I will be moving in to Basel region with wife and two young boys in summer 2011. My swiss employer has an office in Weil Am Rhein in which I will be working. They are willing to hire me on either country. In other words we have to decide whether to live in CH or DE. Net pay will be same in both cases. My experience in living in Switzerland is limited to two years in Neuchatel 2001-2003, without family. So, I was hoping to hear your experienced opinion on this matter. Any comment, based on any reason/s will be appreciated. Naturally, since we have two young boys, we are interested on your experiences with daycare, schools, doctors, etc. We are favoring CH so far, but really with no experience in every day life over there, this is not an easy decision so far. By the way, we do not speak german, yet.
If you are to have your lodgings in Weil-am-Rhein or Lörrach ask your company to open a POBox for you in Basel or Riehen, if your lodgings will be in Basel, ask them to open that POBox in Weil-am-Rhein.
I would definitely live in Basel. The quality of life is much better in Switzerland. Your taxes will be much lower and your children will be in better schools.
You can always do all of your grocery shopping in Germany, but live in Switzerland and receive the Swiss benefits.
Most of the advice you were given was solid. If I had to choose, I would pick the CH side. Although rent is higher in Basel, there are much nicer places available and in D you generally have to install your own kitchen appliances. If you are staying here for only a couple of years it would be a lot of expense for nothing, since there's no guarantee the people who rent after you will want to buy the appliances from you.
Definitely Basel. To be honest we are not that excited about the "German side" of Basel; okay for groceries - that's it. I'm quite sure you will also find Basel much more international and English much more useful here. German would be a must if going for the "German side" - I would say!
I would recommend Basel because the Taxes are comparetively lower and also because the School system, Ancilliary costs of an apartment are much lower. Of course you could argue that the Rents are cheaper on the DE side but the taxes in DE will really get you.
You could stay very close to Weil Am Rhein in basel and do all your shopping there to get the benefit of cheaper groceries and clothing etc..
Sounding naive, but isn't German pay less than CH pay?
If you are going to work in the EU around BS, I would be careful about making sure that my salary matches the CH equivalent - irrespective of taxes.
When I first came here, I struggled for the first couple of months with my UK salary until my CH one kicked in (and all settling expenses stopped). If I had had to continue living on a UK salary, I would not have lasted long.
I continuously hear "the school system". Could anybody tell me why you think the Swiss one is superior? German public schools are not that bad and Baden Würtemberg - the state next to Switzerland - is besides Bavaria on top of the list in Germany...
Kitchen Appliances - seriously WTF? You do not decide what country to move to based on weather or not you have to buy a fridge...
Finances
Sorry, it is not so easy to make the full bill guys.
1. Taxes - Yes, lower in Switzerland. But if you have two kids as the OP, there are countless of tax deductions in Germany. Much more than in most other countries, so consulting a specialist pays off.
2. Housing - My main cost driver by far is housing. In Germany I would pay half or less of what I am paying in Zurich.
3. Child care - the OP did not say how old the kids are. If they are young and you want to pay for day care for two children the bill suddenly turns over to the German side - unless you are considerably over say 200k CHF a year, the cost difference for childcare is higher than the tax savings.
I like Switzerland and for us, DINKs, it is absolutely worth it. If we had two children, I guess I would - especially at the same income as the OP said - probably chose Germany. Will over all be cheaper and if somebody comes with some vague "quality of life" stuff again - what exactly is better in Basel?
If I'd work in Basel, I would move to Germany and just commute to Switzerland for work. (better, cheaper food, more variety, cheaper housing, lesser village mentality of people)
I do the same, except I live in France, which is even better. So in OP's shoes I would be looking at Saint Louis, Huningue, Village-Neuf, Hegenheim, Hesingue etc, especially considering that he mentioned that he does not speak German anyway.
yeah right. That area of Germany is mainly covered with tiny villages. The people living there have had very close ties to the Swiss for centuries, speak almost the same dialect as in Basel and are - in general - more Swiss than German.
...had to read that a couple of times as I thought you meant lesser village people mentality, which brings a wholy different - although not necessarily inaccurate - picture
Language-wise, I suppose it doesn't make a difference. However, several of my co-workers live in France and work in Switzerland. They all say the French in that area are notoriously unfriendly, the local administration / government is a nightmare, the school system sucks (extremely large classes, underpaid teachers, generally low level of education), the taxes are high, the VAT is high, infrastructure is much worse (roads, railway system) etc. Except for the cheaper housing, everything is worse.
I'd most definitely live in the Basel area (probably not in Basel itself, though) - the quality of life is exceptionally high here, the taxes (at least outside of Basel) are low and if you want to take advantage of the cheaper food prices in Germany, it's a 15 minutes drive across the border. If you live in Switzerland, you even get the 20% VAT back - as long as your purchases are below 300 Fr. per person, you literally get tax-free shopping as well.
From experience of talking with expats with kids on both sides of the border, it seems that the Basel schools are far better at integrating non-German speaking foreigners into the school system than those of Lörrach or Weil Am Rhein.
There is a higher proportion of skilled workers in Basel than in Lörrach or Weil Am Rhein's populations, so the chances of fitting in with the worldview of your neighbours is somewhat increased on the CH side.
The transport infrastructure of Basel is far better than across the border in France or Germany.
You can home tutor your kids in Switzerland. It's illegal in Germany.
Non-german speakers will find it easier to get along in Basel than in Germany.