Zurich Metropolitan Area

Zürich Metropolitan Area Metropolregion Zürich
Metropolitan area
View over Zürich and the lake
Coordinates: 47°22′N 8°33′E / 47.367°N 8.550°E / 47.367; 8.550
Country	Switzerland
Cantons	Zürich  Aargau  Schaffhausen  Schwyz  St. Gallen  Thurgau  Zug
Districts	Several
Principal municipalities	Total: 221 Core Cities: Zürich Winterthur Baden Zug Schaffhausen Rapperswil Wetzikon Lachen Frauenfeld Lenzburg Wohlen
Area
• Total	2,103 km2 (812 sq mi)
Population
• Total	1,660,000
• Density	790/km2 (2,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal codes	5xxx, 6xxx, 8xxxx, 9xxxx
HDI (2021)	0.989[1] very high · 1st

The European Metropolitan Region of Zurich (EMRZ), also Greater Zurich Area (GZA, German Zürcher Wirtschaftsraum, Metropolregion Zürich), the metropolitan area surrounding Zurich, is one of Europe’s economically strongest areas and Switzerland’s economic centre. It comprises the area that can be reached within a roughly 80-minute drive from Zurich Airport. Home to many international companies, it includes most of the canton of Zurich, and stretches as far as the Aargau and Solothurn in the west, Thurgau, St. Gallen and parts of Grisons in the east, Schaffhausen in the north and Zug and parts of Schwyz and Glarus in the south.

The Swiss federal office for statistics defines an unofficial metropolitan area as including all areas where more than 1/12th of the workforce commutes to the core area. According to the 2000 Swiss census, this includes a total of 220 municipalities in seven cantons: 127 in the canton of Zürich, 58 in Aargau, 11 in Schwyz, 10 in Zug, 9 in Schaffhausen, 3 in Thurgau and 2 in St. Gallen.

Numerous Swiss and international corporations are based in the area, profiting from benefits such as

• the low tax rate
• the low cost of doing business, excellent infrastructure
• the high quality of life
• the dominant financial sector Zürich