How many companies are there in St. Gallen?

According to the Federal Statistical Office (STATENT 2024), St. Gallen had 35,134 enterprises, 99.6% of them SMEs with fewer than 250 employees. Its 39,699 workplaces employed 317,461 people.

What is the GDP of St. Gallen?

St. Gallen’s GDP was CHF 44.6 billion in 2022 (provisional Federal Statistical Office figure), 5.6% of Swiss GDP, with real growth of 2.8%. GDP per capita was CHF 85,320, rank 8 of 26 cantons.

What is the unemployment rate in St. Gallen?

SECO registered an unemployment rate of 2.1% in St. Gallen in August 2026, with 5,992 people registered as unemployed (August 2025: 2.0%).

All cantons

St. Gallen

Canton

St. Gallen

Economy, taxes and industries

Population 2025 544,040GDP 2022 CHF 44.6 bnCorporate tax 2026 14.29%

Economic snapshot

GDP: CHF 44.6 bn; 5.6% of Swiss GDP · 2022p
GDP per capita: CHF 85,320; Rank 8 of 26 · 2022p
Enterprises: 35,134; 99.6% SMEs · 2024
Jobs: 317,461; −0.3% vs. 2023 · 2024
Unemployment: 2.1%; Aug. 2026 · Aug. 2025: 2.0%
Median gross wage: CHF 6,623; CHF per month · Eastern Switzerland, 2024

Overview

St. Gallen is the economic centre of eastern Switzerland and the fifth-largest canton by population, with 544,040 residents, 317,461 jobs and 35,134 enterprises. GDP reached CHF 44.6 billion in 2022, the sixth-largest cantonal economy, and GDP per head was CHF 85,320. Job growth has been slow: employment rose by 3.4% between 2019 and 2024, the second-weakest increase of the 26 cantons, and edged down by 0.3% in 2024. Unemployment was 2.1% in August 2026, below the Swiss rate of 3.0%.

St. Gallen is one of Switzerland's main industrial cantons. Plastics, metals and metal products (17,422 jobs) and machinery, electrical and vehicle engineering (17,218) each employ more than twice their national share. The Rhine valley is a precision-engineering cluster, with the fastening specialist SFS in Heerbrugg and the surveying-instrument maker Leica Geosystems in Balgach; Bühler, a world leader in food-processing machinery, is based in Uzwil, and Stadler builds trains in St. Margrethen. Textiles, wood, paper and printing remain 1.8 times the Swiss share, a legacy of the city's embroidery industry. Services are anchored by the Raiffeisen banking group and the Helvetia insurance business, both headquartered in St. Gallen, and by the University of St. Gallen (HSG).

KPMG puts the maximum effective corporate tax rate at 14.29% for 2026, below the Swiss average of 14.43%, and the top income tax rate at 32.15%. The median gross monthly wage in Eastern Switzerland was CHF 6,623 in 2024.

Location advantages

Industrial base in plastics, metals and machinery at more than twice the Swiss employment share
Rhine valley precision-engineering cluster around SFS and Leica Geosystems
University of St. Gallen (HSG), OST University of Applied Sciences and Empa's St. Gallen laboratory
Maximum effective corporate tax rate of 14.29%, below the Swiss average of 14.43%
Head offices of Raiffeisen, Bühler and SFS, and St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport

Taxes 2026

Max. effective corporate tax rate: 14.29%; 2025: 14.29%
Corporate tax rank: 13/26; 1 = lowest rate
Top income tax rate: 32.15%; Rank 13 of 26 (1 = lowest)

KPMG's Clarity on Swiss Taxes 2026 puts the maximum effective corporate income tax rate in St. Gallen (federal, cantonal and communal taxes combined) at 14.29% (2025: 14.29%): rank 13 of 26, counting from the lowest rate (Swiss average: 14.43%). The maximum income tax rate for a single person, including federal tax, is 32.15%: rank 13 of 26, counting from the lowest rate (average: 33.04%).

