Price it in your money
Tell me where you live now and what you spend a month, and every cost here becomes your number — the same life, priced country by country, in your own currency.
A guide, not a quote. I move your monthly spend by each country’s official price level (Eurostat and the World Bank, whole-economy, EU-27 = 100) — no exchange rates, so it stays in your own currency. But averages hide rent and the city you pick, and changing country is rarely a straight swap. Read these as the right ballpark, then price the real thing.
EU-27 = 100 · 2025. Living in Switzerland runs about 71% pricier than the EU average.
Eurostat (prc_ppp_ind) / World Bank, 2025, CC BY 4.0. Whole-economy price level — country averages hide big regional and rent spread.
A €2,500 a month reference life runs about €4,280 a month here — roughly €51,360 a year, and a ×30 number near €1,541,000.
The reference life the calculators use, scaled by the index above — the same whole-economy figure, a guide not a quote.
Where in Europe
Alpine and temperate — four sharp seasons, snow-sure mountains.
a roof here, against the EU-27 average
In Switzerland, buy prices moved +4.6% last year; rents up 14% since 2015.
Deloitte's Property Index doesn't price this country, so there's no per-m² tag here — the comparative level and the trend above are the official read.
Read these as the shape, not the price. Housing is the most divergent cost in Europe, and a national average buries the thing that actually decides it — the city, the street, new-build against old. Treat it as a ballpark, then price the real place. Not property or mortgage advice.
Level vs the EU: Eurostat comparative price level for housing (prc_ppp_ind, EU-27 = 100, 2024). Trend: Eurostat house price index and actual-rentals index (2015 = 100, 2025).
The rules that matter for an exit.
Private investors pay essentially 0% on capital gains themselves.
An annual wealth tax applies at cantonal level instead — which canton you live in decides how much of your having gets taxed each year.
Cantonal, not federal: spouses are exempt everywhere and direct descendants in most cantons; rates climb with distance of kinship. The federal 50%-above-CHF-50m initiative died at the ballot in November 2025.
The tax code is the stable part. The catch is the price of the ground — see the cost figure above.
Can you actually move here?
Hold an EU or EEA passport and the door isn't the question — freedom of movement covers the move itself. The clocks and the tax-residency rules below still run for you.
With your passport, skip the doors — the clocks and the tax-residency rules are what matter for you.
No EU passport means one of the doors on the left — each checked against the authority that issues it.
'sufficient means' — no fixed federal figure; the canton tests that you'd never need assistance
No permit for sale — the money door is lump-sum taxation: residence taxed on living expenditure (federal floor CHF 435,000 deemed income, 2026), cantonal, and already abolished in Zurich and four other cantons.
permanent residency at 10 yrs · dual allowed · a national language — oral B1, written A2 (cantons may ask more)
without work (30 with); or the day you register domicile
Switzerland's doors are cantonal and conditional: under 55 with no job, there's essentially no route; over 55, the retiree permit runs on 'close ties' and the canton's goodwill. The wealthy negotiate entry through lump-sum taxation — pay tax on your spending, minimum CHF 435,000 of deemed income federally — though five cantons, Zurich included, have scrapped it. EU and EFTA passports skip all of this with means and insurance.
Lump-sum taxation stays politically live — five cantons have already abolished it; check your target canton before building a plan on it.
Check it yourself: SEM — ordinary naturalisation · PwC — Switzerland tax residence
Getting-in rules checked July 2026. They move faster than tax law — confirm the current rule with the authority before you plan a move around it. Education, not immigration advice.
There's no state insurer — Swiss-style basic insurance from competing private funds is mandatory for every resident within three months of arrival, premiums averaging about CHF 465 a month per adult (2026), varying widely by canton and deductible.
Private cover: the retiree permit wants cover shown up front; enrolment is compulsory regardless once resident.
Healthcare access checked July 2026. Systems are stable but details shift — confirm before you rely on them. Education, not health-insurance advice.
Common questions
- Do you pay capital gains tax in Switzerland?
- Private investors pay essentially 0% on capital gains themselves.
- Does Switzerland have a wealth tax?
- Yes — an annual wealth tax applies at cantonal level. Which canton you live in decides how much of your having gets taxed each year.
- Is Switzerland expensive to retire in?
- That's the real catch, not the tax — the tax is gentle and settled (zero on gains, a cantonal wealth tax on the pot). It's the price of the ground that bites, not the rules.
- Can an American or a Brit retire early in Switzerland?
- Yes — the door is the retiree permit (55+): a cantonal permit for non-EU retirees over 55 with proven close ties to Switzerland, no work anywhere, and your centre of life moved here — the canton decides, with no legal entitlement. The bar is 'sufficient means' — no fixed federal figure; the canton tests that you'd never need assistance. An EU or EEA passport skips the visa question entirely — freedom of movement covers the move itself. Rules like these move — confirm with the immigration authority before planning around them.
- How long until a Switzerland passport?
- 10 years of legal residence is the general naturalisation rule, with a national language — oral B1, written A2 (cantons may ask more). Dual citizenship is allowed. Permanent residency usually comes at 10 years.
Run your own numbers.
Start with Where You Live — try a cantonal-scale wealth tax on the number — illustrative, deliberately.
The Exit Calculator
Years to your number, at your savings rate.
OpenWhere You Live
What an annual wealth tax does to the maths — illustrative, deliberately.
OpenThe Geoarbitrage Map
The same life, priced across 58 countries.
OpenThe whole system — wrappers, funds, withdrawal, the blank page — is in the guide: The European FIRE guide
None of this is tax or investment advice — it's education, kept deliberately at the level that survives fact-checking. Rules shift with every budget round; the specifics of your situation belong with a licensed adviser in your country. I'm happily not one.
This page was last verified against official sources on 8 July 2026. What's changed on the map
Know a figure here that’s wrong or out of date? Point me to the line and a source — every correction gets checked, and it’s how the map stays right.
Report a correctionBring me a challenge.
The Exit Audit, then ninety minutes: a straight verdict, real alternatives with their pros and cons, and your first move. If you want someone to nod along, I’m the wrong person to pay.
Ninety minutes, online, €600 — the Exit Audit included.