Hello! I am taking a year away from my career to come to Zurich and study German. I am trying to come up with a budget. I realize rent can range in price.

Besides rent, what can I anticipate for cost of living per month (food, utilities, transportation by train, entertainment, dining out, etc.). Also, what should I expect for move in costs?

Just looking for a range here. Thanks!!
-JesseJames

How long is a piece of string?

A meal out for two with wine at a reasonable restaurant is CHF 250, but you can eat for much more or less.

Round of golf CHF 80, a pint in an expat bar is 9 and a visit to McDonalds would be around 12

Transport is cheap if you can get a half tax card

Another thing if you want to study German, it's not high German hear but Swiss German the spoken word is somewhat different

Why did you pick Zurich? Or Switzerland for that matter?

I would recommend Leipzig or Berlin for learning German. It will be a quater of the cost and more effective. Zurich is a poor place to learn German. Apartment rental in Zurich is about 4 times more expensive than Berlin or Leipzig. Google language schools in Halle and Leipzig for starters.

I would pick Germany to learn German as well. There is a lot
of dialect here. In Germany, there is also dialect but less than
here.

have a scan on the fourm and you'll find this has been discussed aplenty

Hey, he may be the JR's illegitimate son. He'll fit right into Zürich's Gold Coast and Hirschmann's revier.

If you've got money to blow, Zürich and Switzerland are wunderbar!

For details on living costs search around this forum. Short answer, if you live a pretty student-ish low cost lifestyle you could probably get by on around 2000-2500 a month (but not have much fun).

I second the Idea that Germany might be a better idea. Money will definitely go further, language will be less dialecty. I spent a few weeks in Dresden and locals seemed chattier than here and you seemed to have more novelty / interest value as a foreigner there than here (prolly a bigger vs smaller city thing). You also didn't get the immediate switch to English when the locals figured out your deutsch is a bit patchy.

Exactly why Zürich, do you have connections here? If not I would a) choose a more people friendly city and b) choose a place that you can actually apply what you are learning! the "Zürcher" will speak swiss with you not high-german, or simply slip into a hotel concierge role and start speaking english to you..

Berlin is great, also nice is Münich..good luck

Thanks for everything here. I am studying German at Univ of Zurich with probability of a job in Zurich (the company I am currently working has a Zurich office). I picked the city because I like it. School is for the structure of taking a year off. Looking forward to being in Zurich at minimum a year. I will search the forum for cost of living strings.
The responses here concern me. I hope others here on the forum like Zurich as much as I do, it is a lovely place!
The rent is unbelievable though, makes NYC look cheap!
JJ

When you think about working in switzerland, do you got a permit already ?
How do you will pay your rent, food.....?

My advice would be to learn some vocabulary, take a list of words from something like a phrase book, before you get here. It is important to start speaking some kind of German as early as you can, and to keep struggling on when shopkeepers switch to English automatically. All the things I didn't do!

Zurich is a great place to take a year out and explore Europe from. I'm quite envious. A flat share with other students sounds like a good idea cost wise.

My wife and I are moving to zurich for a year. Any ideas on what a furnished apartment would cost in dollars, and what would an average dinner cost when going out for dinner?

Simply a lot.... and it's all covered to death on here should you use the search function, so no need for wheel re-invention

As a single young student you will need around CHF3k a month to get by, you can probably find a WG (house sharing) for around CHF800.- to CHF1000.-, your health insurance for around CHF200.-, other bills and transport around CHF400.- and the rest is yours to travel a bit, buy food a bit and go out on the cheap, so no big clubs every weekend and no bottles of bubbly. It's doable... tell us what you're budget is per month and we'll tell you how it might be spread out

Cheers

TLD