Districts of Zurich

The City of Zurich is divided into twelve districts (known as Kreise in German), numbered 1 to 12, each one of which containing, depending on the definition, anywhere between 1 to 4 quarters (or Quartiere in German). There are a total of 22 ceremonial quarters (6 of which being coterminous with their districts, namely the Altstadt, Wiedikon, Aussersihl, the Industriequartier, Riesbach, and Schwamendingen), 34 statistical quarters, and over 200 statistical areas. Zurich is also divided into 25 postal areas, which are typically aligned with district and quarter boundaries.

Two large expansions of the city limits occurred in 1893 and in 1934 when the City of Zurich merged with many surrounding municipalities with which it had started to overlap. Most of the district and quarter boundaries are fairly similar to the original boundaries of the previously-existing municipalities. Four currently-independent surrounding municipalities (Kilchberg, Oberengstringen, Schlieren, and Zollikon) had been seen as incorporation candidates, though the 1929 initiative which proposed to integrate them (alongside others) failed to gain the approval of the cantonal electorate, and they were subsequently not included in the 1934 incorporations.

Politically, the significance of the city districts has diminished, particularly as some districts have been merged together to form electoral districts. School districts are not fully aligned with city districts, and neither are notary districts or Roman Catholic church parishes (though Reformed parishes more closely follow district boundaries).

City districts (Stadtkreise)

Ceremonial quarters (Stadtquartiere)

Statistical quarters (statistische Quartiere)

Statistical areas (statistische Zonen)

Postcode areas (Postleitzahlgebiete)

School districts (Schulkreise)

Notary districts (Notariatskreise)

Roman Catholic Church parishes

Reformed Church parishes

Historical evolution of the City of Zurich

District	Location	District coat of arms	Quarter coat of arms	Linked neue Zunft	Statistical quarters	BFS-Code	Incorporation	Area in km²	Population 2005	Non-Swiss Citizens
District 1 Altstadt					Rathaus Hochschulen Lindenhof City	261011 261012 261013 261014	Pre-1893 Pre-1893 Pre-1893 Pre-1893	0.38 0.56 0.23 0.64	3,081 695 950 846	23.9% 27.5% 20.3% 28.3%
District 2					Wollishofen Leimbach Enge	261021 261023 261024	1893 1893 1893	5.75 2.92 2.40	15,592 4,867 8,375	22.9% 23.0% 26.0%
District 3 Wiedikon					Alt-Wiedikon Friesenberg Sihlfeld	261031 261033 261034	1893 1893 1893	1.85 5.15 1.64	14,971 10,360 20,554	32.3% 22.9% 36.5%
District 4 Aussersihl					Werd Langstrasse Hard	261041 261042 261044	1893 1893 1893	0.31 1.13 1.46	3,878 10,368 12,715	33.2% 41.5% 46.2%
District 5 Industriequartier					Gewerbeschule Escher Wyss	261051 261052	1893 1893	0.73 1.27	9,690 2,727	39.3% 26.1%
District 6					Unterstrass Oberstrass	261061 261062	1893 1893	2.46 2.64	19,921 9,494	23.6% 24.7%
District 7					Fluntern Hottingen Hirslanden Witikon	261071 261072 261073 261074	1893 1893 1893 1934	2.84 5.05 2.20 4.93	7,325 10,100 6,859 9,864	23.7% 23.6% 19.4% 17.3%
District 8 Riesbach					Seefeld Mühlebach Weinegg	261081 261082 261083	1893 1893 1893	2.45 0.63 1.72	4,923 5,577 4,843	28.7% 24.6% 25.3%
District 9					Albisrieden Altstetten	261091 261092	1934 1934	4.60 7.47	17,226 28,278	25.6% 37.0%
District 10					Höngg Wipkingen	261101 261102	1934 1893	6.98 2.11	20,773 15,446	19.6% 31.1%
District 11					Affoltern Oerlikon Seebach	261111 261115 261119	1934 1934 1934	6.04 2.67 4.72	18,733 19,585 19,879	30.6% 33.7% 36.0%
District 12 Schwamendingen					Saatlen Schwamendingen Mitte Hirzenbach	261121 261122 261123	1934 1934 1934	1.13 2.23 2.62	6,727 10,322 11,265	31.6% 40.6% 37.5%
City of Zurich								91.88	366'809	30.2%

See also

• City of Zurich
• Zurich District (cantonal)
• Municipalities of the canton of Zurich

References

• Lendenmann, F.; Maggi, P.; et al. (1993). Hundert Jahre Gross-Zürich: 100 Jahre 1. Eingemeindung 1893. Zurich ZH, Switzerland: Stadtarchiv Zürich (Baugeschichtliches Archiv der Stadt Zürich). ISBN 978-3-908060-07-9.
• Lendenmann, F.; Kurz, D.; et al. (1994). Hundert Jahre Gross-Zürich: 60 Jahre 2. Eingemeindung 1934. Zurich ZH, Switzerland: Stadtarchiv Zürich (Baugeschichtliches Archiv der Stadt Zürich). ISBN 978-3-908060-08-6.
• Ziegler, Peter (1977). Die Gemeindewappen des Kantons Zürich. Mitteilungen der Antiquarischen Gesellschaft in Zürich, Band 49, Neujahrsblatt Nr. 142, 1978. Zurich ZH, Switzerland: Verlag Berichthaus Zürich. ISBN 978-3-85572-022-4.
• Zimmerli, Sandro (2020-01-11). "Vorort statt Stadtquartier — Oberengstringen und Schlieren wollten 1929 Teil der Stadt Zürich werden". Dietikon ZH, Switzerland: Limmattaler Zeitung. Retrieved 2026-07-03.
• "Stadt Zürich: Kreise und Quartiere". Stadt Zürich. Retrieved 2026-07-03.
• "Gang dur Züri - Begriffserklärungen: Quartier". Gebrüdern Dürst. Retrieved 2026-06-14.
• "Zürich, Schweiz. Visit Zurich: Die 12 Stadtteile von Zürich". Zürich Tourismus. Retrieved 2026-07-03.