In the fourth quarter of 2025, 411,953 foreign cross-border commuters worked in Switzerland. That is 1.2% more than a year earlier, according to provisional figures from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Cross-border commuters live abroad, work in Switzerland and return to their place of residence at least once a week.
Over the long term, their number has risen sharply. In the fourth quarter of 2005 the FSO counted about 178,600 cross-border commuters, and in the fourth quarter of 2015 about 303,100. Within twenty years the number has therefore more than doubled. Since 2002 the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons between Switzerland and the EU has been in force; it also sets the rules for cross-border commuters from EU countries.
Most cross-border commuters live in France: 239,670 people, or 58.2%. 91,625 live in Italy (22.2%), 67,465 in Germany (16.4%) and 8,830 in Austria (2.1%); 4,363 (1.1%) live in other countries.
By canton of work, Geneva is clearly in the lead with 116,796 cross-border commuters, followed by Ticino (78,698), Vaud (46,221) and Basel-Stadt (36,093). The country of residence varies by canton of work: in Geneva 99.5% of them live in France, in Ticino 99.6% live in Italy. In Basel-Stadt 53.3% live in France and 45.2% in Germany, while in Aargau 80.0% live in Germany.
Relative to the number of jobs (STATENT 2024), cross-border commuters carry the most weight in Ticino at 31.4%, ahead of Geneva (29.1%) and Jura (25.3%). The figure is 17.9% in Basel-Stadt, 4.4% in Aargau and 1.1% in Zurich. In Lucerne, Uri and Glarus it is 0.3%. This is an indicative ratio: the numerator and denominator come from different statistics and periods, and STATENT counts a person with several jobs more than once.
Seven out of ten cross-border commuters work in the services sector (69.9%), and 29.4% in the secondary sector, i.e. industry and construction. The largest single industry is manufacturing with 87,041 people (21.1%). It is followed by wholesale and retail trade (12.8%), professional, scientific and technical activities (11.6%), administrative and support services (10.9%) and human health and social work (10.8%). Construction accounts for 7.6%.
Cross-border commuters face practical questions about tax and social security. How the salary is taxed depends on the canton of work and the double taxation agreement between Switzerland and the country of residence: in many cases Switzerland levies a withholding tax, in others the income is taxed mainly in the country of residence. Before taking up a job, it is worth checking the rules for your own combination of place of residence and canton of work with the cantonal tax administration.
The data comes from the FSO's cross-border commuter statistics. The figures for 2025 are provisional and may be adjusted in later releases. You can find the figures for each canton in the table above and on the canton pages of schweizdaten.com.
Last updated: 2025 | Sources: BFS, ESTV, BAG