Relocating to Ticino: tax, health premiums, rent and naturalisation

Tax

Income and wealth tax in Ticino

Total federal, cantonal and communal tax per year for each tracked commune in Ticino, tax year 2026, computed with the official ESTV calculator. No church tax is included.

Standard profiles: gross employment income with the calculator's standard deductions. Single: one adult aged 35. Married: couple aged 40 and 38, one earner, two children aged 10 and 8. The asset profile adds net taxable wealth to the married profile.

Health insurance

Health insurance premiums in Ticino

Federal Office of Public Health, premium year 2027: adult aged 26 or over, accident cover included, standard model, CHF 300 deductible, CHF per month.

Housing and safety

Rent and safety in Ticino

Rent: Federal Statistical Office structural survey, 2024, net rent excluding service and heating charges. Safety: police crime statistics, 2025; rates in cantons with large city centres reflect visitors and commuters as well as residents.

Cantonal rules

Inheritance, lump-sum taxation, schools and family in Ticino

Lump-sum taxation

Ticino applies expenditure-based taxation in place of income and wealth tax.
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Lump-sum minimum tax base

The Ticino minimum expenditure base is the highest of CHF 434,700, seven times annual rent or rental value, or three times annual board price.
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Wealth tax

Ticino's wealth tax scale peaks at 3.0 per mille for the CHF 701,000 to CHF 1,380,000 band and falls to 2.5 per mille above that.
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Bilingual public schooling

Ticino's bilingual maturita is Italian-German, with the third year spent in canton Bern, open to pupils with an average of 4.5 and sufficient marks in Italian and mathematics.
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International schools

The International School of Ticino and TASIS are international schools in Ticino whose own pages state IB programmes.
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Family allowance per child

Ticino child allowance is CHF 215 per month and training allowance CHF 268 per month in 2026, the federal minimums.
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Childcare fees in Lugano

Lugano Istituti Sociali nursery fees run from CHF 27 per full day for annual disposable income up to CHF 56,000, rising in steps, with the daily fee capped at CHF 114 for full-time attendance.
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Naturalisation

Becoming Swiss in Ticino

Federal law sets the national minimum. The canton and the commune add their own residence periods, language levels and tests, and they decide on cantonal and communal citizenship.

Residence in the canton

Ticino may grant cantonal citizenship to a foreign national who has resided in the canton for five years and meets the federal conditions.
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Residence in the commune

Communal citizenship may be granted by the commune where the applicant has resided for three years, the last two uninterrupted before the application.
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Spoken language

Ticino requires Italian and refers to the federal rules on language skills, with no higher cantonal level read.
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Knowledge test

The commune must verify that the applicant passed an exam on geographical, historical, political and social knowledge of Switzerland and Ticino at an accredited Ticino school, with exemptions set in the regulation.
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Who decides

Ticino naturalisation is decided first by the communal legislative body, then by the cantonal parliament (Gran Consiglio) once the federal authorisation is issued.
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Cantonal and communal fees

The cantonal fee for an individual ordinary naturalisation of a foreign national is CHF 800, plus CHF 100 per foreign minor child included; communal fees are set by each commune on a cost-covering basis.
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All 26 cantonal requirements compared

Move comparisons

Moves to and from Ticino

Back to all 26 cantons · Methodology and sources

Questions

Living in Ticino: common questions