Industry structure

Sector	Workplaces	Jobs	Share	vs. CH	2019–24
Health & social care	4,084	45,964	14.5%	1.0×	+10.5%
Wholesale, retail & motor trade	5,313	33,920	10.7%	1.0×	−2.8%
Construction & building trades	3,276	23,601	7.4%	1.1×	+1.7%
Education	1,990	22,860	7.2%	0.9×	+9.5%
Legal, consulting, engineering & R&D	5,216	21,979	6.9%	0.8×	+8.6%
Plastics, metals & metal products	749	17,422	5.5%	2.3×	−4.3%
Machinery, electrical & vehicle engineering	570	17,218	5.4%	2.1×	+4.9%
Staffing, facility & business support	1,660	16,659	5.2%	0.8×	+0.3%
Arts, recreation & personal services	4,846	16,652	5.2%	0.9×	+6.7%
Transport, logistics & postal services	749	12,627	4.0%	0.8×	−13.2%
Hotels & restaurants	1,757	12,583	4.0%	0.8×	+2.3%
Banking, insurance & financial services	894	11,845	3.7%	0.8×	+8.4%
Agriculture, forestry & fishing	3,871	11,156	3.5%	1.3×	+3.8%
Public administration	351	9,605	3.0%	0.8×	+11.1%
Information, communication & IT	1,214	8,072	2.5%	0.7×	+8.8%
Food, beverages & tobacco	366	7,670	2.4%	1.5×	+3.0%
Textiles, wood, paper & printing	841	7,451	2.3%	1.8×	−7.4%
Electronics, instruments & watches	108	6,658	2.1%	1.0×	+12.7%
Real estate	1,220	3,942	1.2%	0.9×	−5.7%
Energy, water, waste & mining	270	3,604	1.1%	1.0×	+6.5%
Medical devices, furniture & other manufacturing	285	3,342	1.1%	1.5×	+7.5%
Chemicals & pharmaceuticals	64	2,627	0.8%	0.6×	−2.5%

BFS STATENT 2024; jobs are counted at the workplace. “vs. CH” divides the sector’s share of jobs in the canton by its share in Switzerland (1.0× = national average).

Key employers

HOCH Health Ostschweiz

Hospitals & healthcare

St. Gallen

Raiffeisen Schweiz Genossenschaft

Cooperative banking group

St. Gallen

Helvetia Schweizerische Versicherungsgesellschaft AG

Insurance

St. Gallen

Bühler AG

Food processing & industrial technology

Uzwil

SFS Group AG

Precision components & fastening systems

Widnau (Heerbrugg)

Leica Geosystems AG

Surveying & geospatial technology

Balgach (Heerbrugg)

Stadler Rail Schweiz AG

Rail vehicles

St. Margrethen

Genossenschaft Migros Ostschweiz

Retail

Gossau

Succession & ownership

Board paralysis risk: 14.6%; 138 of 943 audited companies · Rank 18 of 26 (1 = highest)
Single-owner GmbHs: 56.8%; 587 of 1,033 GmbHs · Rank 15 of 26 (1 = highest)

ValIndex's national board-paralysis study (June 2026) covers 943 audited companies registered in St. Gallen. For 138 of them (14.6%), no one would be left able to sign for the company if the principal signatory died: the 9th-lowest share of the 26 cantons (Switzerland: 32%). Of 1,033 substantive GmbHs with a registered seat in St. Gallen, 56.8% belong to a single person (the 12th-lowest share of the 26 cantons; Switzerland: 55.5%), according to ValIndex's July 2026 ownership study.

Board paralysis study (June 2026) →Who owns Swiss companies? (July 2026) →

Infrastructure

Airports

St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport (ACH) regional airport

Higher education & research

Universität St. Gallen (HSG) (University)
OST – Ostschweizer Fachhochschule (University of applied sciences)
Pädagogische Hochschule St. Gallen (PHSG) (University of teacher education)
Empa, St. Gallen site (Research institute)

Innovation parks

Switzerland Innovation Park Ost
Startfeld

St. Gallen is on the main east–west rail line, about an hour from Zurich, with direct trains to Zurich Airport. The A1 motorway links the city with Zurich and the Lake Constance area, and the A13 runs up the Rhine valley towards Chur. Rapperswil-Jona, on Lake Zurich, is part of the Zurich S-Bahn network, and St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport lies on Lake Constance.

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Data vintages

Population: BFS STATPOP, end of 2025
GDP: BFS cantonal GDP, 2022 (provisional)
Enterprises, jobs, sectors: BFS STATENT 2024
Unemployment: SECO, August 2026
Wages: BFS Swiss Earnings Structure Survey 2024, major regions
Taxes: KPMG Clarity on Swiss Taxes 2026
Succession & ownership: ValIndex studies, June and July 2026

Sources

BFS – Cantonal GDP by large region and canton, 2008–2022p (published 28 Oct 2024)BFS – Cantonal GDP per capita, 2008–2022p BFS – Cantonal GDP: revised series due October 2026 BFS – STATENT 2024 release (20 Aug 2026)BFS STAT-TAB – Workplaces and jobs by canton and NOGA division (STATENT)BFS STAT-TAB – Enterprises by canton and size class (STATENT)BFS STAT-TAB – Permanent resident population by canton (STATPOP)BFS STAT-TAB – Median gross monthly wage by large region (LSE 2024)SECO – Labour market situation, August 2026 KPMG – Clarity on Swiss Taxes 2026 (19 May 2026)ValIndex Research – Boardroom Paralysis in Switzerland (June 2026)ValIndex Research – Who Owns Switzerland's Companies? (July 2026)Zefix – Central Business Name Index (register checks of named companies)Canton of St. Gallen – Statistics

ValIndex Intelligence · Alain Walder, M.A. HSG|Updated 2026-09|14 sources cited

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