Cost of living comparison

compared to

Italy vs. Chicago Cost of Living Summary

Italy is 31.8% cheaper than Chicago.

Restaurants: pay 28.1% less in Italy
Groceries: pay 27.4% less in Italy
Transportation: pay 11.6% more in Italy
Housing: pay 42.6% less in Italy
Childcare: pay 78.5% less in Italy
Entertainment and Sports: pay 46.0% less in Italy
Clothing: pay 11.5% less in Italy

Expenses including childcare, entertainment and sports, housing, restaurants, groceries, and clothing are lower in Italy.

Italy vs. Chicago Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Italy instead of Chicago, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 28.1% less for restaurants

	Chicago	Italy
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$25.00	$16.15 €15.66	-35.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.34	$10.06 €9.76	-11.2%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$3.02	$2.55 €2.47	-15.7%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.44	$1.22 €1.18	-50.0%
Average			-28.1%

Chicago vs. Italy - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 27.4% less for groceries

	Chicago	Italy
Bread 1 loaf	$4.19	$2.04 €1.98	-51.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$7.87	$6.83 €6.63	-13.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.94	$5.53 €5.37	+40.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.75	$3.41 €3.30	-9.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$6.63	$5.05 €4.90	-23.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.44	$0.97 €0.94	-60.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.90	$0.85 €0.82	-5.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$2.19	$1.04 €1.01	-52.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.27	$1.31 €1.27	-42.1%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.16	$0.76 €0.73	-35.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.37	$0.71 €0.69	-48.3%
Average			-27.4%

Chicago vs. Italy - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 11.6% more for transportation

	Chicago	Italy
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.16	$7.22 €7.01	+73.8%
Monthly public transit pass	$75.00	$38.81 €37.64	-48.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$31,965.00	$28,223.13 €27,370.54	-11.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$14.43	$19.13 €18.55	+32.5%
Average			+11.6%

Chicago vs. Italy - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 42.6% less for housing

	Chicago	Italy
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$58.52	$28.87 €28.00	-50.7%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$2,360.96	$656.19 €636.36	-72.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,512.92	$511.91 €496.45	-66.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$126.63	$150.39 €145.85	+18.8%
Average			-42.6%

Chicago vs. Italy - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 78.5% less for childcare

	Chicago	Italy
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$2,475.00	$508.72 €493.35	-79.4%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$42,300.00	$9,465.55 €9,179.60	-77.6%
Average			-78.5%

Chicago vs. Italy - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 46.0% less for entertainment and sports

	Chicago	Italy
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$7.50	$5.01 €4.86	-33.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$5.30	$1.69 €1.64	-68.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$17.00	$6.20 €6.01	-63.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$72.00	$52.12 €50.54	-27.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$15.00	$9.39 €9.11	-37.4%
Average			-46.0%

Chicago vs. Italy - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 11.5% less for clothing

	Chicago	Italy
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$64.98	$78.41 €76.04	+20.7%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$51.67	$33.87 €32.84	-34.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$97.00	$86.07 €83.47	-11.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$146.00	$115.43 €111.94	-20.9%
Average			-11.5%

Chicago vs. Italy - Cost of clothing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: January 2025

More cost comparisons

Chicago vs.

Kiev

Chicago vs.

Quito

Chicago vs.

Nairobi

Chicago vs.

Vienna

Chicago vs.

Phnom Penh

Chicago vs.

Paris

Chicago vs.

Washington

Chicago vs.

Dodoma

Share this

Compare countries by overall cost of living

See the cost of living in United States vs. Italy. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within United States and Italy.

Help us improve these prices

MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative project. Please enter price information for your location to help assist us in making these comparisons more accurate. Learn more

Add prices for Chicago

Add prices for Italy

ASK THE ELSEWHERE COMMUNITY

Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about Italy or Chicago. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.