Switzerland for Software Engineers: A Deep Dive into Money, Taxes, Lifestyle, and Trade-offs (2024 Guide)

As you guys know, I have been living in Zurich for some time now.

Almost 1 year in 2018/2019, and about 3 years from September 2021 until now.

So, that's about 4 years in total.

I've also travelled a lot in Europe, and lived in several different countries and cities, including: my hometown (San Benedetto del Tronto), Berlin, Augsburg (Germany), London, Milan, Seville, Madrid, Barcelona, and Warsaw.

If we're talking about vacation and short stays, I've basically been everywhere in Europe.

Zurich is interesting for Software Engineers for obvious reasons: highest salaries in Europe, reasonable taxes, good amount of quality companies, beautiful nature and great standard of living.

With today's article, we'll touch on several aspects that show in details how Switzerland "performs" as a location to be based in as a dev.

If you're a dev in Europe, maybe you should not move to Switzerland, but you should at least know about it, to evaluate if it is for you or not.

Explore Swiss tech opportunities →

Money: What Software Engineers Actually Make

Most big tech Software Engineers in Switzerland enjoy compensations ranging between $200k to $500k a year in their 20s and early 30s. 🇨🇭💰

If you're a developer in Europe interested in financial freedom, Switzerland should definitely be on your radar.

Big Tech jobs in Switzerland are hard to obtain, but the rewards are substantial when you factor in the salary and savings potential.

The Real Cost of Living in Zurich

Let me be honest about costs—they're high, but understanding the breakdown helps with planning:

Expense Category	Monthly Cost (CHF)	Annual Impact	Notes
1-bed apartment (city)	2,000-2,500	€24k-€30k	Close to lake/center
Health insurance	300-500	€3.6k-€6k	Mandatory, high quality
Groceries (single)	400-600	€4.8k-€7.2k	Eating at home mostly
Transport pass	70	€840	Excellent public transit
Dining out (weekly)	400-600	€4.8k-€7.2k	Restaurants are expensive
Entertainment	200-400	€2.4k-€4.8k	Activities, gym, etc
Total (single)	3,370-4,670	~€40k-€56k	Comfortable lifestyle

For families, costs increase dramatically—kindergarten and childcare can easily add €2-3k per month.

My Favourite Thing About Zurich: The Airport ✈️

I know… It sounds like a joke.

But the Zurich airport really is amazing.

As far as I know, it's the best airport in Europe and one of the best in the world.

It's super efficient, perfectly sized, well connected, easy to navigate, perfectly located at the very center of Europe.

The Lifestyle Hack: Euro-Wide Life from Zurich

My apartment is in a very good and pleasant area of the city—close to the lake, the city centre and the forest—while being at an 18 minutes train ride from the airport.

Door to door, it takes me about 20-30 minutes to be at the airport from my apartment.

If I'm flying to a place in the Europe/Schengen area, being at the airport 45 minutes before the flight's departure time is usually enough.

This means that I only need about 1.5 hours to leave my house and be on a plane somewhere.

In about 1-3 hours of flight I can be literally anywhere in Europe:

• Want to go to Lisbon to checkout my apartment and eat some crabs at a cevejeria? Easy ✅
• Take a Friday after work flight to Warsaw? Leave at 5 PM, at 8 PM sitting at one of my favourite restaurants
• Chill in Barcelona, meet friends in Rome, eat a kebab in Berlin or checkout London? Same thing
• Visit the Balkans? A couple hours from partying in Belgrade, relaxing in Budapest thermal baths, or checking out Bucharest
• Spring/autumn beach time? Mediterranean in a few hours
• Summer seaside without extreme heat? Nice in Southern France is just one hour away

And that doesn't even include the 3-4 hours train rides to Paris or Milan, or to the Alps.

Zurich is not necessarily my favourite city in the world or the most fun city I know, but it's so well connected to so many of my favourite places that makes it an excellent base for me.

It's also a practical place to be based in, as the country is politically very stable, quite efficient in managing taxpayers money, reliable etc.

An excellent place to keep your "books", closets or boxes, and to enjoy some calm, undistracted life—surrounded by amazing nature, with great air and water quality—and rest in-between trips.

Taxation: Among the Fairest in Europe

Taxes in Switzerland are among the most fair out there. Especially in Europe. Especially if you're an employee.

