Neftenbach is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the district of

Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...

in the canton of

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Besides the village of Neftenbach itself, the municipality includes the settlements of Hünikon, Aesch, Riet and Irchelhöfen.

History

Neftenbach is first mentioned in 1209 as ''Neftinbach''. The village was owned by the

barons Barons may refer to: *Baron (plural), a rank of nobility *Barons (surname), a Latvian surname *Barons, Alberta, Canada * ''Barons'' (TV series), a 2022 Australian drama series * ''The Barons'', a 2009 Belgian film Sports * Birmingham Barons, a Min ...

of Wart, whose arms were adopted as the municipal coat of arms in 1921.

Geography

Neftenbach has an area of . Of this area, 55.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 29.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 14% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). housing and buildings made up 10.3% of the total area, while transportation infrastructure made up the rest (3.9%). Of the total unproductive area, water (streams and lakes) made up 0.5% of the area. 9.6% of the total municipal area was undergoing some type of construction. The municipality is located in the lower

Töss Valley The Töss Valley (German: ''Tösstal'') is a valley and a region of the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Geography The valley embraces parts of the Zürcher Oberland including the Districts of Switzerland, districts of Hinwil (district), Hi ...

. It consists of the village of Neftenbach and the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

of Hünikon, Aesch, Riet and Irchelhöfen.

Demographics

Neftenbach has a population (as of ) of . , 9.3% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. the gender distribution of the population was 49.7% male and 50.3% female. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 8.3%. Most of the population () speaks German (94.4%), with Italian being second most common ( 1.3%) and Albanian being third ( 1.1%). In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 42% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (14.3%), the FDP (11.5%) and the CSP (11.3%). The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 28.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 62.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 9.3%. In Neftenbach about 83.6% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a ''

Fachhochschule A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...

''). There are 1782 households in Neftenbach. Neftenbach has an unemployment rate of 1.29%. , there were 225 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 56 businesses involved in this sector. 350 people are employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...

and there are 52 businesses in this sector. 781 people are employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the ...

, with 129 businesses in this sector.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 14-Aug-2009 42.3% of the working population were employed full-time, and 57.7% were employed part-time.
accessed 4 August 2009 there were 1060

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and 2678

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

in Neftenbach. In the 2000 census, religion was broken down into several smaller categories. From the , 61.7% were some type of Protestant, with 56.6% belonging to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...

and 5.1% belonging to other Protestant churches. 21.8% of the population were Catholic. Of the rest of the population, 0% were Muslim, 3.1% belonged to another religion (not listed), 2.6% did not give a religion, and 10.6% were atheist or agnostic. The historical population is given in the following table:

Transport

Pfungen-Neftenbach railway station is served by

Zurich S-Bahn The Zurich S-Bahn () system is a network of rail lines that has been incrementally expanded to cover the ZVV area, which comprises the entire canton of Zurich and portions of neighbouring cantons (Aargau, Glarus, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, ...

line S41, which links

and Waldshut.

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Zürich