Balsthal is a municipality in the district of Thal in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.

It consists of the village of Balsthal, the industrial settlement of Klus and the hamlets of Sankt Wolfgang.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure two Snakes Argent in saltire bowed embowed reguardant.

[8] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (4,728 or 84.8%), with Albanian being second most common (163 or 2.9%) and Italian being third (153 or 2.7%).

[7] The age distribution, as of 2000[update], in Balsthal is; 401 children or 7.2% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 976 teenagers or 17.5% are between 7 and 19.

[8] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][13] The ruins of Neu-Falkenstein Castle is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

The entire town of Balsthal and the Factories of the Innere Klus are part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

[14] In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 30.03% of the vote.

In the federal election, a total of 1,757 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 51.8%.

The number of jobs in the primary sector was 24, of which 21 were in agriculture and 3 were in forestry or lumber production.

In the tertiary sector; 257 or 25.6% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 100 or 10.0% were in the movement and storage of goods, 88 or 8.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 8 or 0.8% were in the information industry, 54 or 5.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 89 or 8.9% were technical professionals or scientists, 87 or 8.7% were in education and 160 or 15.9% were in health care.

[8] From the 2000 census[update], 2,950 or 52.9% were Roman Catholic, while 1,115 or 20.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

The wettest month is August during which time Balsthal receives an average of 113 mm (4.4 in) of rain or snow.

The month with the most days of precipitation is May, with an average of 13.5, but with only 99 mm (3.9 in) of rain or snow.

The driest month of the year is October with an average of 73 mm (2.9 in) of precipitation over 8.6 days.

The education system in the Canton of Solothurn allows young children to attend two years of non-obligatory Kindergarten.

All the lower secondary students from Balsthal attend their school in a neighboring municipality.

The library has (as of 2008[update]) 6,033 books or other media, and loaned out 11,342 items in the same year.