Medium-sized Swiss cities offer the best balance of affordability and quality of life, according to the second edition of UBS’s Wohnattraktivitätsindikator, which ranks 2,000 municipalities across ten regions. The analysis evaluates infrastructure, leisure and living costs—comprising rent, taxes and health insurance premiums—for a hypothetical family with two children earning CHF 150,000 annually.
The study assesses municipalities across three main pillars: infrastructure and accessibility, leisure and quality of life, and costs. Leisure factors include dining, sports, cultural venues and proximity to lakes, parks and natural areas, while quality-of-life metrics incorporate noise pollution, industrial zones, vacancy rates and crime levels. A persistently high vacancy rate despite low rents may signal weak attractiveness, UBS economist Thomas Rieder noted.
In nine of ten regions, medium-sized cities claimed the top spot, with Basel the sole exception as a major urban center. The cost advantage is substantial: living expenses in Freiburg are about 15% lower than in Bern, while Solothurn is 34% cheaper than Zürich and Aarau 28% lower. A family living within 10–15 minutes of Zürich by public transport saves roughly CHF 11,500 per year in combined rent, taxes and health insurance, with the gap widening to over CHF 20,000 for locations 45 minutes away.
Peripheral and rural municipalities frequently underperform in the ranking, particularly in the Zürich-Aarau-Schaffhausen corridor, where towns like Schwaderloch, Leibstadt and Full-Reuenthal, as well as Weiach, Glattfelden and Bülach, rank below regional averages. Similar patterns appear in Central Switzerland, where Realp, Hospental and Romoos score low, and in the Bern-Freiburg area, where Gsteig, Lauenen, Saxeten and smaller eastern communes trail. While these areas often feature lower rents and abundant green space, their weaker infrastructure and accessibility offset these benefits, the report concludes.
