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BernThe Lake Geneva region, hell for married couples without children
Are you married, without children, and you both earn 160,000 francs per year? Avoid the banks of Lake Geneva if you need to save money, and move to the mountains. This is revealed by a comparison of the money left after taxes and rent are paid.
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Where should you live if you are a married couple, without children, with a joint income of 160,000 francs per year, to have the most money once the rent, taxes and duties have been paid? Answer: Oberems, in the district of Leuk, in Valais. You will be left with the tidy sum of 106,500 francs to live (well) on.
Oberems, from its height of 1,300 meters, in fact eclipses the 2,137 other Swiss municipalities in the comparison established by the Swiss Economic Policy Institute (IWP) exclusively for “20 Minuten”. Besides, it's in the mountains that you have to move if you want to have as much money as possible once taxes and rent have been paid. So we find just behind Oberems, the municipalities of Randa (VS), Zermatt (VS), Flims (GR), Anniviers (VS) and Laax (GR).
Hell is on the banks of Lake Geneva
Conversely, the most “unlucky” married couples live all around Lake Geneva. And the worst commune for them is Tannay (VD). In fact, only 77,427 francs remain in the couples' wallets once the rent and taxes have been deducted. That’s 29,000 francs less than in Oberems! Behind, we find Cologny (GE), Coppet (VD), Saint-Sulpice (VD) and Geneva.
It is above all the high rents which weigh down the results of these municipalities. “It’s really expensive here,” confirms Karina, a 35-year-old resident of Tannay. But there’s no question of moving: “The quality of life there is excellent.” This is also the opinion of Kee, 47 years old. He works at the UN in Geneva: “In Tannay, everything is very family-friendly, the residents are friendly and the location on the shores of Lake Geneva is fantastic.”
Note that the ranking hardly changes if we move to annual gross income of 100,000 francs. The banks of Lake Geneva are always the worst, even if it is Cologny this time which is the worst-off municipality. On the winning side, we find Flims (GR), Trun (GR) and Rossa (GR).
Singles should also avoid the banks of Lake Geneva
The same comparison carried out last fall, but this time for single people earning 50,000 francs per year, revealed that it was in Fontaines-sur-Grandson (VD) and Mauborget (VD) that it was necessary to settle down to have the most money after rent, taxes and fees have been deducted. Generally speaking, the Vaudois Jura was very interesting for this population group. Conversely, the banks of Lake Geneva already looked pale.