CITY / CITYVerified city comparison
MilanvsNaples.
Naples is stronger on 2 of 8 headline facts; Milan on 0. Cost of living (single, excl. rent): Milan $1,093/mo, Naples $1,093/mo. Freelancer tax burden: Milan 24.9%, Naples 24.9%. Climate comfort: Milan 5/12 mo, Naples 6/12 mo.
VerifiedUpdated
14 compared criteria · 18 sources · country-level facts are clearly inherited
it / it · SettleMetric
01
The key differences
The key numbers head-to-head — the stronger side is marked. The overall score stays decoration; what matters is which facts fit you.
Headline result
Naples leads on 2 of 8
Milan
0
Naples
2
01Cost of living (single, excl. rent)
Milan
$1,093/mo
ISTAT — Spese per consumi delle famiglie, Anno 2024 (Prospetto 4, tavole allegate)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- ISTAT household budget survey 2024: average monthly household spending €2,755.09, of which imputed rent (affitti figurativi) €617.39 → monetary spending €2,137.70. Actual rentals removed using Italy's 2025 HICP weight for COICOP 04.1 (29.51 per 1,000 = 2.951%, Eurostat prc_hicp_inw) = €63.08 → €2,074.62 excluding all rent. Divided by the average household size of 2.2 (Eurostat ilc_lvph01) = €943.01 per person per month; uplifted by HICP annual averages 2024→2025 (122.3 → 124.3, ×1.0164) = €958.43; converted at 1 EUR = 1.1399 USD (ECB, 2026-07-02) → $1,093.
- Notes
- Per-capita basis, to match how Spain, Czechia, Austria and France are computed in this dataset. ISTAT also publishes the real single-person household basket, which is what a solo mover actually faces: €1,931.70/month total, €1,347.48 after removing imputed and actual rent — about $1,561/month on the same uplift and FX. A person living alone has no household economies of scale, so read the $1,093 as the comparable cross-country figure and the $1,561 as the realistic personal one. No extrapolation into 2026 was applied beyond the 2025 annual average.
Naples
$1,093/mo
ISTAT — Spese per consumi delle famiglie, Anno 2024 (Prospetto 4, tavole allegate)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- ISTAT household budget survey 2024: average monthly household spending €2,755.09, of which imputed rent (affitti figurativi) €617.39 → monetary spending €2,137.70. Actual rentals removed using Italy's 2025 HICP weight for COICOP 04.1 (29.51 per 1,000 = 2.951%, Eurostat prc_hicp_inw) = €63.08 → €2,074.62 excluding all rent. Divided by the average household size of 2.2 (Eurostat ilc_lvph01) = €943.01 per person per month; uplifted by HICP annual averages 2024→2025 (122.3 → 124.3, ×1.0164) = €958.43; converted at 1 EUR = 1.1399 USD (ECB, 2026-07-02) → $1,093.
- Notes
- Per-capita basis, to match how Spain, Czechia, Austria and France are computed in this dataset. ISTAT also publishes the real single-person household basket, which is what a solo mover actually faces: €1,931.70/month total, €1,347.48 after removing imputed and actual rent — about $1,561/month on the same uplift and FX. A person living alone has no household economies of scale, so read the $1,093 as the comparable cross-country figure and the $1,561 as the realistic personal one. No extrapolation into 2026 was applied beyond the 2025 annual average.
02Freelancer tax burden
Milan
24.9%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme at €60,000 revenue for an IT freelancer = it-forfettario-it-67. Taxable base 67% × 60,000 = 40,200 (ATECO group 9 coefficient; expenses never reduce the base). INPS Gestione Separata 26.07% = 10,480.14, deducted from the forfeitary income → 29,719.86. Imposta sostitutiva 15% = 4,457.98. Levies 14,938.12 → 24.9%. The first five years of a new activity run at 5% instead (19.9%); the ordinary IRPEF route on the same profile is near 41%.
Naples
24.9%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme at €60,000 revenue for an IT freelancer = it-forfettario-it-67. Taxable base 67% × 60,000 = 40,200 (ATECO group 9 coefficient; expenses never reduce the base). INPS Gestione Separata 26.07% = 10,480.14, deducted from the forfeitary income → 29,719.86. Imposta sostitutiva 15% = 4,457.98. Levies 14,938.12 → 24.9%. The first five years of a new activity run at 5% instead (19.9%); the ordinary IRPEF route on the same profile is near 41%.
03Homicide rate
Milan
0.57/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (2023 was also 0.57). Dataset last updated by Eurostat 2026-04-29. Among the safest large countries in Europe — roughly half the French rate and a fifth of the global average — and down from 1.05 in 2008.
Naples
0.57/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (2023 was also 0.57). Dataset last updated by Eurostat 2026-04-29. Among the safest large countries in Europe — roughly half the French rate and a fifth of the global average — and down from 1.05 in 2008.
