Cost of Living Guide

City comparison

Cost of living in Milan vs Stockholm

One person needs about €2,149 a month in Milan and €2,233 in Stockholm, rent included — Milan is 4% cheaper overall.

🇮🇹
Milan
Italy · 1.4M pop
vs
🇸🇪
Stockholm
Sweden · 1.6M pop
Monthly rent (1BR)
€1,450€1,500
3% pricier
Groceries / mo
€330€350
6% pricier
Eating out (meal)
€16€16
0% pricier
Internet (100mbps)
€32€35
9% pricier
Avg salary (tech)
€3,200€4,700
47% higher
Coworking / mo
€240€280
17% pricier
MilanStockholm
Rent€1,450€1,500
Groceries€330€350
Transport€39€90
Utilities€170€130

Salary you'd need to keep the same lifestyle

Enter your current net monthly pay. We scale it by the full cost basket — rent, groceries, transport, utilities, eating out and internet.

To live in Stockholm the way you live in Milan on €3,000, you need

€3,117/ month net

4% more than today (+€117)

Milan today
Basket €2,149 · left over €851 (28%)
Stockholm at the matched salary
Basket €2,233 · left over €884 (28%)

Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 210% over in Stockholm (strong) vs 149% in Milan. Purchasing power index · How we calculate this

🇮🇹 Milan

Italy's business capital: better salaries than Rome, and rents to match.

Monthly budget: €2,149

Sources: Eurostat, Harmonised price indices (2025) · 0 community reports

🇸🇪 Stockholm

Queue-based rental market pushes newcomers into pricey sublets.

Monthly budget: €2,233

Sources: Eurostat, Harmonised price indices (2025) · 0 community reports

Should you move to Milan or Stockholm?

On salary, Stockholm pays more for tech roles (€4,700 versus €3,200 a month), so the money left over after costs is €2,467 in Stockholm at the top end.

Rent drives most of the gap: €1,450 in Milan against €1,500 in Stockholm. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.

For remote workers, the nomad index scores Milan at 71 and Stockholm at 72 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.

More Milan comparisons

More Stockholm comparisons