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    TIL: Average household gross income is ~10 300 CHF/month. But 60% earn less.
    Switzerland

    TIL: Average household gross income is ~10 300 CHF/month. But 60% earn less.


    On the side note, it would be great if journalists could avoid switching between gross income and available income when they make their ratio xD

    You have (in CHF/month):

    • 10.3k gross income of which:
      • 7.1k of disposable income
      • 3.2k of compulsory expenses (tax, social contribution, health insurance premiums).

    On the disposable income, 1.5k CHF / month goes to housing and energy [wtf?! This low?!] and could save around 1.7k CHF/month [17% of the gross income].

    Note that those who couldn’t save are in big part retired people as they use their wealth for spending.

    As someone living in ZH city: WTF for the price of these home?! Wheee can I get one?!

    It shows that we need statistics based household composition and location (city vs suburb vs rural).

    Otherwise, it is always the same joke: when Bill Gates goes into a bar, the average customer is a millionaire.

    Source: https://www.rts.ch/info/economie/2025/article/revenu-des-menages-suisses-61-sous-la-moyenne-de-7186-francs-par-mois-29061309.html

    TIL: Average household gross income is ~10 300 CHF/month. But 60% earn less.
    byu/neo2551 inSwitzerland



    Posted by neo2551

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    26 Comments

    2. Not_The_Hero_We_Need on

      Maybe the financial journalist was sick today, and the novice student wrote the article

    3. JohnHue on

      >and could save around […] [17% of the gross income].

      Bwahahaha

      Know educated people it healthy industrries who have no other responsibilities than themselves (no kids or other person depending on them) and they sure cannot save 17% of their **gross** income, far from it.

    4. MitsotakiShogun on

      > TIL: Average household gross income is ~10 300 CHF/month. But 60% earn less.

      Yeah, that’s why you look at income distribution, e.g. in deciles. Average is meaningless, median is a bit better but still meh, but deciles are are pretty useful.

    7. cubcgzzo on

      Classic redditor moment: finding out that not everybody lives a bug life in Zöri where housing and taxes are outrageous. But hey, you will get bicycle highway for 350m, smile and be happy. 🙂

    8. Gulliveig on

      >Otherwise, it is always the same joke: when Bill Gates goes into a bar, the average customer is a millionaire.

      That’s where the median comes in handily: it shifts just by half a person 😉

    10. GlassCommercial7105 on

      Well if you earn your money in Zurich, pay tax in Zug and live in Jura this could work. 

    14. Za_collFact on

      I find these stats always hard to understand. 10300chf gross. Does this mean average household make 12 x 10300 =123’600 chf gross per year?

      It is already a solid number imo.

    15. as-well on

      You can find lots of stats from the federation.

      This is the yearly household budget survey, which uses the average, not the median, and was released today: https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en.gnpdetail.2025-0457.html – the associated table for example shows you how much money the mean household spent on what.

      There’s other stats that do what you want: https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/economic-social-situation-population/income-consumption-wealth/household-budget.html

      In previous years, disposable income was also calculated by size of hte household, e.g. https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/economic-social-situation-population/income-consumption-wealth/household-budget.assetdetail.32526539.html – I’d imagine that gets updated eery now and then. On that graph, you can see for example distribution of disposable income by quintiles.

      You can also find overview tables by spatial subdivision, either by larger region, canton, or language group.

      As for rent: As most rents are linked to the overall interest environment, landlords cannot raise them easily for existing renters. That means that in the current environment where interest went down significantly in the last decade, having been in the same apartment results in comparably very low rent: https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/construction-housing/dwellings/rented-dwellings.html

      For example, the average newly rented 3 room apartment costs something like 1’800, while it’s more like 1’200 if you’ve been in there for 21+ years.

      Unfortunately, the law allows for rent increases of about 10% between renters, or more if the overall rent in similar buildings in the neighbourhood went up.

    16. couple_suisse69 on

      I saw a couple of years ago the average rent for a 3 rooms apartment in Geneva was around 1400.- and the reason is there are a lot of old people who rent the same apartment since the 70s and pay next to nothing.

