This is TBD.
The idea is to give it a try for a year, 2 or 3 and then to see how I like the job (I assume I will) and living in Switzerland (I hope I will as well).
If you won’t find a place in the low tax zones, try Einsideln, Brunnen, these are really nice places to live, and if you don’t care that much about the lowest tax then I would even recommend them for you, based on your situation and lifestyle.
Thank you for this reply.
- months without a clear sky is a problem or you won’t care?
Clear sky is for sure plus, is there a rule to look above certain altitude?
- snow around, occasionally blocked roads, paths just when you’d like to go somewhere, what about that?
I assume this would be an issue mainly in Davos, but for the rest of the places probably comparable to Bavaria (serious issue few days a year).
- air pollution, living on a hill slope can be very tricky, I lived for a short time in canton SZ, happy with the low tax, but when autumn came I run for my life from that place
My guess was that Switzerland has a good air quality compared to the rest of the Europe? Big share of EVs and great trains? So I didn’t consider this that much.
- what would you do when your nice job ends? The more commutable to Zurich the place the better long term.
This is TBD, maybe stay and have a look for a new job and maybe leaving Switzerland.
- In low tax area the rent will eat a lot from the tax benefit. I was having a nice flat in a nice area, only 15 min from Zurich HB, but money optimization is a life ongoing game, so when one summer an opportunity to move to SZ realized (with a very low rent for that location, 1.6k) I was jumping to the roof from joy, but the joy didn’t last long, as they say it was too good to be true. Moving back to previous area suddenly was more expensive, I’d need to spend ~10k more annually compared to my previous rent, so renting an expensive flat in canton ZG didn’t look that bad. Since I was in a hurry to move an expensive flat was quicker to get accepted to so I landed in ZG. Hindsight, obviously the prior flat near Zurich was a better deal overall.
I’m aware of this and it looks to me that also finding something to rent in Schwyz or Zug will be more difficult than somewhere further away from Zurich. One more reason to consider also Chur or parts of the Kanton SG.
- How much is your “some German”? If it’s nowhere around B1, I wouldn’t prioritize location based on language. A1/A2 can be learned withing the first year with minimum effort, but French/Italian will only keep building up whilst German is pretty useless here. With expats you’ll communicate in English, with most Swiss you’ll also communicate in English rather than high German.
Well I had German 5 years at high school, I’ve used it in Germany communicating with local authorities and from time to time. But in tech everything is in English. I’d say around somewhere between A2 and B1 definitely it’d be easy effort to push it to B1
Overall now I’m trying to search for places in SZ, ZG and Chur and I’ll probably decide based on the actual availability of properties to live in.
The problem is with inverted circulation
cow barns are usually on the slopes, also if the valley is below the fog line, the seasonal fog essentially creates a kind of cover that traps the air below it all days long
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exactly, people tend to check the online portals and jump to conclusion that they can choose whatever they like, nothing far from the truth, housing shortage is real in Switzerland exactly/especially in the popular places you’ve mentioned
Exactly my point!!
Money is not everything. And having to live in a soup is depressive.
- at this salary, you’ll find an apartment with no issue, even if you overpay.
- if it’s temp for now, and given you’re more introverted and want to enjoy outdoors, I’d say try Zug and surroundings. It’s not that much further from Bavaria or anywhere in comparison to Zurich, and is still quite close to the mountains, and it is well connected. In any case, CH is a small place as correctly stated above, so not an issue if you don’t have to commute and do school runs etc.
Save on taxes that you know you’re going to pay for sure, spend it on a nicer place, and you have your upside nicely protected from aggressive marginal tax that really bites in the “normal” cantons. If you realise down the line you don’t like the weather, with the savings of a couple of years, you can pad a nice deposit to get a place wherever you want.
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