04Climate comfort
Milan
5/12 mo
SettleMetric — computed from the Milano Linate 1991–2020 WMO normals
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Months whose 1991–2020 normals have a mean daily maximum of 15–28°C and under 150mm of precipitation: March, April, May, June, September = 5. July and August exceed 28°C; October to February stay below 15°C.
Naplesstronger
6/12 mo
SettleMetric — computed from the Naples 1991–2020 normals
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Aug 28, 2026
- Method
- Months whose 1991–2020 normals have a mean daily maximum of 15–28°C and under 150 mm of precipitation: March, April, May, June, September, October = 6. July and August are excluded for heat (30.6 and 31.2°C), December to February for cold, and November for rain — at 18.5°C it is warm enough but its 160 mm exceeds the 150 mm threshold. June qualifies at exactly 28.0°C, the top of the band.
- Notes
- November is the only month in the Italian set excluded by the rain rule rather than by temperature, and it fails narrowly. Because the precipitation row is an upper-bound city series (see the climate normals notes), a drier gauge could plausibly put November inside the threshold and raise this score to 7.
05Internet speed
Milan
27 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Italy
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 344 daily country-median download values for IT in 2023 (17.42M download tests; daily medians ranged 8.6–29.9 Mbps). M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below advertised or Ookla-style figures — comparable only within this criterion. 2023 is the latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API.
- Notes
- Low by Western European standards on this metric: Italy's copper legacy is long and FTTH rollout, while accelerating under the national broadband plan, still lags France and Spain. Fibre is available in the three modelled cities; rural and southern coverage is where the national median is lost.
Naples
27 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Italy
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 344 daily country-median download values for IT in 2023 (17.42M download tests; daily medians ranged 8.6–29.9 Mbps). M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below advertised or Ookla-style figures — comparable only within this criterion. 2023 is the latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API.
- Notes
- Low by Western European standards on this metric: Italy's copper legacy is long and FTTH rollout, while accelerating under the national broadband plan, still lags France and Spain. Fibre is available in the three modelled cities; rural and southern coverage is where the national median is lost.
06English proficiency
Milan
Moderate
EF EPI 2025 — Italy (score 513, rank 59/123, Moderate band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Italy score 513, global rank 59, 'Moderate' band (EF cutoffs: Moderate 500–549), down 15 points on the previous edition. Reading scores highest (534) and speaking lowest (417), which matches the lived experience: written and technical English is workable in Milan's professional world, but Italian is required for administration, healthcare and most daily life, and proficiency falls sharply from north to south.
Naples
Moderate
EF EPI 2025 — Italy (score 513, rank 59/123, Moderate band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Italy score 513, global rank 59, 'Moderate' band (EF cutoffs: Moderate 500–549), down 15 points on the previous edition. Reading scores highest (534) and speaking lowest (417), which matches the lived experience: written and technical English is workable in Milan's professional world, but Italian is required for administration, healthcare and most daily life, and proficiency falls sharply from north to south.
07Private healthcare cost
Milan
no verified data
Naples
no verified data
08Air quality (PM2.5)
Milan
19 µg/m³
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Annual mean of 19.0 µg/m³ across five verified monitoring stations in 2024 — 3.8× the WHO guideline of 5 µg/m³ and among the worst readings in Western Europe, though still under the EU's current 25 µg/m³ limit value. The cause is geography as much as traffic: the Po Valley is ringed by the Alps and Apennines, so winter inversions trap particulate matter for weeks. The EU's 2030 target is 10 µg/m³.
Naplesstronger
15.1 µg/m³
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Aug 28, 2026
- Method
- Row "Napoli Greater City/ITA", year 2024, pm25_concentration 15.118 µg/m³ at 94% temporal coverage, from eighteen stations — three suburban background, three urban background, four suburban industrial, one urban industrial, one suburban traffic and six urban traffic. The largest station network of the Italian cities in this dataset.
- Notes
- Read the boundary before the number. WHO publishes no city-proper row for Naples, only a "Greater City" one, and it aggregates a station centroid of 40.87367°N 14.31456°E over a footprint of 2,855,958 people against the comune's 905,050 — so this covers the whole metropolitan belt, including the industrial areas east of the city and around Pozzuoli, not the historic centre alone. Five of the eighteen stations are industrial, a mix no other Italian city here has. The comparison with Florence, Bologna, Rome and Genoa, whose rows are all city-proper, is therefore not like for like. On its own terms: three times the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³, inside the current EU limit of 25, above the 2030 EU limit of 10, and falling — 17.2 in 2020, 17.15 in 2022, 15.41 in 2023, 15.12 in 2024.
02
Which city fits your plan?
Each lens weighs only the facts that matter to that plan, and names the side it favours.
Remote IT / freelancer
Contract or freelance in tech, billing clients abroad.
