What about Oslo?? Thats the most expensive city on earth...

In some parts you can get free DVD players and things.

London is getting cheaper

http://www.ftadviser.com/FTAdviser/M...-in-London.jsp

According to the latest UBS research Zurich has a significantly higher net income to costs ratio

http://news.eFinancialCareers.co.uk/...wsItemId-34363

	Quote:
	Is Zurich really more expensive than London?

Not if you are earning CHF155,000 a year

Where in the US? I've lived all over the US and never heard of per-bag waste charges. I believe it exists, but it certainly isn't the norm I don't think. Most towns include that with the property tax which, at least for me was almost $10k last year on an 'average' house in the town. We also had much more in the way of recycling, too. But those 35L bags are pretty tiny when you can't recycle all the plastic packaging and such that food comes in. You know the system has failed when you watch old people remove meat and other food from the plastic packaging and stick it into one of those freebie baggies and then deposit the packages into the rubbish bin in the store before they leave. And, how the bins next to the glass and metal recycling is always full of random household garbage.

The point wasn't that it is overly expensive but that to merely look at the big ticket items, e.g. food and housing, is misleading since there are lots of little things like this that add up quickly to make what seems affordable much less so.

Oh, and I seem to remember reading somewhere that the vignette is going up to 100CHF next year.

Considering the quality of the roads in Switzerland, I would happily pay 100chf for the vignette. I wouldn't mind if they also raised the speed limits a bit together with the price

Which brings me to another point: car prices (new & used) + car maintenance are stupidly expensive. Examples:
1. New car configured the same way on official manufacturer's website, CH = 44.000chf, DE = 29.500e (from which you get the tax back)
2. Service including oil and filters change, CH = 600chf, DE = 250e

I don't know what the prices are in the UK first hand, but from what I've heard they are below DE for cars and a bit above DE for servicing.

1) Food at the grocery store (especially meats) is probably a better quality, but the variety of food and quality for price at restaurants is far lower than in the U.S. I can't speak for the UK. Generally all food is more expensive if you buy it at a restaurant or the grocery store because a lot of it is produced in Switzerland or comes from neighboring nations, so

2) Health care in Switzerland is about the same as America.

Dentist are way way over priced, which is why so many people go to Germany or even Hungary and Czech Republic to get dental work done, they can save half the price even with the cost of travel.

Medical doctor...I think the quality is the same. The issue is price. I would say it is the same as America, if you have insurance.

The issue is, in America employers typically pay part of your insurance (basically half), but the insurance companies negotiate the rate down with the doctors/hospitals. If you don't have insurance you generally pay much more than an insurance company would pay, sometimes double or triple.

So if you don't have insurance the quality is good but the price is.

One interesting thing is that insurance coverage is a mandate in Switzerland, you must have it (for medical not dental), but the price is the same as the U.S. if you are employed.

So you might pay $120 CHF a month here for medical insurance. Then when you go to the doctor you have to pay a co-pay of $20-30USD per visit.

IN America, if you are employed, you might pay $120 USD, but remember your employer is paying half, so the real cost is probably $240 USD. In Switzerland if you go to the hospital you might have to pay the first 500-1,000 CHF out of pocket, and then after that the insurance company pays most of it. It depends on how your plan is set up...

The systems are just different.

I compare my city and some other cities in my country with Switzerland and seems pretty accurate.

Remember that this is a website that the community "help" to put the prices.

It can happen of some people trolling too

It's rather all about quality of living. The prices are not that much more here but the quality of life far surpasses living in the urban ghetto of london

Connecticut (at least our county) charges money for hauling away garbage bags. But even then, every place has to have some kind of municipal garbage removal which might charge 30-50$ a month.

However what tickles me is that with electricity in our town (from burning trash)...we not only give them the fuel, we pay them to take it. Yet, they still raise electricity prices 5-10% each year!!

Short answer. Yes.
Long answer. Hell yes!

But it depends on your lifestyle as to how much more expensive it is here.

Having just returned from a trip to Zurich (assessing viability of moving there), here are my impressions. Comparing Zurich prices to London prices, using a direct exchange rate...

• A meal out for two cost us 50CHF (roughly £35), for a cheese fondue, a salad, a glass of wine and a beer. This is about £5 to £10 more than we would expect to pay in London
• Diesel is about 1.92CHF (roughly £1.32) per litre, vs £1.42 in the UK, so slighly cheaper!
• Supermarket prices are roughly double what you'd pay in London, with a few exceptions. Wine for example is much much cheaper than in the UK. Half the price or less. Variety and quality are also excellent
• Rent is also comparable. A two bedroom appartment in Meilen, which is about 15/20 minutes from Zurich centre by train, costs around 2500CHF (£1700). This is more or less the same price you'd pay in London for a reasonably good area, within roughly the same distance. Although in Zurich at least you get the benefit of a garage, a laundry room (no noisy washing machine in your kitchen) and a fire place, and you can trust the trains to run on time (check this out! http://www.swisstrains.ch/)
• I priced a monthly rail card from Meilen to Zurich for 155CHF (£106.8), vs £106 for a Monthly travelcard for zones 1 and 2 in London. So the same
• Dog day care for our dog would cost around 45CHF per day (£31), vs £20 which we currently pay in London
• Our friends tell us they pay 2000CHF for child care per month (£1378) for five day per week care of their 2yr old. I don't know how much this would cost in London, but I imagine that it wouldn't be an awful lot cheaper

This comparison is only useful if you are travelling to visit Zurich, or are planning to live there based on an income earned in the UK. If you plan to work in Zurich, you really have to take into account your net income from work, which I hear will be more in Switzerland anyway. Tax is also much lower, around 20%, depending on your Canton

You sure know how to live life...

This would cost 100 CHF in Basel. I can't believe Zurich is that much cheaper, having paid 26 CHF for a "club sandwich" there on Friday. Where did you eat out?

A place called Swiss Chuchi in Niederdorfstrasse. I've tried to find a menu online to double check their prices, but haven't had much luck (my memory could be playing tricks on me, I was drunk on cheese)

Big time.

The only things I can think of that are maybe more expensive in London are travel costs, but then thinking about it they probably work out the same at the moment.

I think an average person buying average/normal quality food spends close to average amount per month

You can go to coop.ch and work it out for yourself of course

We went there last week - got fondue for 6 people + one drink per person (wine for some, tea for others, kirsch for others at the end) - it came out to about 240 CHF, or 80 CHF for my husband and me. The fondue was, I think, 25 CHF/person. Ohh, but it sounds like you split a portion of fondue between you + the salad. That is definitely healthier