Michael Page says a minimum of 60.000CHF is required.

I would say that it depends on what you call a "decent lifestyle". I've known people living on 3500 CHF a month and they were very happy.

Some points make your life in Geneva definitely more expensive: renting a flat by yourself (as opposed to sharing with somebody), having a car (parking...), going out in cocktail bars and nightclubs (as opposed to the cheap underground scene), shopping at rue du Rhone (as opposed to second hand shops), going to the very fancy gym (as opposed to the more "ordinary" ones), eating out a lot (as opposed to cooking) etc etc... Your money can go very fast here, but there are many ways to make life less expensive here, once you know them...

I would agree that as a single person you'd be comfortable with an income of 80'000 to 100'000 CHF, although you have to count on the taxes (which depend on your income). I also agree that you can still live comfortably on 70'000 CHF per year although you might not have a luxury life (personally I live on much less than that right now - out of choice - and I'm still super happy...).

It just depends on your lifestyle, basically....

Alexandra, this is a very difficult question to answer.  If you have a BMW, fine dining, and Imelda Marcos shoe collection lifestyle, you'll need to get that income as close as possible to six digits.  If you can chump down and rein-in the status-chasing, conspicuous consumption, consumerist mentality to which well-educated young middle-class Americans often subscribe, you'll do just fine on 60k or less.

The question is this: In which group are you?

think property costing between 1000 to 2000 per month, depending on size quality and location...of course it can be MUCH MUCH more. Services like Elec, water, telephone etc depend on usage... budget upwards from 100 per month

Think health insurance costing from 300 to 500 per month depending on your requirements for coverage. (unless the firm pays)

Think tax at 28% ish

Think pension and other social costs coming from your salary variable cost approx 6%.

Deduct all that, and youre left with what you can use for food, car, drinking etc. if its anywhere near 2000 per month you'll be fine.

and if you do not drink, reduce by at least 500

what? you only go out for one night a month? ;-)

Rest of the month I 'm in de tox

i appreciate all the responses.

i live a simple lifestyle. i am not one of those young professional Americans walking around with their louis vuitton purses and jimmy choo shoes etc.

what i am mainly concerned about is finding a flat with 2 bedrooms as my mother will be coming and staying with me for part of the year so most of my income per month will be going to that i fear.

on everything else, like going out, drinking, restaurants, travel etc. i think i will be able to budget and manage.

the good thing about the job offer is that they are paying health insurance. however, the odd thing is they did not mention any money for relocation costs, company car if necessary etc. the contract seemed very vague. 

i have a BA and an MA and five years work experience and believe a salary of about 100K would be appropriate especially given the fact that i am not right out of college. but, they offered me the same amount of money i make now which i find odd.

Social Security is 12%

Alexandra, what area are you moving from?  I moved from SoCal; the local cost of living here did not shock me as much as it might have for a person coming from a flyover state.

i am moving from washington, d.c.

alexandra,

with an MA and 5 yrs work experience ( and speaking english and 1 or 2 other languages) you should expect a salary of 90-100'000 sfr. per year. most companies pay in 13 installments ( the 13th month being at the end of the year with the december salary.) your tax will be withheld by the company every month ( tax at source) and you may file a tax return to get the overpaid amount refunded at year end.

in geneva you can estimate 2'000-2'700 sfr per month for the tyype of apt. you have described. gas prices here are almost 4 x what you pay in the usa, ( sfr. 1.64 per litre or sfr. 6.56 a gallon !!!) used cars are also more expensive than in the us. while car insurance is about the same.

but hold on, you may become a vegetarian when you see the prices of meat. an example would be beef filet which is about 60-80 sfr a kilo, or  $25 - $32 a pound!!!)

people usually spend 25-30% of their take-home pay on rent. to get an idea of what is avaliable and for how much, go to the website www.homegate.ch

if you have any other questions, just ask me. i've been here for 40 yrs. and i love it.