Here's a breakdown for Zurich (using the official Swiss tax calculator):

Tax Breakdown for 100k CHF Salary in Zurich

Total tax rate: 23.6%, which includes:

Component	Rate	Purpose	Recoverable?
Federal, Cantonal, Communal Tax	~13%	Public services	No
1st pillar (AHV)	~5%	Basic pension	Retirement only
2nd pillar (BVG)	~4%	Additional pension	Yes, if leaving EU-EFTA or starting company
Unemployment insurance	~1%	Job loss protection	Service benefit
Health insurance	3-5%	Healthcare access	Service benefit

Tax Rates at Different Income Levels

Salary	Zurich Tax Rate	Zug Tax Rate	Take-home (Zurich)
100k CHF	23.6%	20%	~76k CHF
200k CHF	31%	24%	~138k CHF
300k CHF	36%	26%	~192k CHF
400k CHF	39%	27%	~244k CHF

The 2nd pillar insight: This ~4% can be cashed out if you start a company or move to a country outside of EU-EFTA. So it's not really lost money. The pension fund doesn't have very high returns (below 2%), but it's safe.

Health insurance (~€300-500/month) means you pay for routine healthcare out-of-pocket up to a threshold (usually 1-3k CHF/year), then insurance covers almost everything. On a 300k salary, that's only 1% for comprehensive coverage—quite reasonable.

Compare these rates with other European cities and you'll see why Switzerland remains attractive for high earners.

Possible Downsides: Lifestyle and Mental Health

Is Zurich, Switzerland 🇨🇭 boring and sad? 😴😔🤔

Here's my opinion, after having lived there for 4 years.

The "Boring" Factor

It can be boring.

Zurich is 400 thousand people, and it lacks a "big city vibe": it's not a very eventful or vibrant place.

In summer it's better. But summers aren't that long (maybe a couple of months).

Culturally, being in the German part of Switzerland, it's a bit "rigid": rules and efficiency are everything. Think of Germany, but more.

People are quite focused on work, and leisure is mostly restricted to productive activities such as sports or side projects.

At least half the people I know in Zurich spend a good chunk of their weekday evenings in the bouldering gym or at home working on some side project.

Maybe I'm biased because I know a lot of engineers. 😂

But the city is full of engineers and bankers anyway... These are the main industries here, and most of the expats work in these fields.

The locals, which are about 50% of Zurich's population, tend to mind their own business. And as an expat, you'll likely be hanging out with other expats.

The Mental Health Situation

It can be a bit sad.

Having lived in over 7 cities in Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland, and travelling frequently all over Europe, I think the status of mental health in Zurich is not 10/10.

There are many advertisements about it all around the city, inviting people to seek professional help if they're feeling stressed or depressed. Maybe this is just an anecdote, but I thought I'd mention it.

Root causes for suboptimal mental health:

1. People are closed-off: It's hard for an expat to integrate, and even among locals, they tend to always hang out with the same few people. It can be hard to get a sense of "connection"
2. Hyper-focus on efficiency and career: Common in Zurich, seems to strip away some of the natural joy to live from people
3. Strong materialism: Swiss society values money a lot, it almost seems like everything revolves around it
4. High cost barriers to socializing: Going out for drinks or dinner is expensive, limiting spontaneous social interactions
5. Loneliness is not uncommon: Most of the above points contribute to this

Balanced View: The Pros

Is it a bad city to live in? No.

Everyone here has money, and that alone makes life easier.

Quality of life is good, if we look at metrics such as air and water pollution, safety, infrastructure, healthcare, unemployment rates, welfare, corruption and political stability etc.

In summer, you have clean rivers and lake right in the city, more people go out and there are more events and festivals.

The other seasons can also be enjoyable if you like the outdoors (hiking, skiing, etc) or if you're in a relationship and like spending cozy times indoor.

Reality check: If you're single/young/don't like the mountains, winters can be a bit boring/depressing.

Final Considerations: Still a Solid Choice?

All in all, I would say that being based in Switzerland as a SWE is still a solid choice.

