Cost of Living inRome, Italy
Image credit: Catalin Manolescu
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Italy: $53,265/capita.
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 38% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Income Category
Happiness
6.3 / 10
#40 globally
GDP per Capita
City Population
Monthly Costs
Rent
Food
Transport
Utilities
Education
Child Education
Public-school quality + expat access, alongside international and private school cost — the two paths a relocating family weighs.
Public schools
Public-schooling rules are set nationally for Italy; Rome-specific enrollment notes are still being verified.
Quality
Good public schools
Expat access
Available to residents
conditionalInstruction
Italian
Language fit is more manageable.
PISA / outcomes
Qualitative only
Using curated quality notes for now.
Why this quality rating
Italy’s public schools are a credible option in stronger regions, especially for families comfortable with Italian.
Why the expat-access rating looks like this
Resident families can enroll, but public schooling is mainly in Italian and expat-specific support is limited.
📋 Homeschooling
Legal with annual examsHomeschooling (istruzione parentale) is constitutionally protected. Parents must annually declare their intent and demonstrate financial/technical capability. Students must pass yearly exams at a state school. Italy has a small but growing worldschooling community.
Homeschool legality in Italy — check current regulations before committing.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
International & private schools
Childcare & Domestic Help
Current nanny and household-help pricing snapshot for Rome, Italy.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$1,200-$1,600
monthly · confidence 0.65
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$2,450-$3,150
monthly · confidence 0.65
Source: curated family relocation research
Getting Around
The concrete mobility picture for Rome: airport access, urban transit, and rideshare practicality.
Airport
Major international airport
Fiumicino is Italy’s busiest airport and gives Rome deep short-haul and long-haul coverage.
Urban transit
Metro, tram, and bus
Rome has a credible metro, tram, and bus network for daily life in many districts, even if it feels less seamless than Madrid or Paris.
Rideshare
Taxi-first, limited Uber coverage
Uber works in Rome, but the market remains more taxi- and premium-ride-oriented than in stronger mass-market rideshare cities.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in Italy.
Method: country metrics come from public system indicators, facility coverage reflects mapped providers we can inventory, direct pricing only reflects observed self-pay pages, and relative care cost can fall back to broad cost-of-living healthcare indices. Sparse pricing does not imply sparse healthcare availability.
Healthcare system
StrongGood national coverage, strong doctor availability, and solid hospital-bed capacity support this rating.
Public care
StrongBroad public coverage, strong public funding, and country-level outcomes are comparatively strong support this rating.
Private care
GoodA meaningful tracked hospital and clinic network and visible specialty depth help, but self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse.
UHC coverage
82/100
2023
Physicians
4.19/1k
2022
Hospital beds
3.06/1k
2022
Out of pocket
22%
2024
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
84.0 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
6/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
1.8/1k
2024
International patient readiness
MixedMultiple facilities have websites and there is visible specialty depth help, but price transparency is still sparse.
Pricing transparency
LimitedMultiple facilities have crawlable websites help, but published self-pay prices are scarce.
Facility coverage
Self-pay pricing visibility
No verified self-pay prices are published for the tracked facilities in Italy yet.
This usually reflects low online price transparency rather than a lack of healthcare providers.
Notable facilities
System metrics: World Bank WDI · Updated 2026-06-01
Safety & Governance
Street Safety
Source: Numbeo where a city row is matched; otherwise World Bank WGI and country-level safety context.
Political Stability
World Bank WGI scale: -2.5 to +2.5.
Wages by Sector
| Sector | Median |
|---|---|
| Administrative & Support Services | — |
| Agriculture & Farming | — |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | — |
| Construction | — |
| Education | — |
| Finance & Insurance | — |
| Healthcare & Social Work | — |
| Hospitality & Food Service | — |
| Information & Technology | — |
| Manufacturing | — |
| Mining & Quarrying | — |
| Other Services | — |
| Professional & Scientific Services | — |
| Public Administration & Defence | — |
| Real Estate | — |
| Retail & Wholesale Trade | — |
| Transport & Logistics | — |
| Utilities | — |
2024 annual wages in Rome, Italy · Source: ISTAT (region-adjusted)
Price Comparison vs. US
Visa Information (US passport)
Short-stay entry
US passport holders can stay up to 90 days without a visa.
Long-Term Visa Programs
digital nomad
Digital Nomad Visa
Migrated from legacy digital_nomad_visas row 11
retirement
Elective Residence Visa Italy
investment
Italy Investor Visa Government Bonds
investment
Italy Investor Visa Startup
working holiday
Working Holiday VisaQuick comparison FAQ
Structured from the deltas already shown on this page — no invented facts, no extra data sources.
How far does your money go in Rome compared with the US?
Your money goes about 1.3x further in Rome than in the US, based on the current PPP estimate.
Is Rome cheaper or more expensive overall than New York City?
Rome is cheaper overall than New York City — overall living costs are about 38% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for Rome.
How does rent in Rome compare with New York City?
Rent in Rome is about 69% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City).
How expensive are groceries and restaurants in Rome?
Groceries in Rome are about 38% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 39% cheaper than the same benchmark.
About Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and a city whose economy leans heavily on government, the Vatican-adjacent religious sector, tourism, and a relatively thin private-sector base compared with Milan to the north. For relocators that imbalance matters: salaries are lower than Milan or most northern European capitals, the rental market is tight and increasingly shaped by short-term tourist lets, and public administration moves slowly even by Italian standards. The compensations are real, though, including a Mediterranean climate, dense walkable neighborhoods, and a genuinely good food economy at non-tourist prices once you move out of the historic center. The most realistic profiles are remote workers earning in stronger currencies, EU passport holders, and people with family or institutional ties.
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