Zurich compared to Uk salary cost of living

[conpaul503]

Hi Mums out there
I am a dad so hopefully you don't mind me seeking advice here.

I am currently discussing some employment opportunities in Zurich and was hoping you may able to give me some advice in terms of living costs, spending power, housing etc when trying to evaluate a move from the UK to Zurich.

Any advice you can give me much appreciated

Your best bet is to ask on a forum like groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Expats-in-Zurich/info or the englishforum.ch . Think London prices as a starting point but even that will vary widely according to where you decide to live, type of accommodation, if you have to pay schools fees, health insurance, run a car etc. Also whether you will be paid in chf or £. Sites like immo.ch and homegate would give you an idea on property costs.

However expensive you think it will be, it will be more expensive. DH had a smaller salary in London than CH but our cost of living in CH eats up so much of our salary. And we don't even have DCs educated privately.

Try englishforum.ch but beware they are a grouchy bunch sometimes, but very knowledgable

I find in Zurich everything costs about 2.5 times as much as in London. I don't live here but come on business once a month. My Swiss colleagues, for example, pay CHF30 per hour for a cleaner. I pay £10 in UK.

A tray of veggie sushi, like you get in Pret for £4, can easily cost CHF15 in Zurich. And so on...

iirc we paid 25chf ph for a cleaner 10 years ago. Back then it equated to about £12 but not at current exchange rates ! A modest 3 bed apartment in a quiet area popular with expats about 20 mins journey to central Zurich was over 3000chf pcm back then.

I find the 3x£=CHF not a bad overall yardstick to use!

Right now we pay...
35CHF hour for cleaner
75CHF hour for basic gardener/labourer
25-30CHF hour for babysitter
90CHF for two pizzas and two beers