The Comprehensive Pros List

• High local salaries: 80k to 170k even in local, smaller companies
• High big tech salaries: 160k to 1M
• Reasonable taxes for employees, basically the lowest among all high-paying countries
• Trustworthy and stable government and administration
• Reasonable inflation
• Strong currency, especially during this geopolitically complicated decade
• Low crime and pollution, beautiful nature, amazing infrastructure
• Excellent location at the center of Europe
• Taxes for self-employed people can be optimised further (can reach ~10% tax)
• Living in Switzerland for 10 years gives access to one of the strongest passports
• Great welfare
• Multicultural, well-educated society
• Free, top quality universities and schools
• Easy to get by with just knowing English
• Many expats
• Access to top corporate careers, especially in tech and finance
• Not a bad place to start a company: reasonable taxes, high quality talent, funding etc
• Good place to build up wealth, especially as a single person with high income
• Bikeable cities
• Many lakes and rivers, even inside cities
• Strong deep tech industry; good amount of high quality jobs for highly specialised devs

The Honest Cons List

• High cost of living
• Suboptimal place to be based in as a remote/online worker
• Local language is hard (Swiss-German in particular)
• Hard to integrate into the society
• Can be boring if you're young and/or single
• Very high costs for raising kids: kindergarten, nanny, etc
• Many rules: can't shower after 10 PM to not make noise, etc
• Risk of becoming a less attractive hub as tech jobs become remote and get offshored
• Local tech market is growing less than in other places; companies are offshoring

The Verdict

All in all: still a very solid choice.

If I had to look at the next 10 years though, I think being remote in LCLT might be better for most folks.

Long-term, if you grow your TC a lot in Switzerland as an employee, you'll have to leave a lot of money on the table compared to having a remote job in LCLT.

As I said in the past: If your goal is to have a great corporate career, optimise for company and job early on in your career, and location later. If your goal is financial freedom, optimise for location first, and company/job later.

Want to explore opportunities in Switzerland or compare with other locations? Check out the job board and financial data to make informed decisions.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What's the minimum salary needed to live comfortably in Zurich as a software engineer?

For a comfortable single lifestyle in Zurich, you need at least 80-90k CHF gross salary. This leaves you with ~60k after taxes, covering 40k living costs and 20k savings. For families, the threshold jumps to 120-150k due to childcare costs (€2-3k/month). Below these levels, you'll feel financial pressure and won't fully enjoy Switzerland's lifestyle benefits. Most local tech companies offer 90-130k, while big tech starts at 160k+.

How does Switzerland compare to remote work from Poland or Portugal?

Switzerland wins on absolute salary but loses on flexibility and savings rate. A 200k CHF Switzerland role yields ~€100k net after 50k expenses (€50k saved, 33% rate). A €100k remote role in Poland/Portugal yields ~€70k net after 25k expenses (€45k saved, 45% rate). Switzerland pulls ahead at 300k+ salaries, but requires on-site presence and has lifestyle constraints. For financial independence, remote LCLT often wins unless you're clearing 250k+ in Switzerland.

Is it realistic to buy property in Zurich on a software engineer salary?

Challenging but possible. A decent 2-bed apartment in Zurich costs €800k-1.2M. You need 20% down (€160k-240k) and stable income for mortgage approval. On a 200k salary, saving 60k/year, you'd need 3-4 years for a down payment. The alternative: many engineers buy investment properties in cheaper European cities (Warsaw, Lisbon, Berlin) while renting in Zurich, diversifying location risk and building wealth faster.

What's the best canton for software engineers considering taxes?

Zug offers the best tax rates (20-27% vs Zurich's 24-39% for same income levels), but has limited tech jobs and lacks Zurich's urban amenities. Zurich remains the best overall: large tech scene, international community, excellent connectivity, acceptable taxes. Other options: Basel (pharma tech, mid-range taxes), Geneva (lower quality of life, high costs, some tax advantages), Lausanne (smaller market, French-speaking). For employees, Zurich's job market outweighs Zug's tax savings.

How difficult is it to integrate socially in Zurich as a foreign software engineer?

Quite difficult, but manageable with the right expectations. The local Swiss population is friendly but closed-off—building deep friendships takes years. Most expat engineers create social circles with other international professionals in tech/finance. Join sports clubs (bouldering gyms are popular), attend tech meetups, learn some German, and accept that your social life will be primarily expat-focused. Summer helps significantly—more outdoor events and festivals. If you need strong community, consider cities like Berlin, Barcelona, or Warsaw.

Should I take a Switzerland offer or pursue remote work in a cheaper location?

Depends on career stage and goals. Take Switzerland if: (1) Early career (0-5 years) for resume building and learning, (2) Lack remote work experience, (3) Want to build a corporate career, (4) Plan to leverage location later. Choose remote LCLT if: (1) Mid-career+ with proven track record, (2) Prioritize financial independence over career progression, (3) Value flexibility and travel, (4) Can secure €100k+ remote roles. The hybrid approach: 2-4 years in Switzerland building skills and savings, then transition to high-paying remote work from LCLT location.