New data from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) has revealed that up to 3.940 people from Zug are leaving the canton every year. A record housing shortage and excessively high rental costs have been cited as the main reasons for the exodus.

A quarter of the local population of Zug has left since 2014

While the population of Zug continues to grow, many locals are choosing to leave the place where they grew up. According to the FSO, between 3.199 and 3.940 people left Zug and moved to different cantons every year between 2014 and 2023.

The data means that around a quarter of Zug's local population has left the canton in the last decade. These émigrés don’t go far though, with Zurich, Lucerne, Aargau and Schwyz being the most popular places to move to.

"I was born and grew up in Zug, and I lived there for more than 50 years," Zug emigrant Ivo Zimmermann told SRF. Like many locals, the overheated housing market was the main reason to move: "My wife and I looked for a home for several years, but unfortunately couldn't find anything suitable."

Zug home to the worst housing shortage in Switzerland

Indeed, the FSO noted that Zug has the worst housing shortage in the country, at a time when the number of vacant apartments is at a nationwide record low. As of June 2024, only 0,39 percent of Zug homes were available to rent, the lowest in the country and a drop from the 0,42 percent reported at the end of 2023.

The shortages also mean that the canton has the highest asking rents in the alpine nation. In March, the FSO estimated that the average monthly rental cost in Canton Zug was 1.850 francs a month, 400 francs more than the national average. Comparis found that a 4,5 room home in Zug itself costs between 2.900 and 9.900 francs a month.

In many ways, Zug has been a victim of its own success, with the region regularly rated as the best place to live in Switzerland. In addition, the local tax system offers residents, entrepreneurs and businesses the lowest rates in the country, making it a hotbed for international companies, jobs and the super-rich. Both these factors mean a large amount of wealthy people seek to live and work in Zug, which exacerbates housing shortages and prices out locals.

Migration and high taxes blamed for Zug housing shortages

For many in the cantonal government, the issue lies in the number of new arrivals from other cantons and overseas. In September 2023, the cantonal parliament even debated restricting affordable housing developments so that only Zug locals could apply for them.

By contrast, left-wing parties speaking to SRF argued that blaming rich non-locals for coming in and taking advantage of the low taxes and good job market is like blaming a chicken for hatching from its egg. They called on the canton to scrap its low tax system, which they see as the main driver of the housing shortage. 

In addition, on November 27 the Zug branch of the Social Democratic Party launched a new referendum aimed at creating a 750-million-franc fund dedicated to building affordable homes in the canton.

"The entire political discussion is shaped by ideology," added Luzian Franzini of the Green Party. He argued that the current government are unwilling to change the present situation, which has remained financially lucrative for so long.

In response, Centre Party cantonal councillor Silvia Thalmann told SRF they are taking measures to stop the exodus of locals. "We want to simplify building regulations wherever possible, while at the same time streamlining construction processes and making them more flexible," she argued, adding that they hoped this would help create affordable homes for locals.