Hello everyone,
My apologies if this topic has been touched before, but I have a particular situation and I would like to hear your opinions based on your experiences:
I’m currently a master student in Milan, drafting my graduation thesis in my second year.
I’m planning to apply for a PhD position in Pharmaceutical Sciences in Switzerland as soon as I graduate.
I’m considering either Uni Geneva or Uni Basel.
I read that the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) is going to increase the minimum wage for PhD students starting from January of 2026 by 6%to reach a total gross annual salary of 50,000 francs.
I’m an EU citizen (Italian), my partner is non-USwe both speak English fluently.
I’ve seen several opinions regarding commuting from French/German borders to save some money while working in Switzerland.
Considering the special tax treaty between Geneva and France, I think commuting to Uni Geneva from France could help me save money.
However, I’m personally more interested in a PhD program offered at Uni Basel.
The issue is that living in France while working in Basel might subject me to the French tax system, which, from what I’ve read, is higher than the Swiss tax system.
But I’m not sure if the Geneva-France treaty offers significant financial benefits compared to Basel-France commuting.
My decision is NOT solely based on my personal university preferences, but also financial considerations, as I’m trying to save as much money as possible for my marriage in a couple of years. I wouldn’t mind living in a below-average area to cut down on rent, groceries, and health insurance costs until my partner joins me.
I used this tax calculator:
https://incometax.ch/en
It gave me a general idea of the taxes I might have to pay, but I’m not sure how accurate it is.
(Age 25, no children, not church member, gross annual salary 50K francs).
To sum it up:
- I have a personal preference for Uni Basel, but I’m concerned about losing more money due to the French tax system. As a cross-border worker, is there a significant difference between taxes in these two cantons?
- I’ve heard that Annemasse downtown isn’t a very safe area. Are there other "safer" areas in Annemasse?
- If I choose Basel, is Saint-Louis a good option for commuting? Or do you recommend other nearby towns?
I hope you can help me make this decision.
Thank you everyone.
Basel or Geneva for a Commuting PhD Student?
byu/daoud_abuhusein inSwitzerland
Posted by daoud_abuhusein
4 Comments
Basel is more fun, lively, welcoming and there are way more English speaking people there than in Geneva, in my experience.
Basel is close to the German and French border so you could easily also live in Germany if that’s a concern. You could also live just outside the city and find a cheaper place to rent in Switzerland.
Personnally, I’d take to account also time to commute.
As for saving: a PhD is a long term project and if you do it right, you will have a substantial salary afterwards. So saving for a marriage could wait in my opinion. Whatever you save now by optimizing spending and depriving yourself of any fun can be had with a lower impact once you work in the industry.
First things first: you should probably apply to both, and cross your fingers that one will take you. Put off any existential angst about which to choose until you actually have the choice.
Doing a PhD in this field, your salary expectations for post-phd are vastly higher than during your PhD. Saving what will, to your future self, end up being a trivial amount of money, has a pretty high cost:benefit ratio in terms of life sacrifices made for the amount of material gain.
For what it’s worth, I vastly prefer Geneva as a place to live given it has the lake and easy access to lots of nearby mountains, neither of which Basel has. But different things might be important to you and tip the scales to Basel.
You shouldn’t just consider the taxes. Cost of living (so rent, groceries, haircut, lunch restaurants etc.) are all substantially cheaper outside Switzerland, even just across the borders. It is possible to live in Basel and buy foodstuff in Germany or France, but that takes additional effort. There are many EU citizens working in the Basel pharma companies, who commute from France and Germany.
You mention saving money. Doing a PhD is *hopefully* a way to attain higher earnings after graduation. To save some money in the short-term, but end up with worse career prospects in the medium and long term wouldn’t be worth it. So make sure you have the priorities right. A PhD salary is not something to build financial security on. What happens after the PhD matters more.