A close call for this plan
01Freelancer tax burden
Milan
24.9%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme at €60,000 revenue for an IT freelancer = it-forfettario-it-67. Taxable base 67% × 60,000 = 40,200 (ATECO group 9 coefficient; expenses never reduce the base). INPS Gestione Separata 26.07% = 10,480.14, deducted from the forfeitary income → 29,719.86. Imposta sostitutiva 15% = 4,457.98. Levies 14,938.12 → 24.9%. The first five years of a new activity run at 5% instead (19.9%); the ordinary IRPEF route on the same profile is near 41%.
Naples
24.9%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme at €60,000 revenue for an IT freelancer = it-forfettario-it-67. Taxable base 67% × 60,000 = 40,200 (ATECO group 9 coefficient; expenses never reduce the base). INPS Gestione Separata 26.07% = 10,480.14, deducted from the forfeitary income → 29,719.86. Imposta sostitutiva 15% = 4,457.98. Levies 14,938.12 → 24.9%. The first five years of a new activity run at 5% instead (19.9%); the ordinary IRPEF route on the same profile is near 41%.
02Internet speed
Milan
27 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Italy
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 344 daily country-median download values for IT in 2023 (17.42M download tests; daily medians ranged 8.6–29.9 Mbps). M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below advertised or Ookla-style figures — comparable only within this criterion. 2023 is the latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API.
- Notes
- Low by Western European standards on this metric: Italy's copper legacy is long and FTTH rollout, while accelerating under the national broadband plan, still lags France and Spain. Fibre is available in the three modelled cities; rural and southern coverage is where the national median is lost.
Naples
27 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Italy
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 344 daily country-median download values for IT in 2023 (17.42M download tests; daily medians ranged 8.6–29.9 Mbps). M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below advertised or Ookla-style figures — comparable only within this criterion. 2023 is the latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API.
- Notes
- Low by Western European standards on this metric: Italy's copper legacy is long and FTTH rollout, while accelerating under the national broadband plan, still lags France and Spain. Fibre is available in the three modelled cities; rural and southern coverage is where the national median is lost.
03English proficiency
Milan
Moderate
EF EPI 2025 — Italy (score 513, rank 59/123, Moderate band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Italy score 513, global rank 59, 'Moderate' band (EF cutoffs: Moderate 500–549), down 15 points on the previous edition. Reading scores highest (534) and speaking lowest (417), which matches the lived experience: written and technical English is workable in Milan's professional world, but Italian is required for administration, healthcare and most daily life, and proficiency falls sharply from north to south.
Naples
Moderate
EF EPI 2025 — Italy (score 513, rank 59/123, Moderate band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Italy score 513, global rank 59, 'Moderate' band (EF cutoffs: Moderate 500–549), down 15 points on the previous edition. Reading scores highest (534) and speaking lowest (417), which matches the lived experience: written and technical English is workable in Milan's professional world, but Italian is required for administration, healthcare and most daily life, and proficiency falls sharply from north to south.
04Cost of living (single, excl. rent)
Milan
$1,093/mo
ISTAT — Spese per consumi delle famiglie, Anno 2024 (Prospetto 4, tavole allegate)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- ISTAT household budget survey 2024: average monthly household spending €2,755.09, of which imputed rent (affitti figurativi) €617.39 → monetary spending €2,137.70. Actual rentals removed using Italy's 2025 HICP weight for COICOP 04.1 (29.51 per 1,000 = 2.951%, Eurostat prc_hicp_inw) = €63.08 → €2,074.62 excluding all rent. Divided by the average household size of 2.2 (Eurostat ilc_lvph01) = €943.01 per person per month; uplifted by HICP annual averages 2024→2025 (122.3 → 124.3, ×1.0164) = €958.43; converted at 1 EUR = 1.1399 USD (ECB, 2026-07-02) → $1,093.
- Notes
- Per-capita basis, to match how Spain, Czechia, Austria and France are computed in this dataset. ISTAT also publishes the real single-person household basket, which is what a solo mover actually faces: €1,931.70/month total, €1,347.48 after removing imputed and actual rent — about $1,561/month on the same uplift and FX. A person living alone has no household economies of scale, so read the $1,093 as the comparable cross-country figure and the $1,561 as the realistic personal one. No extrapolation into 2026 was applied beyond the 2025 annual average.
Naples
$1,093/mo
ISTAT — Spese per consumi delle famiglie, Anno 2024 (Prospetto 4, tavole allegate)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- ISTAT household budget survey 2024: average monthly household spending €2,755.09, of which imputed rent (affitti figurativi) €617.39 → monetary spending €2,137.70. Actual rentals removed using Italy's 2025 HICP weight for COICOP 04.1 (29.51 per 1,000 = 2.951%, Eurostat prc_hicp_inw) = €63.08 → €2,074.62 excluding all rent. Divided by the average household size of 2.2 (Eurostat ilc_lvph01) = €943.01 per person per month; uplifted by HICP annual averages 2024→2025 (122.3 → 124.3, ×1.0164) = €958.43; converted at 1 EUR = 1.1399 USD (ECB, 2026-07-02) → $1,093.
