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    Swiss cities among world's most affordable cities to eat out (when you factor in local wages)
    Switzerland

    Swiss cities among world’s most affordable cities to eat out (when you factor in local wages)

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    36 Comments

    1. GayloWraylur on

      Yeah, to “ExPaTs” and other high paid foreigners. Doubt it for actual locals

      Edit:
      Going from +7 to +3 without anyone actually being able to debunk anything i said is funny aint it? Sometimes you just have to accept that immigration is a net negative for the average worker, instead of the propagated net positive.

    5. indero on

      What I do think this study misses, is that in a lot of cities there is affordable street food. There is no street food culture in switzerland.

    6. AenarionTywolf on

      Funny i just came back from athens, and found it extraordinarily affordable to eat there

    8. lifeofblu3 on

      Just quickly read through this. Looks like they took gross salary instead of net for the swiss cities at least. Another point which always bugs me when I see these comparisons (not just this one in particular) is that health tax is included for most european countries but not for switzerland since it’s not actually “tax”, technically this should be deducted too for “net” income. I believe a comparison with available income should be much more telling.

    9. IntentionNegative516 on

      What?!? Berlin should clearly be very high up on the “affordable” list. Eating out costs almost nothing compared to here. When I was studying in Berlin, with almost “no” money, we were always eating out. Coming here, initially earning 75k p.a., the cost of eating out was quite the shock.

      I’m also missing all of South and Eastern Europe here.

    11. babicko90 on

      Its actually true. I went to a restaurant in Belgrade. It was 130eur per person in local currency. Average salary is 500eur

    13. kannichausgang on

      People like to complain about the cost of eating out in Switzerland but I don’t think they realise how expensive it is abroad. Take Ireland for example. Minimum wage €13.50 p/hr, plus relatively high taxes. Main dish €18-30. Basel minimum wage 22chf p/hr, low taxes. Main dish 20-40chf. So with 1hr of work you will never be able to have a main dish in Ireland, whereas in Basel you can find many dishes (especially vegetarian) for 1hr of work.

    15. swagpresident1337 on

      Checks out. Eatsern europe is reall only cheap for westerners. It‘s like 1/2 the price in central europe. But they earn 1/4 there.

    16. bananeeg on

      They say it’s for a three course meal at a mid-range restaurant. You don’t get that for 60 chf. 60 chf is when you’re trying to eat out cheaply, not an average.

    17. gagarine42 on

      B.S. Using the average salary is misleading. The mean is highly sensitive to extreme values, and Switzerland has many ultra-high salaries while the lower end isn’t very low. People in the lower 40 % face very high costs, with virtually no affordable options. So yes, we can agree that being well-off in Switzerland is pleasant.

    18. Arduou on

      When people explain me that meat is half the price in the nearby French supermarkets…I remind them that French wages are a third, or less than ours. I do not say that our folks do not have their own problems and financial struggles, but please take some distance!

    20. Jahbomb1974 on

      This frankly is a much more relevant analysis than the “Big Mac index”. We generally earn high salaries in CH, and our taxes are (generally) low. We thus have a lot of disposable income. Indeed, most restaurants are reasonably priced given this context, especially when you consider the low tax on prepared food and that tips are generally not required.

    21. pekopeko-ch on

      I feel like it should be the median local net salary and not the average, as the median is less prone to be distorted to extraordinarily high outliers in the data, which are expected to be observed in salary samples.

    22. tudalex on

      Are they comparing michelin star restaurants? Because to be honest the price difference between a michelin star restaurant and a kebab in Zurich is much lower than anywhere else.

    24. Waste-Staff-820 on

      Lustig, wie verärgert wir Schweizerinnen und Schweizer immer sind, wenn die Schweiz nicht das teuerste Pflaster ist. Eigentlich schade, denn es ist toll zu wissen, dass wir uns mit unseren Löhnen tatsächlich viel leisten können. Auch wenn alles teuer ist.

      Stell dir als Gedankenexperiment vor, du lebst in Dubrovnik und arbeitest als Handwerker. Nun sind so viele Touristen da, dass du 1. zu wenig Geld hast, um die Preise zu zahlen, und 2. gar keinen Platz im Resti findest, da alles ausgebucht ist.

      Zweites Experiment: Du lebst in Barcelona, arbeitest in der IT und verdienst (netto) 1.500 €. Deine Wohnung im Aussenbezirk kostet 750 €. Du hast also 750 €. In Zürich verdienst du netto 6.000 CHF. Die Wohnung kostet dich 3.000 CHF (Niemand will in der Aglo wohnen). Klar, Krankenkasse und so kommen noch weg (ca. 1000 CHF), dir bleiben 2000 CHF. Guter Deal, finde ich. Vergiss nicht: Du gibst nicht alles aus, weil du ja noch 600 CHF pro Monat auf die Säule 3a zahlst. Erzähl mal jemandem in Europa, dass du 600 CHF pro Monat sparst!

      Ich kann mir schon vorstellen, dass diese Statistik nicht nur falsch sind.

    26. Affectionate_Lie6349 on

      Not for a family of four on a single income. Maybe for a single person or a couple working full time.

    27. Ambitious-Duck503 on

      I didn’t check the source carefully, but I wonder if the “3 course meal” data creates a bias. I believe Swiss and French restaurants will often offer such a set meal, whereas in other countries around the world this would mostly mean ordering 3 dishes a la carte.

    30. CaughtALiteSneez on

      Excellent restaurants have very good lunch specials…one of my locals will have a dish that is normally 50 CHF in the evening for 18-26, including a salad or soup to start.

      I recommend to do this rather than trying to go out in the evening.

    32. DonPablo951 on

      They surely took top tier salaries into this. Like back in the days, when they published a study, were you belong to the “working poor with less than 10k a month lol

    33. slimethor on

      I live here and I never eat out. I can’t afford it. I could have a bowl of amazing pho for 7usd just 15 years ago. I can’t find it below 25 here. I once drank coffee at a cafe in Zürich, the pastries started at 7-8chf, I kept wondering what kind of an idiot would pay that much. Home cooking all the way