Jura: living, going out and working in the canton

Moutier: since 1 August 2025 the Jura Constitution lists a fourth district, Moutier (an amendment approved by voters on 24 November 2024), and the cantonal statistics have included the municipality since 1 January 2026. The population figures quoted here are for 2025 and so do not necessarily include Moutier.

The median wage in the private sector for a full-time job was CHF 5,913 in 2024, according to the Jura statistics office.

French is the national and official language of the canton: article 3 of the Constitution says so in one sentence.

In everyday life it is therefore a French-speaking canton. Jura is the newest of the Swiss cantons, according to the Jura Museum of Art and History, and Delémont is the youngest cantonal capital in the country.

Jura lives under the Constitution of 20 March 1977, the first of the Republic and Canton of Jura, amended several times since (the latest federal guarantee we read dates from June 2026).

Terms last five years: deputies, members of the Government, judges and local authorities are elected for five years (art. 65, since the vote of 7 March 2010); the presidents and vice-presidents of Parliament and Government are elected for one year. Deputies can be re-elected only twice in a row and members of the Government only twice (art. 66).

Popular rights:

• Popular initiative: 2,000 voters or five municipalities can ask for the adoption, amendment or repeal of constitutional provisions or laws (art. 75).
• Optional referendum: 2,000 voters or five municipalities can ask for a popular vote on laws and on certain expenditures, treaties or transactions (art. 78).
• Mandatory referendum for other texts, notably constitutional provisions and initiatives that Parliament does not follow up (art. 77).

Who votes? Every man and woman with Swiss citizenship, at least 18 years old and resident in the canton (art. 70). For foreigners, the Constitution refers to the law, which “defines and regulates” their right to vote (art. 73): we have not read that law; ask your municipality of residence.

• Tax: in France. Jura is one of the eight cantons of the agreement of 11 April 1983 (Neuchâtel, Vaud, Valais, Bern, Solothurn, Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Jura), under which, on certain conditions, cross-border workers are exempt from withholding tax in return for a payment of 4.5% of their gross payroll by France. You give your employer the 2041-AS tax residence certificate before your first working day and then every year before 1 January. The detailed conditions (days without returning home, remote work up to 40%) are those of the agreement, set out in our guides and on the official page of the State of Neuchâtel. We have not read the Jura tax administration's page: re-read our tax guides before deciding.
• If the conditions are not met, withholding tax is levied in Switzerland under the 1966 France-Switzerland convention. Holding a G permit does not automatically give cross-border status for tax purposes.
• G permit: follow the site's guide on the G permit; we have not read the Jura cantonal page on the subject.

The cantonal minimum wage: the law of 22 November 2017 on the cantonal minimum wage has been in force since 1 February 2018. It set the minimum gross wage at CHF 20 an hour and lets the Government adjust it “in particular according to the cost of living, the economic situation and the state of the labour market” (art. 5). Since 1 July 2024 it is CHF 21.40 gross per hour (implementing ordinance, art. 5). Unlike Neuchâtel, it is not automatically indexed: it is a Government decision.

• Hospitality collective agreement (CCNT): its minimums run from CHF 3,713 to 5,293 gross per month in 2026 depending on qualification (CHF 4,528 with a CFC), for a full-time job. Jura law sets aside the cantonal minimum for sectors with a binding agreement that has a figured wage: we do not rule on whether that is the case for your job. Ask your employer which one applies.

The JURA-PASS gives free public transport in the Vagabond zone to people who stay at least one night in tourist accommodation in the canton: it is made for visitors, not for residents or second-home owners.

Specialities to know

• Damassine PDO: a small-plum brandy made from the damasson rouge plum, produced entirely in the canton. The plums are picked by hand from mid-July to the end of September; distillation takes place by 31 December at the latest; it is at least 40% alcohol and is kept at least six months; sale is forbidden before Saint-Martin (11 November) of the year after the harvest. The designation has been registered since 9 March 2010.
• Saucisse d'Ajoie PGI: Swiss pork (two thirds), fat (one third) and optionally at most 10% minced beef; made only in the Porrentruy district. Registered since 7 November 2002.
• Tête de Moine PDO: a mountain raw-milk cheese made in four districts of Jura and the Bernese Jura, ripened at least 75 days; production goes back to Bellelay abbey around 1192, and the girolle was invented in 1982 by a Jura precision mechanic.
• Toétché: a sour-cream cake of peasant origin, savoury; it is the dessert of the Saint-Martin meal.
• Saint-Martin: in mid-November Jura restaurants offer a traditional menu; Porrentruy turns it into a multi-day festival.
• Craft beer: Jura has many breweries, including the Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes (BFM) in Saignelégier, Blanche Pierre in Delémont, Tonnebière in Saint-Ursanne and Black Pig in Courroux.
• Wine and brandies: the Clos des Cantons in Alle welcomes visitors to its cellar; the Schneider distillery in Cornol can be visited by appointment.

Where to taste them

Jura Tourism also lists the canton's cheese dairies, including the Fromagerie des Franches-Montagnes in Le Noirmont, which can be visited.

Not to be missed

• Saint-Ursanne: a medieval town on the banks of the Doubs, nicknamed the “Pearl of the Jura”, with its cloister and its Lapidary Museum, which holds Switzerland's most important set of Merovingian and Carolingian sarcophagi.
• Porrentruy: the former residence of the prince-bishops of Basel, dominated by its imposing castle and the Réfous tower, a former keep.
• Delémont: a restored old town, a Jura Museum of Art and History and, on the heights, the Vorbourg chapel perched on a rock, with a view over the Birse valley.
• The Franches-Montagnes: wooded pastures, the Étang de la Gruère (a nature reserve of national importance, a 56-hectare peat bog, a 2.8 km trail) and the Ski Museum at Le Boéchet.
• The Réclère caves: a laid-out 1,500-metre route among stalagmites and stalactites, west of Porrentruy.
• Moutier: the Jura Museum of Arts and the Automatic Lathe Museum, devoted to the town's industrial history.
• The Jura Carnival, on the List of Living Traditions in Switzerland, takes place mainly in Bassecourt, Courtételle, Delémont and Le Noirmont.

Museums

No official list of clubs or discos could be read for Jura: the section relies on the bars listed by Jura Tourism. The list is not exhaustive: nightlife venues open and close quickly.

1. Constitution of the Republic and Canton of Jura (RSJU 101): art. 3, 65, 66, 69, 70, 73, 74, 75, 77, 78, 85, 86, 93, 94, 109.
2. Jura public statistics: population at 31.12.2025 (75,178 residents; table by nationality: 62,795 Swiss, 12,383 foreigners), cross-border workers (quarterly table up to Q2 2026), wages.
3. Law on the cantonal minimum wage (RSJU 822.41) and implementing ordinance (RSJU 822.411): CHF 21.40 since 1 July 2024.
4. State of Neuchâtel, “Cross-border workers” page: the 1983 agreement and the list of eight cantons; site guides, checked against official sources: cross-border tax, G permit, contract and pay (CCNT).
5. Jura Tourism (Jura & Trois-Lacs site): Delémont, Étang de la Gruère, JURA-PASS, Chemins de fer du Jura, events, location and access and the page of each place.
6. Swiss Association of PDO-PGI: damassine PDO; Saucisse d'Ajoie PGI; Tête de Moine PDO.
7. Onde Verte: the Neuchâtel fare community extends to the neighbouring districts of Bern and Jura.
8. Map coordinates: © OpenStreetMap contributors, checked address by address where the address is known; base map © swisstopo.