[_corbett]

Hi, I'm originally American but have been living in Zurich for the past 2 years (I also previously lived in Denmark for 1 year and Norway for 3 months). I moved to SF just for the summer to launch my startup. SF is great for many reasons, but it nowhere near compares to the infrastructure and quality of life I got in Switzerland, Norway and Denmark. That said, relative to the US SF is one of the few cities where it is even possible to make your way without a car.

[eldenbishop]

Virtually nowhere compares to Zurich in this regard. I have never seen a place that was so efficient and well run in my life. If there wasn't such a nasty anti-foreigner sentiment I would jump to move there.

[percept]

Anything more you can share about Zurich? I know it ranked in the top three with Geneva in the last Mercer survey . . .

[_corbett]

Sure-advantages include a great mixture of being near to much of Europe, a short train ride from the alps (I do lots of hiking in the summer, skiing in the winter), very high salaries, no poverty, great universities, intense work ethic, etc. I don't by any means need a car, and if I did there's Mobility (the Swiss analog to Zipcar).

Disadvantages include having an older population, being small compared to New York, having less of a startup culture than SF, being very expensive, having many hurdles to get a residency permit for an American, and various innocuous cultural differences that simply take getting used to.

That said, I love it there and am heading back.

[z0mb0]

If anyone else is interested in Zurich startups, Zattoo (a household name in Switzerland) is hiring engineers in Zurich (the rest of the engineering team is in Ann Arbor, MI): http://zattoo.com/en/jobs

[percept]

Thanks. I plan to visit the country one of these years.

Good luck with your startup!

[ancornwell]

Aren't swiss people allowed to buy fully automatic rifles?