Currently, the town belongs to the Jura bernois administrative district of the canton of Bern.

Between 1049 and 1150, the Abbey was granted a stift or land donation to support the college of canons.

The stift allowed the Abbey to grow into a major landholder and a regional power.

After Napoleon's defeat and the Congress of Vienna, Moutier was assigned to the Canton of Bern in 1815.

Two years later, in 1817, the Canton of Bern acquired the castle and used it as the seat of the district governor.

In 1915, the 8.6 kilometers (5.3 mi) long Grenchenberg tunnel connected Moutier and Grenchen.

[5] In 1842, Célestin Châtelain founded the Verrerie de Moutier glass factory.

However, a subsidiary, Verres Industriels SA, had been created in 1955 and they began producing glass with the new process.

In the late 19th century, the Grande Fabrique was built in Moutier and by 1880 employed about 500 workers.

A number of watchmakers opened factories in the town, of which Léon Lévy & Frères and Louis Schwab were some of the largest.

However, many of Moutier's independent watchmakers went bankrupt and were forced to close during the Great Depression.

After a bankruptcy and several name changes the company became Usines Tornos, Fabrique de machines Moutier SA in 1918.

Over its nearly a century in operation, Usines Tornos built workers' housing, provided jobs and vocational training and helped drive Moutier's growth.

This led to acts of vandalism on 16 March 1974 and on 7 September 1975 an armed standoff at the Hôtel de la Gare which was broken up by an elite team of Bernese police on the following day.

[7] Two other plebiscites also came down on the side of remaining in the Canton of Bern, including one in 1998 which passed with a thin majority of 41 votes.

[8] On 18 June 2017, the municipality held a referendum, asking citizens 'Do you want the city of Moutier to belong to the Republic and Canton of Jura?'

The result of the referendum was 51.7% of the citizenry voting in favour of Moutier joining the Canton of Jura.

[10] On 28 March 2021, a repeated referendum saw 54.9% of Moutier voters once again vote in favour of seceding from Bern to join Jura.

A fourth district for Moutier will be created in the Canton of Jura once the transfer is complete.

On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Arrondissement administratif Jura bernois.

[17] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks French (6,658 or 86.5%) as their first language, German is the second most common (303 or 3.9%) and Italian is the third (275 or 3.6%).

[22] The historical population is given in the following chart:[5][23] The chapel and cemetery De Chalière is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

The entire urbanized village of Moutier is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

The number of jobs in the primary sector was 33, of which 31 were in agriculture and 2 were in forestry or lumber production.

In the tertiary sector; 306 or 22.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 53 or 3.8% were in the movement and storage of goods, 74 or 5.4% were in a hotel or restaurant, 17 or 1.2% were in the information industry, 56 or 4.1% were the insurance or financial industry, 127 or 9.2% were technical professionals or scientists, 102 or 7.4% were in education and 344 or 24.9% were in health care.

[31] From the 2000 census[update], 3,684 or 47.8% were Roman Catholic, while 2,201 or 28.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

The wettest month was May during which time Moutier received an average of 112 mm (4.4 in) of rain or snow.

The driest month of the year was February with an average of 75 mm (3.0 in) of precipitation over 10.4 days.

This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.

Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship.