Salary for relocating to Zurich with Family (4 members)

mario_pap

Member

Member since 09 October 2015

mario_pap

09 October 2015 14:27:15

mario_pap

09 October 2015 14:27:15

Hi all,

I'm a new member and would like your help about salaries and cost of living in Zurich Switzerland.

I received a job offer of 115.000 CHF (gross). We are a family of 4 (me, my wife, 4 years child, and a newborn).

I would like your support to determine if with this salary can secure a comfortable living for my family prior making a final decision.

Thanks!

ArielleR

Member

Member since 18 March 2011

Ecublens

ArielleR

19 October 2015 11:55:00

ArielleR

19 October 2015 11:55:00

Ecublens

Hi,

Well, I would say yes, but it depends on your living standard.

You can live with that if you take a 3.5 rooms appartment (two bedrooms, between 1800 and 3500 chf/month depending on the neighborhood) and if you don't need a kindergarden (25000 - 36000 chf/year per kid). Keep in mind that you will need to pay the mandatory Kranken versicherung (from 250 chf per adult and 100 chf per kid per month) and I guess your tax rate will be around 15%, maybe less.

Hope it help!

Arielle

Lyrnna

Member

Member since 12 May 2014

Geneva

Lyrnna

19 October 2015 12:23:40

Lyrnna

19 October 2015 12:23:40

Geneva

Hi
If your wife works as well and brings in a second salary then thats a good comfortable salary for one spouse to be bringing in, if its just that one salary for four, no way, things will be very tight. But thats just my opinion. Rents are high especially close to the city, public transport, car costs, medical insurance, all over heads for flat, rent, taxes, extra curricular activities for kids, all times four? Tight, you might just be able to make ends meet with no room for any extras whatsoever.
Better still, I advice you make a polite request to their HR to give you an estimate of take home amount after withholding tax is deducted and all else, you will have a more realistic figure to work with.
Maybe negotiate a housing allowance extra to pay the rent ie: they should pay the rent for at least the first year to help you settle in, would be a big plus.
Good luck

musander

Member

Member since 02 July 2013

Zurich

musander

19 October 2015 17:48:09

musander

19 October 2015 17:48:09

Zurich

Dear friend,

with 115 kCHF in Zurich you and your family of four will live as outcasts

Believe me, I have been unfortunately there for nearly two years and I have been a victim of the "salary dumping" scheme typical of Switzerland, i.e. foreign professionals are hired at 50-60% of the wage a Swiss having the same seniority or experience would accept (you understand that where it is too late), and must nosedive down the social ladder.

The average cost of life in Zurich is 2.4x than in Italy or Israel (e.g. hardly you find an "expresso coffee" in a bar for less than 3.5CHF!) and for 2000CHF you rent at most a micro-studio downtown or a 3.5 rooms house in the awful outskirts. The town is so sad in its endless winter; driving and parking the car is a nightmare (the Swiss social engineering tries by every mean to force you to use public transport), and more in general the "German"-Swiss way of life is unbearable by everybody who comes from the freedom of Mediterranean countries and does not feel pleasant to live in a "Great Brother" environment, where the public administration controls everything and puts its nose in whatever you do.

My advise is to look elsewhere for a more decent living experience. I would never return.

Shalom
Yuval
(Tel Aviv)

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