- Notes
- Per-capita basis, to match how Spain, Czechia, Austria and France are computed in this dataset. ISTAT also publishes the real single-person household basket, which is what a solo mover actually faces: €1,931.70/month total, €1,347.48 after removing imputed and actual rent — about $1,561/month on the same uplift and FX. A person living alone has no household economies of scale, so read the $1,093 as the comparable cross-country figure and the $1,561 as the realistic personal one. No extrapolation into 2026 was applied beyond the 2025 annual average.
05Domestic delivery quality
Milan
Good
Poste Italiane — Rete Punto Poste (punti di ritiro e Locker)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 28, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Poste Italiane's Punto Poste network lists over 18,000 pickup points and lockers, and more than 30,000 proximity points counting post offices, alongside private networks — BRT, GLS, SDA, DHL, UPS and InPost Italia. Home delivery is nationwide with next-day options in the north and centre. Rated 'good' rather than 'excellent': locker density is far below Poland's or France's (Poste's own locker estate is in the low thousands, against ~26,000 InPost lockers in Poland), and delivery reliability is noticeably weaker in the south and on the islands.
- Notes
- Cash on delivery (contrassegno) is still a mainstream consumer option in Italy, unlike in France — a legacy of lower card penetration that remains useful for anyone without an Italian bank card yet.
Naples
Good
Poste Italiane — Rete Punto Poste (punti di ritiro e Locker)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 28, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Poste Italiane's Punto Poste network lists over 18,000 pickup points and lockers, and more than 30,000 proximity points counting post offices, alongside private networks — BRT, GLS, SDA, DHL, UPS and InPost Italia. Home delivery is nationwide with next-day options in the north and centre. Rated 'good' rather than 'excellent': locker density is far below Poland's or France's (Poste's own locker estate is in the low thousands, against ~26,000 InPost lockers in Poland), and delivery reliability is noticeably weaker in the south and on the islands.
- Notes
- Cash on delivery (contrassegno) is still a mainstream consumer option in Italy, unlike in France — a legacy of lower card penetration that remains useful for anyone without an Italian bank card yet.
Family
Relocating with a partner and school-age children.
A close call for this plan
01International schools
Milanstronger
26
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Aug 1, 2026
- Verified
- Aug 1, 2026
- Method
- Count of the distinct school entries listed for Milan and its immediate surroundings (including Monza), each carrying a published curriculum record; the same directory was used for Athens elsewhere in this dataset. Recognised systems confirmed present in the listing: IB (American School of Milan, International School of Milan, The British School of Milan, Canadian School of Milan, St. Louis School, Bilingual European School, International School of Monza), French AEFE (Lycée Stendhal), German (Deutsche Schule Mailand), Swiss (Schweizer Schule Rahn Education, SIS Swiss International School), Japanese (Japanese School in Milan) and a British-curriculum group.
- Notes
- A directory count rather than a strict accreditor-by-accreditor tally — the IB registry answers automated requests with a bot challenge we do not bypass, Cambridge renders its finder client-side, and Italy has no consolidated national register of authorised foreign schools. The basis is slightly broader than a pure accreditation count, so small differences against cities counted per accreditor are method noise. Milan matches Rome's provision on a city a third the size, which is what the corporate expat population buys.
Naples
6
International Schools Database — International schools in Naples (6 schools listed)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Aug 28, 2026
- Verified
- Aug 28, 2026
- Method
- The directory's headline count and its list agree at six: TAIS Naples (American), The International School of Naples (American and Montessori), Teodoro Monticelli International School (American), International School of Lago Patria (American), Anglo-Italian School — Montessori Division, and École Française de Naples Alexandre-Dumas (French). The same directory and the same counting rule were used for Rome, Milan, Genoa, Florence and Bologna in this dataset.
- Notes
- Six schools, but four of the six teach an American curriculum and one is French — there is no British, IB or German option in the city, the narrowest curriculum range of the Italian cities here despite the middling count. The American concentration reflects the large United States Navy presence at Naples and nearby Lago Patria, which is also why one of the six sits 20 km outside the city. A directory count rather than an accreditor-by-accreditor tally, because the IB World School registry answers automated requests with a bot challenge that we do not bypass.
02Homicide rate
Milan
0.57/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (2023 was also 0.57). Dataset last updated by Eurostat 2026-04-29. Among the safest large countries in Europe — roughly half the French rate and a fifth of the global average — and down from 1.05 in 2008.
Naples
0.57/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (2023 was also 0.57). Dataset last updated by Eurostat 2026-04-29. Among the safest large countries in Europe — roughly half the French rate and a fifth of the global average — and down from 1.05 in 2008.
