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COST OF LIVING

Six essential tips that will save you money in Switzerland

It’s no secret that life in Switzerland comes with a hefty price tag. But there are some ways to save on costs to make Swiss life less expensive.

A man holding a supermarket bag bearing the Swiss cross walks across a square on September 21, 2012 in downtown Lausanne.
A man holding a supermarket bag bearing the Swiss cross walks across a square in Lausanne. AFP PHOTO / FABRICE COFFRINI (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP)

On average, a person working in Switzerland earns 6,789 francs per month – the third highest salary globally with only Monaco and Bermuda workers faring better. On the other hand, Switzerland also has very high living costs which particularly affect people on lower incomes. For example, a household with a gross income of 9,817 francs per month will spend around 14.4 percent on housing and energy alone, with a whopping 46.5 percent of the salary going towards consumer spending.

So thinking of ways to save money goes a long way. Here are a few everyday spending hacks to help make your life in Switzerland a little less expensive.

Get a train ride

One of the easiest ways to save money on transport in Switzerland is to use its affordable train network which connects around 2,600 stations and stops across the country – meaning you can easily forgo cars altogether. This will not only save you a lot of money on gas but also helps you protect the environment by travelling greener. Two birds!

With SBB CFF FFS, you can pay for “Sparbillette” – or so-called Supersaver tickets – and benefit from an up to 70 percent discount on the standard ticket price. Travellers can choose from one-way tickets to day passes but will be limited to a few select routes and times. The trick is to book as early as possible to snag the best deal.

OPINION: Trains in Switzerland are excellent, so why are cars still king?

For frequent travellers, SBB’s GA Travelcard at an annual cost of 3,860 francs for adults is your most cost-effective option by a landslide. The travelcard allows you to travel on public transport throughout Switzerland for “free” and you can even get 5 francs off on short-term bike rentals at 20 SBB stations.

If you don’t want to hand over quite that much money, a great way of reducing your transport cost is to purchase SBB’s Half Fare Travelcard. The travelcard costs 120 francs per year and gives you an up to 50 percent discount on all travel by train, bus, boat, and most mountain railways.

A logo of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB / CFF) is reflected on a locomotive at the Zurich's main train station on November 8, 2022.

A logo of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB / CFF) is reflected on a locomotive at the Zurich’s main train station on November 8, 2022. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

Carpooling

However, relying solely on trains as your means of transport isn’t always convenient. Still, there are ways to bring down cost even if the odd car ride is on your agenda. One way of doing this is by speaking to family members, friends, colleagues or flatmates and organising joint car rides to the same destination.

There are also many businesses in Switzerland that will let you find carpooling opportunities in your area should you not have anyone to share a ride with, such as IDOSH, FAHRPOOL, HitchHike and BlaBlaCar. 

Food and beverages

In Switzerland, people spend around 6 percent of their monthly average disposable income on food and non-alcoholic drinks and around 3.5 per cent on eating out and accommodations. With a monthly gross income of 9,817 francs, around 640 francs are spent on food and a further 285 francs on restaurants and similar establishments – not an insignificant amount!

The best tip to quickly bring down your food bill is to start meal prepping. While eating the same meal seven days in a row may not appeal to everyone – but would save you the most money – you can also start by writing down the meals you plan on cooking throughout the week. This allows you to not only be more conscious of what ingredients you buy (such as vegetables) and when you plan on using them, but it will also prevent food waste.

Speaking of food waste, another great way of saving the odd franc is to download the app Too Good To Go and purchase one of their surprise food packages at a reasonable price. The company sources fresh food which would otherwise be wasted in cafes, restaurants, and shops, simply due to not being sold on time.

Pasta

Photo by Bozhin Karaivanov on Unsplash

A tip to help you make the most of your money – even if planning ahead is replaced by the occasional impulse purchase – is to get a customer card, such as Coop’s Supercard or MIgros’s Cumulus card, from your local grocery shop and start turning points into money.

READ ALSO: 8 ways to save money on groceries on Switzerland 

Compare before committing

It is a well known fact that insurance-related expenses in Switzerland make up a large chunk of your monthly expenses. In 2023, for instance, health insurance premiums averaged 4,766 francs across all basic insurance models, franchise providers and age groups. This corresponds to a monthly premium of 334.70 francs. Compared to 2022, premiums have increased by 6.6 percent. But with around 200 insurance providers throughout Switzerland, it can be tricky to know where to get the best deal.

Whether you have newly moved to Switzerland or are looking to get a better deal on your insurance, it is smart to have a glimpse at one of the many comparison websites on offer to ensure you don’t overpay for your medical, mortgage, telecom, or car insurance needs. Comparis, moneyland, insurando and krankenkassenvergleich are some of the best websites to get you started.

Save on taxes

Let’s face it: not many a Swiss resident looks forward to filling out their yearly tax declaration. Nevertheless, it is essential that you keep hold of your receipts throughout the year and carefully fill in all details as turning a blind eye could mean missing out on valuable money-saving opportunities.

In Switzerland, you can save money on taxes by choosing to pay some of your income into the third pillar. The money you pay into pillar 3a can then be deducted from your annual taxes. In 2023, employees with a pension fund insurance can pay up to 7,056 francs into pillar 3a. 

An example: a single, 50-year-old Roman Catholic pension saver with a taxable income of 80,000 francs and access to a pension fund saves around 1,702 francs in taxes in the city of Lucerne if he pays in the maximum amount into pillar 3a.

Self-employed people can deduct up to 20 percent of their earned income, equating to a maximum 35,280 francs in 2023. In order not to miss out on the tax advantages, it is worth transferring the money at the beginning of the year.

