Deep-dive

Cost of living in Milan

Italy's most expensive city for renting and buying a home, with central rents far above Rome. Eating out, services and leisure cost more than the national average; public transport and groceries stay in line. Savings come in the outer districts served by the metro and the first-ring municipalities.

Sections: Rent · Utilities · Groceries · Mobility · Services · Scenarios

What costs more and what costs less

Housing is the heavy item: the OMI quotations of the Agenzia delle Entrate place central Milan at the top in Italy for both rents and sale prices, and even semi-central districts exceed the centres of many other cities. A room in a shared flat costs as much as a whole one-bedroom flat in most of Italy. Demand is driven by students, young professionals and short-term rentals, which have removed homes from the residential market in central areas.

Restaurants, bars (a coffee at the counter in the centre is among the dearest in the country), gyms, hairdressers, private nurseries and parking (blue lines almost everywhere inside the ring road, paid Area C in the centre) also cost more than average. Supermarket and municipal-market shopping, the monthly ATM pass, valid on metro, trams and buses across the city, and public healthcare remain affordable.

Where to save

Rents fall towards the ends of the metro lines: Bicocca and Niguarda (M5), Precotto and Gorla (M1), Corvetto and Rogoredo (M3), Bisceglie (M1), Comasina and Affori (M3), Famagosta and Barona (M2), and in the first-ring municipalities linked by the metro or S lines (Sesto San Giovanni, Cologno, Rho, Cinisello, Buccinasco, San Donato), where a one-bedroom flat costs what a room does in the centre.

Students and young workers choose shared rooms in Città Studi, Lambrate, NoLo, Bovisa and Bicocca; many who work in the centre live outside Milan and use the Passante rail link. The annual ATM pass and reduced fares for under-27s and ISEE income bands cut transport costs.

Rent per m² per month, central zone (OMI)

City figurePeriod: H2 2025Validsample unknown

Source: Agenzia delle Entrate – OMI, Banca dati delle quotazioni immobiliari, 2° semestre 2025 (consultazione per zona; perimetri delle zone dal servizio Geopoi OMI)

€25 – €35/ m²·month

Monthly transport pass

City figurePeriod: Jan 2026Validsample unknown

Source: ATM Milano – Tariffe ATM, edizione gennaio 2026 (PDF) · Abbonamento urbano ordinario mensile (solo Comune di Milano) 39 €; Mi1-Mi3 mensile (Milano + prima cintura STIBM) 50 €

€39/ person·month

Missing: coworking_month, meal_out_mid

Data