---
title: "Cost of Living: Stockholm vs Rome — Geo-Parity"
description: "Italy is 23% cheaper than Sweden for monthly essentials ($1,631 vs $2,129). Full 32-item price comparison: rent, pint, groceries, transport, gym."
canonical: "https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/italy-vs-sweden/"
json: "https://geo-parity.com/api/micro-costs.json?base=SE&target=IT"
generator: geo-parity markdown twin
---
Cost of Living · SE vs IT

# 🇸🇪 Stockholm vs 🇮🇹 Rome: what everyday life costs

Monthly essentials: **$2,129** in Sweden vs **$1,631** in Italy — 23% cheaper.

- **Essentials, Sweden**: $2,129/mo
- **Essentials, Italy**: $1,631/mo
- **Difference**: -23%
- **1-bed city rent, Italy**: $1,124/mo

## Biggest differences

Much cheaper in Italy

- Rent: 1-bedroom, city center: -26%
- Rent: 1-bedroom, outside center: -26%
- Rent: 3-bedroom, city center: -26%

Closest to Sweden prices

- Petrol/gasoline, 1L: -7.7%
- Running shoes (brand): -8.3%
- Jeans (mid-range brand): -8.3%

## The full basket (32 items)

| Item | Sweden | Italy | Diff |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Housing |  |  |  |
| Rent: 1-bedroom, city center | $1,522 | $1,124 (995 EUR) | -26% |
| Rent: 1-bedroom, outside center | $1,217 | $899 (796 EUR) | -26% |
| Rent: 3-bedroom, city center | $2,783 | $2,056 (1,819 EUR) | -26% |
| Food out |  |  |  |
| Meal, inexpensive restaurant | $16.13 | $12.71 (11 EUR) | -21% |
| Dinner for two, mid-range | $67.20 | $52.97 (47 EUR) | -21% |
| Fast-food combo meal | $9.96 | $8.02 (7 EUR) | -19% |
| Groceries |  |  |  |
| Milk, 1L | $1.02 | $0.85 (1 EUR) | -17% |
| Bread, fresh loaf 500g | $2.95 | $2.49 (2 EUR) | -16% |
| Eggs, dozen | $3.14 | $2.64 (2 EUR) | -16% |
| Chicken breast, 1kg | $9.23 | $7.77 (7 EUR) | -16% |
| White rice, 1kg | $3.69 | $3.11 (3 EUR) | -16% |
| Apples, 1kg | $4.43 | $3.73 (3 EUR) | -16% |
| Local cheese, 1kg | $11.08 | $9.32 (8 EUR) | -16% |
| Water, 1.5L bottle | $1.85 | $1.55 (1 EUR) | -16% |
| Drinks |  |  |  |
| Domestic beer, pint (draught) | $5.38 | $4.24 (4 EUR) | -21% |
| Imported beer, 330ml bottle | $7.69 | $7.05 (6 EUR) | -8.3% |
| Cappuccino | $4.48 | $3.53 (3 EUR) | -21% |
| Coke/Pepsi, 330ml | $2.12 | $1.79 (2 EUR) | -16% |
| Transport |  |  |  |
| Public transport, monthly pass | $58.83 | $47.39 (42 EUR) | -19% |
| Public transport, one-way | $2.49 | $2.00 (2 EUR) | -20% |
| Taxi start (normal tariff) | $3.58 | $2.83 (3 EUR) | -21% |
| Taxi, per km | $1.61 | $1.27 (1 EUR) | -21% |
| Petrol/gasoline, 1L | $0.91 | $0.84 (1 EUR) | -7.7% |
| Utilities & comms |  |  |  |
| Basic utilities, 85m² apartment | $181 | $146 (129 EUR) | -19% |
| Internet, 60Mbps+ unlimited | $63.35 | $51.03 (45 EUR) | -19% |
| Mobile plan, 10GB+ data | $40.73 | $32.81 (29 EUR) | -19% |
| Lifestyle |  |  |  |
| Gym membership, month | $44.80 | $35.32 (31 EUR) | -21% |
| Cinema seat | $12.54 | $9.89 (9 EUR) | -21% |
| Men's haircut | $26.88 | $21.19 (19 EUR) | -21% |
| Jeans (mid-range brand) | $52.85 | $48.47 (43 EUR) | -8.3% |
| Running shoes (brand) | $86.48 | $79.31 (70 EUR) | -8.3% |
| Coworking hot desk, month | $224 | $177 (156 EUR) | -21% |

Estimated from World Bank — Consumption price levels with per-item elasticity — model figures, not quotes. Compare any pair in the [interactive tool](https://geo-parity.com/expenses/?tab=prices&base=SE&target=IT).

