Zurich Guide for Digital Nomads

Weather in Zurich by month

The warmest month is July, at about 77°F (25°C) in the afternoon, and the coolest is January, at about 40°F (5°C).

The most rain falls in July.

From NOAA's monthly station summaries for Zuerich Fluntern, Sz (2.2 km away), averaged over 2011 to 2025.

Internet in Zurich

In M-Lab's open speed tests within 25 km of Zurich, half came in above 83 Mbps download and 31 Mbps upload, and the fastest quarter of lines above 254 Mbps.

That's 1,653,830 download tests from September 2025 to September 2026.

The typical figure counts every line, cheap and mobile ones too; a fiber line in a good apartment or coworking space is closer to the fastest quarter.

Test yours when you get there with my internet speed test.

Cost of living in Zurich

One person spends about $3,719 a month in Zurich, with a furnished place to stay:

The rent is estimated from Switzerland's housing prices, as Inside Airbnb doesn't cover Zurich.

The rest is what a one-person US household spends (the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2024 survey), at Switzerland's prices for each (the World Bank's 2021 price comparison).

Coworking, insurance and flights come on top.

Air quality in Zurich

The air in Zurich carries about 8 µg/m³ of fine particles (PM2.5) over a year, 1.6 times the WHO's guideline of 5 µg/m³.

The cleanest month is April, at about 6 µg/m³, and the haziest is February.

From the 2 government monitors nearest Zurich, within 6.2 km, through OpenAQ's open air quality data, each month's average since 2023: Zürich-Kaserne (EEA, ODC-BY, 1.9 km); Dübendorf-EMPA (EEA, ODC-BY, 6.2 km).

Is Zurich safe?

The US State Department rates Switzerland Level 1 ("Exercise normal precautions", updated 2026-08-14), the same level it gives Austria, Portugal, Japan and Australia.

Level 1 is normal travel.

Some advisories raise the level for parts of a country, so read the full advisory before you book.

Work and stay in Zurich

Where to work and live with other remote workers, from each finder:

See them all on a map, with hours, photos and directions, in the coworking space finder and free Wi-Fi spots.

Visas, taxes and residency in Switzerland

Before you plan a long stay, check what your passport allows and what staying does to your taxes:

• Can you stay? – see where your passport goes without a visa on the visa-free countries map, and whether Switzerland has a visa for remote workers in the digital nomad visa finder
• The Schengen area – Switzerland is in it, so days here count toward your 90 in any 180; count them with the Schengen calculator
• Tax – compare Switzerland's income tax with other countries in tax rates by country
• Tax breaks for new residents – Switzerland has a regime for people who move there; see it in tax breaks for new residents
• Foreign income – Switzerland taxes its tax residents on their income from anywhere; see the rule and its exceptions on the territorial tax map

Each tool reads the official rules, so the answer is for your own passport and income.

Money in Zurich

A card with no foreign fee and an account that holds several currencies make a stay much cheaper:

• Accounts – the best bank accounts for digital nomads, by where you live
• Cards – what a card costs you abroad in the card fees abroad calculator
• Sending money – the cheapest way to move money there in the money transfer comparison

The finders show only accounts and cards you can open from where you live.

Time zone

Zurich runs on Zurich time (Europe/Zurich).

See how many working hours you'd share with your clients or team in the time zone overlap calculator.