[3] In September 1806, the village was very badly affected by the tsunami that followed the landslide at Goldau, resulting in the deaths of 115 people in Lauerz alone.

The municipality consists of the village of Lauerz and a number of scattered farm houses between the northern slope of the Rigi mountain and the lake.

A section of the lake, together with both of its islands, Schwanau and Roggenburg, are also within the municipality.

Of the rest of the land, 4.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (15.5%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (97.1%), with English being second most common ( 0.9%) and Albanian being third ( 0.8%).

[6] From the 2000 census[update], 731 or 83.6% are Roman Catholic, while 71 or 8.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.