Grenchen (French: Granges) is a municipality in the district of Lebern in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.

It is located at the foot of the Jura mountains between Solothurn and Biel/Bienne, approximately 25 km (16 mi) north of Bern.

Grenchen has an area, as of 2009[update], of 26.01 square kilometers (10.04 sq mi).

The municipality stretches from the hamlet of Staad along the Aare river at an elevation of 430 m (1,410 ft) to the first mountain range of the Jura Mountains, the Oberer Grenchenberg at 1,348 m (4,423 ft).

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a Ploughshare Argent.

[8] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (13,033 or 81.8%), with Italian being second most common (1,022 or 6.4%) and French being third (460 or 2.9%).

[7] The age distribution as of 2000[update] in Grenchen was as follows: 942 children or 5.9% of the population were between 0 and 6 years old and 2,291 teenagers or 14.4% were between 7 and 19.

[8] As of 2003[update], the average price to rent an apartment in Grenchen was 862.63 Swiss francs (CHF) per month (US$690, £390, €550 approx.

[8] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][14] The entire village of Grenchen is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

[15] The ruins of Burg Grenchen, also known as Bettleschloss, a former hill castle, are located above this village.

In the 2015 federal election, the most popular party was the SVP which received 32.9% of the vote.

The other parties were the SP (22.6%), the FDP (19.5%), the CVP (9.1%), BDP 5.4%, glp 4.8%, Greens 2.9%, and the DPS 1.0%.

Two railway stations, (Grenchen Nord on the Basel-Biel line and Grenchen Süd on the Geneva-Zürich line), provide an excellent connection to the city on the rail network.

Construction of the tunnel attracted many foreign workers to Grenchen, coming mostly from Italy.

The bus lines connect Grenchen with Bettlach, Lengnau, Büren, Rüti and Selzach.

[8] There were 7,988 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.8% of the workforce.

The number of jobs in the primary sector was 85, of which 77 were in agriculture and 8 were in forestry or lumber production.

In the tertiary sector; 742 or 22.6% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 188 or 5.7% were in the movement and storage of goods, 236 or 7.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 61 or 1.9% were in the information industry, 119 or 3.6% were the insurance or financial industry, 211 or 6.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 371 or 11.3% were in education and 910 or 27.7% were in health care.

It hosted the 2015 UEC European Track Championships., during which a new world record was set in the Ladies' 500m Time Trials by Anastasiia Voinova of Russia.

From the 2000 census[update], 5,654 or 35.5% were Roman Catholic, while 5,754 or 36.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

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

It was open a total of 258 days, with an average of 19 hours per week during that year.