03Private healthcare cost
Milan
no verified data
Naples
no verified data
04Air quality (PM2.5)
Milan
19 µg/m³
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Annual mean of 19.0 µg/m³ across five verified monitoring stations in 2024 — 3.8× the WHO guideline of 5 µg/m³ and among the worst readings in Western Europe, though still under the EU's current 25 µg/m³ limit value. The cause is geography as much as traffic: the Po Valley is ringed by the Alps and Apennines, so winter inversions trap particulate matter for weeks. The EU's 2030 target is 10 µg/m³.
Naplesstronger
15.1 µg/m³
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Aug 28, 2026
- Method
- Row "Napoli Greater City/ITA", year 2024, pm25_concentration 15.118 µg/m³ at 94% temporal coverage, from eighteen stations — three suburban background, three urban background, four suburban industrial, one urban industrial, one suburban traffic and six urban traffic. The largest station network of the Italian cities in this dataset.
- Notes
- Read the boundary before the number. WHO publishes no city-proper row for Naples, only a "Greater City" one, and it aggregates a station centroid of 40.87367°N 14.31456°E over a footprint of 2,855,958 people against the comune's 905,050 — so this covers the whole metropolitan belt, including the industrial areas east of the city and around Pozzuoli, not the historic centre alone. Five of the eighteen stations are industrial, a mix no other Italian city here has. The comparison with Florence, Bologna, Rome and Genoa, whose rows are all city-proper, is therefore not like for like. On its own terms: three times the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³, inside the current EU limit of 25, above the 2030 EU limit of 10, and falling — 17.2 in 2020, 17.15 in 2022, 15.41 in 2023, 15.12 in 2024.
05English proficiency
Milan
Moderate
EF EPI 2025 — Italy (score 513, rank 59/123, Moderate band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Italy score 513, global rank 59, 'Moderate' band (EF cutoffs: Moderate 500–549), down 15 points on the previous edition. Reading scores highest (534) and speaking lowest (417), which matches the lived experience: written and technical English is workable in Milan's professional world, but Italian is required for administration, healthcare and most daily life, and proficiency falls sharply from north to south.
Naples
Moderate
EF EPI 2025 — Italy (score 513, rank 59/123, Moderate band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Italy score 513, global rank 59, 'Moderate' band (EF cutoffs: Moderate 500–549), down 15 points on the previous edition. Reading scores highest (534) and speaking lowest (417), which matches the lived experience: written and technical English is workable in Milan's professional world, but Italian is required for administration, healthcare and most daily life, and proficiency falls sharply from north to south.
Money & crypto
Optimising tax, banking and crypto rules.
A close call for this plan
01Crypto regulation
Milan
Legal regulated
Official source
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Legal and fully regulated, but taxed harder than most of Europe from 2026: the substitute tax on crypto capital gains (art. 67(1)(c-sexies) TUIR) rose from 26% to 33% on gains realised from 1 January 2026, and the previous €2,000 annual exemption threshold was abolished from 2025 — so the first euro of gain is taxable. Euro-denominated e-money tokens stay at 26%. Service providers operate under the EU MiCA regime, supervised by CONSOB and the Bank of Italy. Note that the regime forfettario's substitute tax does not cover capital gains: crypto is declared separately in quadro RT whatever your business regime.
Naples
Legal regulated
Official source
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Legal and fully regulated, but taxed harder than most of Europe from 2026: the substitute tax on crypto capital gains (art. 67(1)(c-sexies) TUIR) rose from 26% to 33% on gains realised from 1 January 2026, and the previous €2,000 annual exemption threshold was abolished from 2025 — so the first euro of gain is taxable. Euro-denominated e-money tokens stay at 26%. Service providers operate under the EU MiCA regime, supervised by CONSOB and the Bank of Italy. Note that the regime forfettario's substitute tax does not cover capital gains: crypto is declared separately in quadro RT whatever your business regime.
02Financial control level
Milan
Low
Official source
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Composite: Italy uses the euro, with EU free movement of capital and no exchange or capital controls. The binding constraints are ordinary anti-money-laundering rules — a ceiling on cash transfers between parties (art. 49 of D.Lgs. 231/2007), a reporting duty on large cash tourism sales, and the RW section of the tax return, in which residents must declare foreign accounts and assets including crypto. Non-resident banking is available with standard KYC. None of this restricts moving your own money, so the classification is 'low', the same as France and Spain.
- Notes
- Two official sources disagree on the general cash ceiling and we flag rather than hide it: the 2023 Budget Law (law 197/2022) raised it from €1,000 to €5,000 from 1 January 2023, and this Agenzia delle Entrate page tracks that by setting the tourism cash-sale reporting threshold at €5,000 ('previously €1,000 until 2025'), while the Treasury's own prevention-of-financial-crime FAQ still displays €1,000 as the limit in force since 2022. Either figure lands Italy in the same band. Worth knowing separately: Italy's declaration duty for foreign-held assets is broad, and penalties for undeclared foreign accounts are real.
