Salaries in Switzerland: official figures, minimum wages and what comes off your pay

The figure comes from the FSO’s Swiss Earnings Structure Survey, run every two years with October as the reference month. The 2024 survey covers about 34,000 enterprises and 2.9 million employees in industry and services; its first results were published on 25 November 2025 (FSO, checked 21 Oct 2026).

It is a gross wage, converted to a full-time job of 40 hours a week. It includes employee social contributions, regular bonuses, allowances and one-twelfth of the 13th salary and of annual bonuses, but not family allowances. The FSO stresses that the median is not the same as the average wage (FSO, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Below two-thirds of the median, CHF 4,683 a month, a job counts as low-paid: 10.8% of jobs in 2024 (FSO, checked 21 Oct 2026). For a single occupation, the FSO’s Salarium (opens in a new tab) and SECO’s national wage calculator (opens in a new tab) give estimates.

The FSO’s Zurich region is the whole canton, not only the city. Zug counts as Central Switzerland, Basel-Stadt as Northwestern Switzerland, and Geneva and Vaud as the Lake Geneva Region (FSO, checked 21 Oct 2026). The FSO attributes regional differences largely to where sectors with high value added are concentrated (FSO, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Living costs differ by region too; see cost of living in Zug. Where the jobs are: jobs in Switzerland for English speakers.

The share of low-wage jobs was 56.3% in personal services, 48.7% in accommodation and 47.8% in food and beverage service, but 0.6% in banks (FSO, checked 21 Oct 2026). A sector median mixes all levels of responsibility, so a single job can sit far from its sector’s figure.

A university graduate earned CHF 14,409 in a post with a high level of responsibility and CHF 8,645 in one without; a holder of a vocational certificate CHF 8,252 and CHF 6,162 (FSO, checked 21 Oct 2026). The permits themselves are explained in B permit in Switzerland.

Of employees with a full-time wage under CHF 4,500, 62.0% were women. The FSO splits the gap into an explained and an unexplained part in a separate analysis on the arithmetic mean, so those figures differ from the median gap (FSO, checked 21 Oct 2026).

The Gender Equality Act (GlG) bans pay discrimination by sex (Art. 3). Employers with 100 or more employees, apprentices not counted, carry out an equal pay analysis with a scientific method and repeat it every four years until one shows equal pay (Art. 13a, 13c). An independent body checks it, employees are told the result in writing within a year, and listed companies publish it (Art. 13d, 13g, 13h) (GlG, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Under the Code of Obligations (CO), the wage is what was agreed, is customary or is set by a standard or collective employment contract (Art. 322). Where usual wages are repeatedly and abusively undercut, the authorities can issue a standard employment contract with minimum wages (Art. 360a) (CO, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Cantons treat collective labour agreements (CLAs) differently. Geneva’s minimum applies even where a CLA pays less (Canton of Geneva, checked 21 Oct 2026). Basel-Stadt exempts sectors with a generally binding CLA, and Jura those with an extended CLA that sets a minimum wage (Canton of Basel-Stadt, checked 21 Oct 2026) (Canton of Jura, checked 21 Oct 2026). Hourly staff get holiday pay on top, 8.33% for four weeks in Basel-Stadt and Ticino (Canton of Basel-Stadt, checked 21 Oct 2026) (Canton of Ticino, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Zurich’s cantonal Administrative Court had quashed the city ordinance in 2024; the Federal Supreme Court held that this violated municipal autonomy (2C_28/2025). The City of Zurich will announce its start date at least six months ahead. The minimum covers people who work mostly in the city, with exceptions such as training internships, apprentices and under-25s without at least a two-year vocational certificate (EBA) (City of Zurich, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Winterthur’s CHF 23 does not include holiday pay, which comes on top, and a one-year transition period follows its start; until the city’s ordinance is in place, nothing changes for employers or employees (City of Winterthur, checked 21 Oct 2026).

Business 24.096 would let minimum wages in generally binding CLAs apply even where they are below cantonal minimums, which current law rules out. The Federal Council had advised against it; the National Council passed it in the final vote of 19 June 2026 by 115 to 78, with 6 abstentions (Federal Assembly, checked 21 Oct 2026). It had not entered into force on 21 October 2026.

Employers pay the same 5.3% and 1.1%. Non-occupational accident insurance (NBU) is, as a rule, charged to the employee at each insurer’s own rate. In the pension fund (BVG), the employer pays at least as much as its employees, and minimum old-age credits rise with age from 7% to 18% of the coordinated wage (FSIO, checked 21 Oct 2026). Health insurance is not a payroll contribution (FSIO, checked 21 Oct 2026): you pay the premiums to your insurer. To compare premiums, see expat-savvy.ch (opens in a new tab).

Foreign employees living in Switzerland without a C permit, and cross-border commuters, are taxed at source: the employer deducts the tax using the canton’s tariff (FTA, checked 21 Oct 2026). The Federal Tax Administration’s tax calculator (opens in a new tab) produces individual tax calculations. When a tax return is still needed: how to find an English-speaking tax advisor.

A special payment such as a Christmas bonus is owed only if agreed (Art. 322d CO) (CO, checked 21 Oct 2026). In 2024, 27.9% of enterprises paid no 13th salary (FSO, checked 21 Oct 2026). Because the FSO median includes one-twelfth of a 13th salary, a salary paid 13 times a year compares with it at thirteen-twelfths of the monthly amount.

Under the Foreign Nationals and Integration Act (AIG), foreign nationals are admitted to work only if the wages and conditions customary for the place, occupation and sector are met (Art. 22). For EU/EFTA citizens the AIG applies only where the free movement agreement has no different rule (Art. 2) (AIG, checked 21 Oct 2026).