Vernate is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.

Vernate has an area, as of 1997[update], of 1.51 square kilometers (0.58 sq mi).

Of the rest of the land, 0.19 km2 (0.073 sq mi) or 12.6% is settled (buildings or roads).

[3] The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure a fess argent and overall in dexter an arrow point to base and in sinister a walking stick handle to chief both counterchanged.

The arrow and pilgrim stick are attributes of St. Roch (Rocco) and St. Sebastian (Sebastiano) the patron saints of the parish church.

Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks Italian (73.6%), with German being second most common (19.3%) and French being third (2.2%).

[6] The age distribution, as of 2009[update], in Vernate is; 68 children or 12.1% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 55 teenagers or 9.8% are between 10 and 19.

[7] The historical population is given in the following chart:[12] In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 29.58% of the vote.

In the federal election, a total of 151 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 49.2%.

[13] In the 2007[update] Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 301 registered voters in Vernate, of which 191 or 63.5% voted.

[7] There were 175 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.1% of the workforce.

[7] From the 2000 census[update], 248 or 68.3% were Roman Catholic, while 49 or 13.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

In the lower secondary school system, students either attend a two-year middle school followed by a two-year pre-apprenticeship or they attend a four-year program to prepare for higher education.

The professional program lasts three years and prepares a student for a job in engineering, nursing, computer science, business, tourism and similar fields.