Naples
Low
Official source
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Composite: Italy uses the euro, with EU free movement of capital and no exchange or capital controls. The binding constraints are ordinary anti-money-laundering rules — a ceiling on cash transfers between parties (art. 49 of D.Lgs. 231/2007), a reporting duty on large cash tourism sales, and the RW section of the tax return, in which residents must declare foreign accounts and assets including crypto. Non-resident banking is available with standard KYC. None of this restricts moving your own money, so the classification is 'low', the same as France and Spain.
- Notes
- Two official sources disagree on the general cash ceiling and we flag rather than hide it: the 2023 Budget Law (law 197/2022) raised it from €1,000 to €5,000 from 1 January 2023, and this Agenzia delle Entrate page tracks that by setting the tourism cash-sale reporting threshold at €5,000 ('previously €1,000 until 2025'), while the Treasury's own prevention-of-financial-crime FAQ still displays €1,000 as the limit in force since 2022. Either figure lands Italy in the same band. Worth knowing separately: Italy's declaration duty for foreign-held assets is broad, and penalties for undeclared foreign accounts are real.
03Freelancer tax burden
Milan
24.9%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme at €60,000 revenue for an IT freelancer = it-forfettario-it-67. Taxable base 67% × 60,000 = 40,200 (ATECO group 9 coefficient; expenses never reduce the base). INPS Gestione Separata 26.07% = 10,480.14, deducted from the forfeitary income → 29,719.86. Imposta sostitutiva 15% = 4,457.98. Levies 14,938.12 → 24.9%. The first five years of a new activity run at 5% instead (19.9%); the ordinary IRPEF route on the same profile is near 41%.
Naples
24.9%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme at €60,000 revenue for an IT freelancer = it-forfettario-it-67. Taxable base 67% × 60,000 = 40,200 (ATECO group 9 coefficient; expenses never reduce the base). INPS Gestione Separata 26.07% = 10,480.14, deducted from the forfeitary income → 29,719.86. Imposta sostitutiva 15% = 4,457.98. Levies 14,938.12 → 24.9%. The first five years of a new activity run at 5% instead (19.9%); the ordinary IRPEF route on the same profile is near 41%.
Calm lifestyle
Prioritising safety, air, and an easy daily life.
Naples fits better — 2 of 4
01Homicide rate
Milan
0.57/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (2023 was also 0.57). Dataset last updated by Eurostat 2026-04-29. Among the safest large countries in Europe — roughly half the French rate and a fifth of the global average — and down from 1.05 in 2008.
Naples
0.57/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (2023 was also 0.57). Dataset last updated by Eurostat 2026-04-29. Among the safest large countries in Europe — roughly half the French rate and a fifth of the global average — and down from 1.05 in 2008.
02Air quality (PM2.5)
Milan
19 µg/m³
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Annual mean of 19.0 µg/m³ across five verified monitoring stations in 2024 — 3.8× the WHO guideline of 5 µg/m³ and among the worst readings in Western Europe, though still under the EU's current 25 µg/m³ limit value. The cause is geography as much as traffic: the Po Valley is ringed by the Alps and Apennines, so winter inversions trap particulate matter for weeks. The EU's 2030 target is 10 µg/m³.
Naplesstronger
15.1 µg/m³
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Aug 28, 2026
- Method
- Row "Napoli Greater City/ITA", year 2024, pm25_concentration 15.118 µg/m³ at 94% temporal coverage, from eighteen stations — three suburban background, three urban background, four suburban industrial, one urban industrial, one suburban traffic and six urban traffic. The largest station network of the Italian cities in this dataset.
- Notes
- Read the boundary before the number. WHO publishes no city-proper row for Naples, only a "Greater City" one, and it aggregates a station centroid of 40.87367°N 14.31456°E over a footprint of 2,855,958 people against the comune's 905,050 — so this covers the whole metropolitan belt, including the industrial areas east of the city and around Pozzuoli, not the historic centre alone. Five of the eighteen stations are industrial, a mix no other Italian city here has. The comparison with Florence, Bologna, Rome and Genoa, whose rows are all city-proper, is therefore not like for like. On its own terms: three times the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³, inside the current EU limit of 25, above the 2030 EU limit of 10, and falling — 17.2 in 2020, 17.15 in 2022, 15.41 in 2023, 15.12 in 2024.
