Swiss health-insurance premiums: explained canton by canton
In Switzerland basic insurance (OKP) is compulsory for everyone, yet the premium depends heavily on where you live. For 2026 the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) estimates the national mean adult premium at about 465.3 CHF per month — a change of +4.1% on the year before. Next year's approved premiums are announced at the end of September; you can switch insurer until 30 November.
How premiums are set
Premiums are not set per municipality. Two levels decide them: the canton and, within larger cantons, the premium region. The Federal Department of Home Affairs (EDI) divides each canton into one to three regions (coded PR-REG CH0 for single-region cantons, CH1 to CH3 for the sub-regions). Every municipality is assigned by its BFS number to exactly one of these regions — it is allocated to a region, not priced individually. Twenty of the twenty-six cantons form a single region; there the cantonal premium is also the regional premium.
Because the assignment hangs on the official municipality number, it is worth understanding the BFS number, the stable key behind every municipality.
Average premium per canton
The table below shows the average adult premium actually paid per canton, from BAG's health-insurance statistics — the mean across all regions, models and deductibles, not the cheapest offer.
| Rank | Canton | Ø adult |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Appenzell Innerrhoden AI | 293 CHF/mo |
| 2 | Uri UR | 324 CHF/mo |
| 3 | Obwalden OW | 340 CHF/mo |
| 4 | Nidwalden NW | 344 CHF/mo |
| 5 | Zug ZG | 347 CHF/mo |
| 6 | Schwyz SZ | 361 CHF/mo |
| 7 | Grisons GR | 363 CHF/mo |
| 8 | Lucerne LU | 363 CHF/mo |
| 9 | Appenzell Ausserrhoden AR | 370 CHF/mo |
| 10 | Glarus GL | 372 CHF/mo |
| 11 | St. Gallen SG | 377 CHF/mo |
| 12 | Thurgau TG | 382 CHF/mo |
| 13 | Valais VS | 391 CHF/mo |
| 14 | Aargau AG | 392 CHF/mo |
| 15 | Fribourg FR | 405 CHF/mo |
| 16 | Zurich ZH | 411 CHF/mo |
| 17 | Schaffhausen SH | 413 CHF/mo |
| 18 | Solothurn SO | 424 CHF/mo |
| 19 | Bern BE | 432 CHF/mo |
| 20 | Jura JU | 462 CHF/mo |
| 21 | Vaud VD | 477 CHF/mo |
| 22 | Basel-Landschaft BL | 479 CHF/mo |
| 23 | Neuchâtel NE | 493 CHF/mo |
| 24 | Ticino TI | 498 CHF/mo |
| 25 | Basel-City BS | 523 CHF/mo |
| 26 | Geneva GE | 539 CHF/mo |
Why the differences are so large
The premium reflects a region's real health-care costs: cantons with many hospitals, a high density of doctors and higher wages — such as Geneva, Basel-Stadt and Vaud — top the list, while rural cantons like Appenzell Innerrhoden sit at the bottom. The figures shown are the average premiums paid; choosing a family-doctor or HMO model with a higher deductible costs considerably less. The numbers come from BAG and are updated yearly.