Saignelégier (French pronunciation: [sɛɲleʒje]) is a municipality in the canton of Jura in Switzerland.

On 1 January 2009, the formerly independent municipalities of Goumois and Les Pommerats merged into Saignelégier.

[3] The bog and nature preserve around étang de la Gruère is located in the municipality.

During the 15th century, Saignelégier began to grow into an important regional town.

Around the same time, the pastor of Montfaucon, the head of the main parish of the Franches-Montagnes region, moved to Saignelégier.

[4] With the advent of the watch industry in Switzerland in the 19th century and the opening of rail lines in 1892 to La Chaux-de-Fonds and Glovelier in 1904, a number of precision manufacturing firms settled in Saignelégier.

Since the 2009 merger, it has stretched from the banks of the Doubs river to the Etang de la Gruère.

The original village lies at the intersection of the roads to Delémont, Tramelan, La Chaux-de-Fonds and France.

It consists of the villages of Saignelégier, Les Pommerats and Goumois and a number of hamlets.

[7] The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Or, a Roundel Argent bordered Sable, in base Coupeaux of Six Gules.

[11] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks French (1,961 or 91.4%) as their first language, German is the second most common (69 or 3.2%) and Italian is the third (20 or 0.9%).

[11] The historical population is given in the following chart:[4][15] The entire village of Les Pommerats and the hamlet of Les Cerlatez are designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites[16] In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SPS which received 36.77% of the vote.

The number of jobs in the primary sector was 38, of which 37 were in agriculture and 1 was in forestry or lumber production.

In the tertiary sector; 152 or 22.0% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 44 or 6.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 62 or 9.0% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 0.4% were in the information industry, 91 or 13.2% were the insurance or financial industry, 47 or 6.8% were technical professionals or scientists, 49 or 7.1% were in education and 135 or 19.5% were in health care.

From the 2000 census[update], 1,544 or 72.0% were Roman Catholic, while 237 or 11.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

The wettest month is June during which time Saignelégier receives an average of 152 mm (6.0 in) of rain or snow.

The driest month of the year is October with an average of 98 mm (3.9 in) of precipitation over 10 days.

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