03Cost of living (single, excl. rent)
Milan
$1,093/mo
ISTAT — Spese per consumi delle famiglie, Anno 2024 (Prospetto 4, tavole allegate)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- ISTAT household budget survey 2024: average monthly household spending €2,755.09, of which imputed rent (affitti figurativi) €617.39 → monetary spending €2,137.70. Actual rentals removed using Italy's 2025 HICP weight for COICOP 04.1 (29.51 per 1,000 = 2.951%, Eurostat prc_hicp_inw) = €63.08 → €2,074.62 excluding all rent. Divided by the average household size of 2.2 (Eurostat ilc_lvph01) = €943.01 per person per month; uplifted by HICP annual averages 2024→2025 (122.3 → 124.3, ×1.0164) = €958.43; converted at 1 EUR = 1.1399 USD (ECB, 2026-07-02) → $1,093.
- Notes
- Per-capita basis, to match how Spain, Czechia, Austria and France are computed in this dataset. ISTAT also publishes the real single-person household basket, which is what a solo mover actually faces: €1,931.70/month total, €1,347.48 after removing imputed and actual rent — about $1,561/month on the same uplift and FX. A person living alone has no household economies of scale, so read the $1,093 as the comparable cross-country figure and the $1,561 as the realistic personal one. No extrapolation into 2026 was applied beyond the 2025 annual average.
Naples
$1,093/mo
ISTAT — Spese per consumi delle famiglie, Anno 2024 (Prospetto 4, tavole allegate)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- ISTAT household budget survey 2024: average monthly household spending €2,755.09, of which imputed rent (affitti figurativi) €617.39 → monetary spending €2,137.70. Actual rentals removed using Italy's 2025 HICP weight for COICOP 04.1 (29.51 per 1,000 = 2.951%, Eurostat prc_hicp_inw) = €63.08 → €2,074.62 excluding all rent. Divided by the average household size of 2.2 (Eurostat ilc_lvph01) = €943.01 per person per month; uplifted by HICP annual averages 2024→2025 (122.3 → 124.3, ×1.0164) = €958.43; converted at 1 EUR = 1.1399 USD (ECB, 2026-07-02) → $1,093.
- Notes
- Per-capita basis, to match how Spain, Czechia, Austria and France are computed in this dataset. ISTAT also publishes the real single-person household basket, which is what a solo mover actually faces: €1,931.70/month total, €1,347.48 after removing imputed and actual rent — about $1,561/month on the same uplift and FX. A person living alone has no household economies of scale, so read the $1,093 as the comparable cross-country figure and the $1,561 as the realistic personal one. No extrapolation into 2026 was applied beyond the 2025 annual average.
04Climate comfort
Milan
5/12 mo
SettleMetric — computed from the Milano Linate 1991–2020 WMO normals
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Months whose 1991–2020 normals have a mean daily maximum of 15–28°C and under 150mm of precipitation: March, April, May, June, September = 5. July and August exceed 28°C; October to February stay below 15°C.
Naplesstronger
6/12 mo
SettleMetric — computed from the Naples 1991–2020 normals
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Aug 28, 2026
- Method
- Months whose 1991–2020 normals have a mean daily maximum of 15–28°C and under 150 mm of precipitation: March, April, May, June, September, October = 6. July and August are excluded for heat (30.6 and 31.2°C), December to February for cold, and November for rain — at 18.5°C it is warm enough but its 160 mm exceeds the 150 mm threshold. June qualifies at exactly 28.0°C, the top of the band.
- Notes
- November is the only month in the Italian set excluded by the rain rule rather than by temperature, and it fails narrowly. Because the precipitation row is an upper-bound city series (see the climate normals notes), a drier gauge could plausibly put November inside the threshold and raise this score to 7.
03
The full comparison
Open any fact to see what it measures, how fresh it is and the complete source trail for both cities.
01
Taxes
CriterionMilanNaples
01+−Freelancer tax burden% effective burden at €60k/year self-employed profileMilan24.9Naples24.9
What this measures
Effective total burden (income tax + mandatory social and health contributions) for a solo IT freelancer with €60,000/year revenue and 10% deductible expenses, using the most favourable eligible scheme in the country's tax-schemes data. Computed by the SettleMetric tax engine; recorded as a curated value with the winning scheme id in method.
Lower is better· % effective burden at €60k/year self-employed profile· re-verified every 365 days
Milan
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme at €60,000 revenue for an IT freelancer = it-forfettario-it-67. Taxable base 67% × 60,000 = 40,200 (ATECO group 9 coefficient; expenses never reduce the base). INPS Gestione Separata 26.07% = 10,480.14, deducted from the forfeitary income → 29,719.86. Imposta sostitutiva 15% = 4,457.98. Levies 14,938.12 → 24.9%. The first five years of a new activity run at 5% instead (19.9%); the ordinary IRPEF route on the same profile is near 41%.
Naples
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme at €60,000 revenue for an IT freelancer = it-forfettario-it-67. Taxable base 67% × 60,000 = 40,200 (ATECO group 9 coefficient; expenses never reduce the base). INPS Gestione Separata 26.07% = 10,480.14, deducted from the forfeitary income → 29,719.86. Imposta sostitutiva 15% = 4,457.98. Levies 14,938.12 → 24.9%. The first five years of a new activity run at 5% instead (19.9%); the ordinary IRPEF route on the same profile is near 41%.
