Salary statistics in graphs You earn the most in Zurich - and the least in these regions

The Swiss Wage Structure Survey provides a representative overview of the salary situation in Switzerland every two years. Below are the most important results for 2024.

Keystone-SDA

25.11.2025, 11:32

25.11.2025, 11:51

SDA

The median salary for a 100% full-time position in the private and public sector amounted to CHF 7024 gross per month. This is an increase of 3.5 percent compared to 2022. The ten percent of employees with the lowest wages earned less than CHF 4635 per month, while the best-paid ten percent received over CHF 12,526.

This is how much the Swiss earnThe median wage rises to 7024 francs - but there's a catch

The general pay gap hardly changed between 2008 and 2024. During this period, the salaries of the best-paid ten percent of employees rose by 16.8 percent. Wage growth was lowest in the middle class at 15.4 percent, while the lowest-paid ten percent of employees saw their wages increase by 18.1 percent.

The pay gap between women and men is steadily decreasing. In 2024, it stood at 8.4%, compared to 9.5% in 2022, 10.8% in 2020 and 11.5% in 2018. The gender-specific pay gaps can be partly explained by the different levels of education, the level of responsibility in the workplace and the different sectors of the economy. These wage differences reflect the different professional integration of women and men in the labor market. According to the FSO, the higher the hierarchical level, the more pronounced the wage differences. In jobs with a high level of responsibility, the gap is 14 percent, in jobs without a management function it is 5.2 percent.

10.8 percent of employees (around half a million) worked for a low salary of less than CHF 4683 gross per month. A good three-fifths of these were women. Between 2008 and 2024, the proportion of low-wage jobs remained virtually unchanged.

LOW-WAGE INDUSTRIES: At the bottom of the wage pyramid are personal services (CHF 4496), the hospitality industry (CHF 4744), the hotel industry (CHF 4715) and retail (CHF 5214).

As in 2022, around three quarters of jobs with a gross monthly salary of over CHF 16,000 were held by men.

Wages were significantly higher than the median wage in sectors with high added value, such as the tobacco industry (CHF 14,304), banks (CHF 10,723), the pharmaceutical industry (CHF 10,159) and research and development (CHF 9,139).

Employees with a university degree received CHF 10,533 per month for a full-time position, those with a degree from a university of applied sciences received CHF 9,288 and those who had completed an apprenticeship received CHF 6,390. In the case of comparable education, the type of function and the activity performed in the company were decisive for the level of actual remuneration. There are major differences between management functions and functions without personnel responsibility.

Swiss monthly salaries still vary significantly between regions. While the gross median salary in the Zurich region amounted to CHF 7502 in 2024, it was CHF 5708 in Ticino. These regional wage differences have remained relatively constant over time. According to the FSO, they can largely be explained by the geographical concentration of economic sectors with high added value and the structural characteristics of regional labor markets.

In 2024, just under a third (32.6% compared to 33.6% in 2022) of employees received a bonus, i.e. an irregular annual special payment in addition to their basic salary. The average value of annual bonuses paid out rose to CHF 11,967 in 2024 (compared to CHF 11,670 in 2022). The amount of bonuses varied significantly depending on the sector and level of responsibility within the company. They are by far the highest in banks and insurance companies.

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