## Beyond prices

What each place pays, charges and offers — wages, rent, healthcare, climate, risk and time off. Figures come from the same engines behind the individual tools, so they match what those pages say. They sit about **2,018 km** apart as the crow flies.

| Measure | 🇸🇪 Sweden | 🇮🇹 Italy |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Median local wage Monthly, USD. The local midpoint, not an average. | $4,250 | $3,428 |
| Rent, modelled 1-bed Monthly, USD. | $1,373 | $1,033 |
| Rent as % of a local wage Are locals priced out? | 32.3% | 30.1% |
| Out-of-pocket healthcare Per person per year, USD. | $868 | $758 |
| Doctors per 1,000 WHO. | 4.4 | 4.2 |
| Comfortable days a year 18-27 °C and dry. Measured at Stockholm and Rome. | 62 | 76 |
| Rule of law World Bank WGI. A survey composite, so the band leads, not the decimal. | very strong | middling |
| Country risk INFORM, 0-10. Lower is safer. | 2.7 (low) | 3 (low) |
| Public holidays Observed nationwide; regional days are counted separately. | 16 | 13 + 1 regional |
| Air quality Mean annual PM2.5, µg/m³. WHO guideline is 5. Lower is better. | 4.8 | 13.7 |
| Life expectancy Years at birth — the outcome, not the spending. | 84.1 | 84 |
| Homicide rate Per 100,000 a year. A count, not a perception score. | 1.1 | 0.6 |
| Population online % using the internet. Reach, not speed — the row below is speed. | 95.8% | 89.2% |
| Internet download Measured median, Mbps. | 217.6 | 153.5 |

## Cheap for you, or cheap for everyone?

Rent measured twice: against a $6,000/month remote income, and against what people actually earn locally. The gap between the two is the arbitrage — and it is the reason somewhere can be affordable to you and unaffordable to a local at once.

🇸🇪 Sweden

9.4 pts

22.9% of your income vs 32.3% of a local wage

🇮🇹 Italy

12.9 pts

17.2% of your income vs 30.1% of a local wage

Worked at $6,000/month. [Run it on your own income](https://geo-parity.com/expenses/?tab=housing)

## The whole Sweden → Italy move, in one place

Everything above is free and always will be. The relocation report is the same engines run together for this one corridor: what you keep after rent, prices, healthcare and tax; the local wage ladder you would be earning against; which visas your income qualifies for; the day count that makes you tax-resident; and the months worth being there for.

[See the Sweden → Italy report — £7](https://geo-parity.com/report/sweden-to-italy/) One-off. No subscription. Free preview first.

## Related

- [Reverse view: Italy vs Sweden](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/italy-vs-sweden/)
- [Fair salary: Sweden → Italy](https://geo-parity.com/salary/sweden-to-italy/)
- [How much to retire in Italy?](https://geo-parity.com/fire/italy/)
- [Cost of living in Italy vs the US](https://geo-parity.com/ppp/italy/)

## More comparisons

### Sweden compared with

- [Sweden vs France](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/sweden-vs-france/)
- [Sweden vs Spain](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/sweden-vs-spain/)
- [Sweden vs Germany](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/sweden-vs-germany/)
- [Sweden vs Japan](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/sweden-vs-japan/)
- [Sweden vs Netherlands](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/sweden-vs-netherlands/)
- [Sweden vs Ireland](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/sweden-vs-ireland/)

### Moving to Italy from

- [Australia vs Italy](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/australia-vs-italy/)
- [Denmark vs Italy](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/denmark-vs-italy/)
- [United Kingdom vs Italy](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/united-kingdom-vs-italy/)
- [Norway vs Italy](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/norway-vs-italy/)
- [New Zealand vs Italy](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/new-zealand-vs-italy/)
- [Canada vs Italy](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/canada-vs-italy/)

## Frequently asked questions

- **How much cheaper is Italy than Sweden?**: A single person's monthly essentials run about $1,631 in Italy versus $2,129 in Sweden — 23% less. Rents differ the most; world-priced goods like petrol and electronics the least.
- **What does a beer cost in Italy?**: A domestic draught pint is roughly $4.24 in Italy (≈ 3.75 EUR), versus about $5.38 in Sweden.
- **How much is rent in Italy compared to Sweden?**: A 1-bedroom city-center apartment is estimated at $1,124/month in Italy versus $1,522/month in Sweden (-26%). Housing is the most locally-priced item in the basket.
- **How are these prices estimated?**: Curated US baseline prices scaled by each country's purchasing-power price level with per-item elasticities (housing 1.4, services 1.1, groceries 0.8, world-priced goods 0.4) — model estimates for orientation, not quotes.

Model estimates — verify locally. Agents: GET /api/micro-costs.json?base=SE&target=IT.

---

Source: Geo-Parity — https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/italy-vs-sweden/ · JSON: https://geo-parity.com/api/micro-costs.json?base=SE&target=IT