Where to move in ZH canton

Recommendations
1

We’re a couple with two kids, 2 and 5, currently living in a small town next to Basel.

I work in tech, mostly remotely, with an occasional day or two in the office.

Because this area is pretty much flat and we’d prefer closer proximity to the mountains, we have been dabbling with the idea of moving into the vicinity of Zurich before the kids are school-aged.

Near Zurich seems to be a rational choice lifestyle-wise and job-wise.

Which town would you recommend that is still fine for the occasional bike commute and big enough to have a varied enough population?

2

I love Uster. But it’s not nice to commute to Zurich by bicycle. The train connections to Zurich are great and we have a nice lake.

3 Likes
3

Why not move somewhere where you’d be closer to the mountains, if that is the main reason for moving? Around lake Thun, Lucerne, Chur…?

3 Likes
4

Maybe Bülach. They have direct trains to Zürich and a nice old town. But I don’t know if travel by bike to zuerich is a thing here.

5

That is a good point.

Actually, it is an assortment of reasons. We would want a place that is closer to mountains and ski areas while still being close enough in a scenario of a job change.

Would not want to do hours-long commutes, hence Zurich seeming to be the place to be.

1 Like
6

Winterthur with its 120k people is also a very nice place to live.

20 minutes to Zurich, 30 minutes to St. Gallen, 1h30 to Berne, 50 minutes to Constance and 3 hours to Munich (all direct connections).

Situated between forests and hills, lots of nature, a wildlife park, castles…

2 Likes
7

Following could be of interest if you are looking for close to / within Zurich city

  • Green city (quite close to nature)
  • Zurichberg area (next to forest)
  • Uetliberg area
  • Adliswil

I don’t know about bike commute though. Some of my friends live in Green city and they can easily bike to HB but not sure about kids.

8

This looks really good, thanks!

Will plan a day to trip to check it out

9

Take into account their high tax rate and their constant debt, since they seem not be able to fill their account.

10

I don’t mind debt, don’t think it is necessarily bad, or that it definitely does incentivize higher tax.

Tax rate is a good point though that I haven’t weighed in.

Could you please point me to stats/comparisons I could check?

1 Like
11

Would add Wollishofen area - love the combo of quietness and convenience w.r.t. nearly everything (including walking/cycling to lake/center).

Although it is Zurich “proper”, not sure if OP is looking strictly for “vicinity only” and not part of the city.

1 Like
13

Thinking outside of the box here: your kids are still young enough to grow up to be bilingual. If this isn’t already the case, you could arrange it by choosing your living area.

3 Likes
14

For taxes check Steuerparadies.

Here’s another metric to optimize for: gymiindex. If you are into this thing.

1 Like
15

Seems to be behind a paywall. Anything similar from a free source?

16

I don’t know anything as well presented as by TagesAnzeiger. But you can figure out the data by Googling stuerfüsse kanton zürich.

(I’ve also PMed you a link to a gifted article)