Bad Zurzach () is a village and former municipality in the district of Zurzach in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district. On 1 January 2022 the former municipalities of Bad Zurzach, Baldingen, Böbikon, Kaiserstuhl, Rekingen, Rietheim, Rümikon and Wislikofen merged into the new municipality of Zurzach.
Bad Zurzach was previously known as Zurzach; the population voting for the official name change in a referendum of 21 May 2006. Located on the Rhine, Bad Zurzach has a thermal water bath and an outdoor bathing facility. The old market town, the St. Verena convent church with its treasure, the Roman Catholic Church and the late Roman castle Tenedo on the Kirchlibuck hill are listed as heritage sites of national significance.
Geography
thumb|left|Aerial view (1953)
Bad Zurzach has an area, , of . Of this area, or 25.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 42.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 27.9% is settled (buildings or roads), or 4.3% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.2% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 3.1% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 12.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 7.5%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 4.3%. Out of the forested land, 40.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 15.3% is used for growing crops and 8.7% is pastures, while 1.1% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
Demographics
thumb|Houses along Schwertgasse
Bad Zurzach has a population () of . , 34.7% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 4.2%. Most of the population () speaks German (82.9%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common (3.3%) and Italian being third (3.2%).
, the gender distribution of the population was 49.9% male and 50.1% female. The population was made up of 1,274 Swiss men (31.6% of the population), and 736 (18.3%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,410 Swiss women (35.0%), and 610 (15.1%) non-Swiss women.
, there were 271 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 811 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 501 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. there were 564 single family homes (or 28.5% of the total) out of a total of 1,978 homes and apartments. There were a total of 16 empty apartments for a 0.8% vacancy rate.
The historical population is given in the following table:
The entire town of Bad Zurzach is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.
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File:ZurzachRefKirche.jpg|Reformed Church of Bad Zurzach
File:Zurzach verena aussen.jpg|St. Verena Church
File:ZurzachBohrturm.jpg|Bohrturm near Zurzach
File:Zurzach roemer.jpg|Roman inscription from Tenedo
</gallery>
Economy
, Bad Zurzach had an unemployment rate of 2.04%. , there were 24 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 9 businesses involved in this sector. 397 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 38 businesses in this sector. 1,874 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 205 businesses in this sector. Of the working population, 12.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 40.9% used a private car. Its production facility, however, remains in the Solvay Industry Areal in Bad Zurzach.
Religion
From the , 1,730 or 44.4% were Roman Catholic, while 1,149 or 29.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 9 individuals (or about 0.23% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic faith.
Notable people
- Verena, (ca. 260–320 in Zurzach), Egyptian Coptic saint, who became the patron saint of the city
- Charles Rodolf (1818 in Zurzach - ??) a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, emigrated in 1833
- Emil Welti (1825 in Zurzach - 1899) a Swiss politician, lawyer and judge
- Alex Widmer (1956 in Zurzach – 2008) a Swiss banker, CEO of the Julius Baer Group
Education
thumb|Fleckenbibliothek (library) Bad Zurzach sign
In Bad Zurzach about 66.8% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).
Transport
Bad Zurzach station is served by Zurich S-Bahn line S36, which links Bülach and Waldshut, and by alternate trains on Aargau S-Bahn line S27, which link Baden and Bad Zurzach.