    17. certuna on

      Problem is that people look at their own situation, and assume it is roughly the same for everyone else. So young single working people in Zurich or Geneva assume that everyone in Switzerland pays 3k rent and lives on one starter salary all their life. If you hang out with some retired people in a town where nobody under 50 sets foot, you see completely different spending patterns.

    18. trusendi on

      Hi, can give a bit of insight as someone living outside of Zurich.

      Gf(25) and I(27) will move in together in January.
      If we talk gross salary we‘ll be earning 13‘300 CHF per month. I‘m at 7.7k and she‘s at 5.6k.
      Our rent is 1450. I pay around 16k in taxes + Wehrpflichtersatz which will set me back around 1350 every month. Health insurance for me is around 400.
      For her 550 (she has a medical condition).

      So yes, looks like we‘ll spend 1450 on rent, 2100 on taxes and around 900 on health insurance. That‘s 4450 a month and I guess a bit higher than the average.

      We live a bit outside of Solothurn and rent here is rather cheap. Saw an apartment with 2,5 rooms 70m² for 900 CHF.

      We‘re paying 1450 for 4 rooms and 90m²!

    22. Every_Tap8117 on

      Show me a place anywhere to pay 1500 for rent for a family of 4, anywhere that is actually in a town where I can make 10k a month and has the infrastructure to support a young family, doesn’t exist

    23. asozzi on

      Once more, a completely **useless garbage article**. Basically just AI summarizing the original press publication of the statistics buero:

      Original article in German: [Link here](https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/wirtschaftliche-soziale-situation-bevoelkerung.assetdetail.36192815.html).

      Completely missing from the article is the underlying data: [Household Income and Expenditure](https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/economic-social-situation-population/income-consumption-wealth/household-budget.html) (BFS)
      –> My old comment from [a year ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/Switzerland/comments/1gpirvc/comment/lwqw4e0/?context=3) on the same topic is till valid.

      **TL/DR**: Statistics distort but are easy to compare year over year. They give almost no information on the ground truth outside of that comparison though.
      NOTE: The [Statistically average Swiss family](https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/wirtschaftliche-soziale-situation-bevoelkerung.assetdetail.36192845.html) in 2023 consists of
      **2.07 People**: **0.43** PPL are >65 (**pensioners**),
      **0.54** PPL are Young/”other” (**not earning**)
      **1.16** are 25-65 and **likely earning** money.

      So the 10k income in the [graphic ](https://dam-api.bfs.admin.ch/hub/api/dam/assets/36192825/thumbnail?width=555&height=555)make a bit more sense: E.g getting 2.1k Pension AND paying 2.9k at the same time….

      So looking at a more reasonable Family Household with [2 Adults 2 Kids](https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/wirtschaftliche-soziale-situation-bevoelkerung/einkommen-verbrauch-vermoegen/haushaltsbudget.assetdetail.32667032.html) (still 2021 data though)
      – Gross Income: 14’433CHF NET Income: 10’264CHF (Minus Social Insurance, Tax and Medicare basic)
      – Spend about 7’300: 650 Addl Insurance; 1’650 Food; 1’000 Transport; 2’200 HouseCloth; 1200 Pers./Com/Fun; 600 Other
      – Discressionary: 3’000

      This seems a lot closer to someting understandable. But the same here this is an average and the spread is from family incomes between 4k to 20k !

    25. Kimi_Arthur on

      When I read these numbers, I always wonder
      1. Before or after tax, social security, voluntary contribution (so it is before, most likely)
      2. For 13th salary and bonus, stock equity, are they included? Maybe? And what about asset, stock growth? Probably no?
      3. How many people contribute to a household? What’s the situations for 1 person, couple, with kids etc
      4. This post even added a new question, what about the retired?

      Everything made it hard to understand these numbers and position yourself in.

      Also, the housing cost may be higher or lower if you don’t rent, I guess.