this group wouldn't be expats if they weren't getting a much better deal in CH compared to living in the UK so maybe the views here will be skewed .

We found housing and food are expensive but the rest seems on par with London and you pay a lot less tax.

Ok - so the impression I get is that while 'buying stuff' (particularly food and eating out) may be more expensive, along with extra charges for healthcare (which we kind of pay with our taxes anyway in the UK?!) I guess the decrease in tax in CH levels it all out eventually....

So, if I can find the 10k required to move myself, and sort out something to do with my flat (rent, sell?) then you will probably be seeing me very soon!



Thanks for all your help guys....

Strange, am I the only one who seems to prefer the UK to Switzerland? And I'm Swiss... Life in the UK seems quite expensive but the fact that I get paid weekly makes a huge difference! So does the NHS... Prices for flats/houses over here are ridiculous and anybody would be better off in Switzerland on that account... Can't beat the 'hussle' though in the UK... Whereas in Switzerland being a bit short is such a big taboohoohoo, you generally pretend that you have what's not there, whereas in England, it seems a more common thing for people to help each other out where needed. May this be money, food, shelter, etc... Of course this all depends in which 'class' you're living in... I'm in the low-life musician class, not upper-middle class, where things probably are significantly different... May I also mention that there are a lot of people in Switzerland who are working-poor... Putting in many more hours than the average Swiss person but still hardly exceeding the minimum wage! But then again, as the Swiss are, they don't want to hear or see or talk about those things... Like the 3 monkeys... And I'm having a go at my own nation here, so I think that's rectified... Again, as so many posts before said... Generalisations are always wrong, therefore I'm talking about the majority I've met in around 20yrs...

I tend to disagree on this bit. If you are meaning the arithmetic average that is perhaps true. But just for example if the arithmetic average height of the population may be 5'9'' and yet nobody is 5'9'' tall, I guess this needs to be further grouped. I think for the lower and median incomes the swiss salaries are higher than the UK ones, and so it looks like for the top ones. What to me looks instead higher in the UK is the average of the medium-high income category. That I feel is better in the UK. At least my impression.