While it’s a well-known adage that both living costs and salaries in Switzerland are some of the highest in the world, it is still important for newcomers, families and jobseekers to know what income they should expect and demand. Now, new data from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) has revealed the average disposable income of Swiss households.
According to the data released this November, the average gross income of a household in Switzerland stood at 9.927 francs a month in 2022, totalling 119.124 francs a year - for context, the average size of a household is 2,08 people. 73,9 percent of household earnings were accrued via a salary of some description, followed by pensions and social security programmes at 20,7 percent, and income from assets and investments at 4,4 percent.
Households spent 4.949 francs a month on "compulsory" and essential consumer spending (food shopping and rent among others), meaning disposable income stood at around 6.902 francs a month. In 2022, compulsory spending totalled 3.025 francs per household or 30,5 percent of gross income, the biggest share of which was taxes at 12,2 percent, followed by basic health insurance at 6,6 percent.
After a blip during the peak of the COVID pandemic, consumer spending returned to 2019 levels in 2022. Of the nearly 7.000 francs a month of disposable income, most of it was used on consumer spending like holidays and other goods, services and amenities.
At the end of each month, the FSO estimated that an average of 1.546 francs or 15,6 percent of household income in Switzerland is then re-invested into savings. This means that after 10 years of living in the alpine nation, the average household will have a nest egg of over 220.000 francs.
However, not everyone is able to save their francs in this way. The FSO found that households in the lowest income bracket (4.723 francs a month or less), “often” spend more money than they receive. They explained that this is mainly because 64 percent of households in the category are pensioners, meaning they top up their annual earnings via accrued wealth.