Cost of Living Guide

City comparison

Cost of living in Stockholm vs Milan

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

🇸🇪
Stockholm
Sweden · 1.6M pop
vs
🇮🇹
Milan
Italy · 1.4M pop
Monthly rent (1BR)
€1,500€1,450
3% cheaper
Groceries / mo
€350€330
6% cheaper
Eating out (meal)
€16€16
0% pricier
Internet (100mbps)
€35€32
9% cheaper
Avg salary (tech)
€4,700€3,200
32% lower
Coworking / mo
€280€240
14% cheaper
StockholmMilan
Rent€1,500€1,450
Groceries€350€330
Transport€90€39
Utilities€130€170

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

€2,887/ month net

4% less than today (-€113)

Stockholm today
Basket €2,233 · left over €767 (26%)
Milan at the matched salary
Basket €2,149 · left over €738 (26%)

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

🇸🇪 Stockholm

Queue-based rental market pushes newcomers into pricey sublets.

Monthly budget: €2,233

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

🇮🇹 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

Should you move to Stockholm or Milan?

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

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

More Stockholm comparisons

More Milan comparisons