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Best places to live in Switzerland in 2023 revealed

22 September 2023, by Jan de Boer

As part of the largest study of its kind, real estate consultancy Iazi and Handelszeitung have revealed the best places to live in Switzerland in 2023. This year, German-speaking towns and cities took the top spots on the list, with the first two rungs of the podium occupied by two cities in the same Swiss canton.

Swiss Gemeinderatings for 2023

To create the Swiss Council Ratings for 2023 (Gemeinderatings 2023), Handelszeitung and Iazi analysed 948 different Swiss councils (Gemeinden) to see which towns are the best to live in. All communities with over 2.000 inhabitants were included in the study, making it the largest of its kind in Switzerland.

To rank each town, Iazi analysed how they performed in eight different categories - based on a number of different metrics. These are (but are not limited to):

Housing: cost of buying a house, rates of new housing construction, rental vacancy rate, cost of rent
Labour market: rate of unemployment, number of new businesses
Population structure: demographics, population growth
Tax burden: tax yield, tax rates
Mobility: availability of public transport, access to major roads and motorways
Supply: number of doctors, pharmacies, hospitals, schools, shopping centres and supermarkets
Security: crime rates
Ecology: leisure activities, number of cultural venues and historical sites

A mixture of official data sets from five different federal departments of government were used to rank each community - from first to 948th - in each category. A weighted average was then calculated to place each town on the overall list.

Zug is the best place to live in Switzerland in 2023

Like last year, Zug was rated as the best place to live in Switzerland in 2023. The city was praised for its low tax rates and high levels of economic competence, especially when it came to welcoming new entrepreneurs - it now has the highest number of companies per capita of any place in Switzerland.

Speaking to Handelszeitung, Zug mayor André Wicki said that “good economic conditions, short distances between the city and its citizens and, above all, good schools are our concept for success.” The town is also helped by the fact that it remains extremely profitable thanks to the number of businesses it hosts, having posted a budget surplus of 71 million francs last year. This allows it to invest in services, with Wicki confirming that 200 million francs will now be spent on new schools and other renovations.

Best places to live are also the most expensive

While Zug was rated as the best place to live in Switzerland because of its quality of life, low taxes and economy, the city in central Switzerland has one major drawback: the cost. Much like other towns the top 10, apartments in Zug are some of the most expensive in the country.

In 2023, the second place on the ranking was occupied by Cham. The city on the banks of Lake Zug was given praise for its low tax rates, good quality of life and exceptional job market. Rüschlikon, Canton Zurich, rounded out the podium places, with Handelszeitung praising the town of 6.200 people for its “free swimming pool”, and its commitment to integrating new expats and internationals via adult education and other events.

Romande towns struggle in best town list

Interestingly, the top 20 in the ranking only featured towns and cities from Cantons Zug, Zurich, Graubünden, Lucerne and Schwyz, with no French or Italian-speaking areas in the top 50. The first French-speaking town to feature on the ranking was Pregny-Chambésy (Geneva) in 52nd, while the first Italian-speaking area was Collina d’Oro (Ticino) in 98th.

While they often fare well in mobility and quality of life metrics, regions in the Romande tended to lose out when it came to jobs and tax rates.

In terms of the major cities, Zurich was the best rated in 45th, followed by Winterthur (91st), Basel (93rd), Aarau (179th), Bern (199th), Geneva (260th), Lausanne (279th) and St. Gallen (373rd). The worst-rated town on the list for 2023 was Mümliswil-Ramiswil, Canton Solothurn, followed by Dulliken (Solothurn) and Valbirse (Bern).