READ ALSO: Everything that changes in Switzerland in March 2023

Swiss Francs.

Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

Housing

Rising interest rates fuelled by economic uncertainty has meant renting a home is cheaper than buying in Switzerland for the first time in 15 years, a new study has found, but that doesn’t mean that renting in Switzerland is cheap. Still, there are ways around forking out a small fortune on rent cost.

If you’re not fussy about sharing your space, co-living is likely your best bet to slash rental costs fast. You can find a list of co-living companies on coliving.com.

Another alternative is to rent outside the city centre and find an apartment in a small town or rural rea of the country. In fact, thanks to Switzerland’s reliant public transport links, smaller towns don’t mean reduced transport connections. Olten, Aarau and Baden are just a few examples of well-connected towns with great transport links – and more affordable rents.

Those renting in Zurich specifically may also want to consider committing to an apartment long-term. According to a publication by the Statistical Office of the Canton of Zurich, households that have not changed residence for a long time pay less rent than those who move around. This because households opting to move out of their residence have often not lived in their apartments very long and therefore already pay higher rent prices. 

READ ALSO: Zurich hit by affordable housing shortage amid record high immigration

As a result, the rent cost for the subsequent vacant apartments is already significantly higher than those apartments in long-term rents. Hence the reason why those moving in will also pay a higher rent price.

As a general tip, it makes more sense to commit to an apartment longer term if you are looking to save money on rent.

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COST OF LIVING

One in 10 struggle to make ends meet: Poverty in Switzerland revealed

Switzerland is one of the wealthiest countries in the world which contributes to overall high satisfaction, but many people still have financial worries.

One in 10 struggle to make ends meet: Poverty in Switzerland revealed

People in Switzerland have the highest level of life satisfaction in Europe, according to a study published his week by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

However, that doesn’t mean that everyone in the Alpine nation is satisfied with their quality of life. 

According to the FSO, who carried out the survey on income, poverty and living conditions in 2022, almost one in 10 people in Switzerland struggled to make ends meet financially, and nearly 5 percent of the population had to do without important goods, services and social activities due to financial reasons.

The poverty rate in Switzerland was measured as 8.2 percent. 

READ ALSO: The Swiss cantons with the highest (and lowest) incomes

How satisfied are people in Switzerland?

On a scale of 0 to 10, the mean score for satisfaction with current lifestyle in Switzerland was 8, compared to 7.9 in Austria, 7.2 in Italy, 7.0 in France and 6.5 in Germany. In Switzerland, life satisfaction has hardly changed since 2014 and increases with age, level of education and income.

The population is particularly satisfied in interpersonal areas such as living together, the working atmosphere and personal relationships. More than half of people aged 16 and over were very satisfied in these areas in 2022 (scores of 9 or 10). In contrast, only one in three people were very satisfied with their leisure time or personal financial situation.

A person works on a laptop.

People were generally happy with work in Switzerland. Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay

The FSO measured the general standard of living on the basis of the median available disposable income, whereby the price level differences between the countries were corrected. In Switzerland, disposable income is 2.5 times as high as in Greece, 1.5 times as high as in Italy, 1.3 times as high as in France, 1.2 times as high as in Germany and 1.1 times as high as in Austria.

The FSO said: “Despite the high price level in Switzerland, the population’s standard of living is therefore higher than in neighbouring countries and the majority of EU countries.”

But there are stark differences between living conditions in Switzerland, a country of around 9 million people. 

In 2022, 9.9 percent of Swiss residents had difficulty making ends meet at the end of the month and 4.9 percent of the population were affected by material and social deprivation, according to the survey. This means that they had to do without important goods, services and social activities such as new clothes, regular leisure activities or meetings with friends for financial reasons, were unable to pay their bills on time or couldn’t pay for unexpected expenses.

As you would expect, those struggling to make ends meet have a significantly lower level of life satisfaction. In 2022, only one in nine of those facing financial issues were satisfied with their lives (10.9 percent vs. 37.9 percent of the total population). This group also stated that they felt discouraged or depressed most or all of the time (24.3 percent vs. 5.4 percent of the total population) and were less likely to be happy most or all of the time (37.1 percent vs. 76.6 percent of the total population).

How many people in Switzerland are in poverty?

In Switzerland, 8.2 percent of the population had low levels of income in 2022 – this corresponds to around 702,000 people. The poverty rate was therefore lower than in the previous year (8.7 percent), but the difference is not statistically significant, researchers said.

Furthermore, the price increases for electricity, heating costs and consumer goods since 2022 are not yet reflected in these figures. Although Switzerland has been shielded from severe inflation hikes seen elsewhere in Europe in the wake of Russia’s war on Ukraine, consumer prices have still gone up.

As in previous years, foreign nationals, people in single-parent households, people without further education and those in families or households where there are high levels of unemployment are frequently affected by income poverty. At 3.8 percent (144,000 people), the poverty rate among the working population was also slightly lower than in the previous year (4.2 percent), but again, researchers said that this development is not viewed as significant. 

In a previous study by the statistical office, the parts of Switzerland with the lowest incomes were found to be the cantons of Jura, Valais, and Ticino.

READ ALSO: Where are the poorest parts of Switzerland?

The poverty threshold comes from the guidelines of the Swiss Conference on Social Welfare (SKOS). In 2022 this amounted to an average of CHF 2,284 per month for an individual and CHF 4,010 per month for a family.

This income threshold is higher in Switzerland than elsewhere, but the cost of living is higher as well. 

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