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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