Recently published figures show that average (mean) monthly household income in Switzerland in 2017 was CHF 9,917 (US$ 9,963). This is equal to CHF 119,004 (US$ 119,554) a year.
Income is made up of salary income (CHF 6,320; 64%), freelance income (CHF 984; 10%), investment income (CHF 494; 5%) and money from the government (CHF 2,119; 21%) – pensions and other welfare and transfers.
The largest item of expenditure is taxes and compulsory insurance (CHF 2,933; 30%), although this includes compulsory salary pension payments, so it is probably more meaningful to separate this figure into CHF 2,588 (26%) of taxes and unavoidable insurance payments and CHF 405 (4%) of pension savings. This amount includes compulsory health insurance of CHF 634 (6%).
The next largest items of spending are housing and energy (CHF 1,463; 15%), transport (CHF 742; 8%), food and non-alcoholic drink (CHF 636; 6%), optional insurance – mainly health1 (CHF 591: 6%), restaurants and hotels (CHF 571; 6%), recreation and culture (CHF 577; 6%), extra healthcare spending on top of insurance (CHF 244; 2%), food and clothing (CHF 202; 2%), communication (CHF 189; 2%) and other expenses (CHF 648; 7%). The average household in Switzerland regularly saves CHF 1,111 (11%) a month on top of compulsory salary-based pension savings.
Averages, however, obscure the range of household income. When broken down into quintiles (20% segments), average total monthly household incomes range from CHF 3,389 to CHF 20,023. Those in the lower quintile, are more likely to be single-person households, over 65, and to a lesser extent young.
The results are based on a survey of 3,217 households in 2017. In 2017, an average Swiss household contained 2.18 people. The full dataset can be found here.
More on this:
Federal Statistical Office data (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
1 Compulsory health insurance is included in taxes and compulsory insurance.
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Hans Noetig says
this does clearly not reflect a normal swiss budget…
“only trust your own faked statistics”
this article gkves a false view on swiss people… it forces the naive view that all Swiss people are rich and wealthy!
Le News says
The statistics are from the Federal Statistical Office: https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/aktuell/neue-veroeffentlichungen.assetdetail.10867802.html. We added an extra paragraph to show the range of income. When broken down into quintiles average total monthly household incomes range from CHF 3,389 to CHF 20,023.
Suzane says
They must be dreaming ! Are they all homeowners? And food at 600CHF? It’s more like 4000 CHF on home,1000 CHF on food, various 3000 CHF for insurances incl car, and you have just enough left to manage some garde-robe, medical bills (still pay 10% or franchise), school and sports fees, and an occasional outing, at least in Geneva for a household of 3-4. 10K is bare minimum and with that income restaurant is once a month
JOYPATTINSON says
What! No mention of parking or speeding fines?