02
Legalization
CriterionMilanNaples
01+−Remote-work legalization easeMilanDedicated nomad visaNaplesDedicated nomad visa
What this measures
Best available legalization route for a location-independent earner with a median (non-EU, non-US) passport, classified from this country's legalization-paths data: dedicated digital-nomad visa; general freelance/self-employment permit; realistic long-stay path (e.g. renewable temporary residence); only short visa-free/tourist stays; effectively none.
Rated by category· re-verified every 180 days
Milan
Official source
- Data as of
- Apr 4, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Italy has run a dedicated digital-nomad and remote-worker visa since the decree took effect on 4 April 2024. It sits outside the decreto-flussi quotas, needs no nulla osta, is issued for up to a year and renews annually. It is not a low bar: the work must be highly qualified in the sense of art. 27-quater of the immigration act, with at least six months of prior experience in the activity.
Naples
Official source
- Data as of
- Apr 4, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Italy has run a dedicated digital-nomad and remote-worker visa since the decree took effect on 4 April 2024. It sits outside the decreto-flussi quotas, needs no nulla osta, is issued for up to a year and renews annually. It is not a low bar: the work must be highly qualified in the sense of art. 27-quater of the immigration act, with at least six months of prior experience in the activity.
03
Cost of living
CriterionMilanNaples
01+−Cost of living (single, excl. rent)USD/month, single person, excluding rentMilan1,093Naples1,093
What this measures
Monthly cost of a defined single-person basket (food, transport, utilities, mobile+internet, modest leisure) excluding rent, curated from national statistics office price data and large local retailers' published prices, converted to USD at the ECB rate recorded in fx-rates. The method field of each value itemizes the basket inputs.
Lower is better· USD/month, single person, excluding rent· re-verified every 365 days
Milan
ISTAT — Spese per consumi delle famiglie, Anno 2024 (Prospetto 4, tavole allegate)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- ISTAT household budget survey 2024: average monthly household spending €2,755.09, of which imputed rent (affitti figurativi) €617.39 → monetary spending €2,137.70. Actual rentals removed using Italy's 2025 HICP weight for COICOP 04.1 (29.51 per 1,000 = 2.951%, Eurostat prc_hicp_inw) = €63.08 → €2,074.62 excluding all rent. Divided by the average household size of 2.2 (Eurostat ilc_lvph01) = €943.01 per person per month; uplifted by HICP annual averages 2024→2025 (122.3 → 124.3, ×1.0164) = €958.43; converted at 1 EUR = 1.1399 USD (ECB, 2026-07-02) → $1,093.
- Notes
- Per-capita basis, to match how Spain, Czechia, Austria and France are computed in this dataset. ISTAT also publishes the real single-person household basket, which is what a solo mover actually faces: €1,931.70/month total, €1,347.48 after removing imputed and actual rent — about $1,561/month on the same uplift and FX. A person living alone has no household economies of scale, so read the $1,093 as the comparable cross-country figure and the $1,561 as the realistic personal one. No extrapolation into 2026 was applied beyond the 2025 annual average.
Naples
ISTAT — Spese per consumi delle famiglie, Anno 2024 (Prospetto 4, tavole allegate)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- ISTAT household budget survey 2024: average monthly household spending €2,755.09, of which imputed rent (affitti figurativi) €617.39 → monetary spending €2,137.70. Actual rentals removed using Italy's 2025 HICP weight for COICOP 04.1 (29.51 per 1,000 = 2.951%, Eurostat prc_hicp_inw) = €63.08 → €2,074.62 excluding all rent. Divided by the average household size of 2.2 (Eurostat ilc_lvph01) = €943.01 per person per month; uplifted by HICP annual averages 2024→2025 (122.3 → 124.3, ×1.0164) = €958.43; converted at 1 EUR = 1.1399 USD (ECB, 2026-07-02) → $1,093.
- Notes
- Per-capita basis, to match how Spain, Czechia, Austria and France are computed in this dataset. ISTAT also publishes the real single-person household basket, which is what a solo mover actually faces: €1,931.70/month total, €1,347.48 after removing imputed and actual rent — about $1,561/month on the same uplift and FX. A person living alone has no household economies of scale, so read the $1,093 as the comparable cross-country figure and the $1,561 as the realistic personal one. No extrapolation into 2026 was applied beyond the 2025 annual average.
ISTAT — Spese per consumi delle famiglie, Anno 2024 (Prospetto 4, divisioni di spesa)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Each ISTAT 2024 spending division for all households, divided by the average household size 2.2, uplifted ×1.0164 (HICP 2024→2025) and converted at 1.1399 USD/EUR. The housing line is shown net of both imputed rent (€617.39/household) and actual rentals (€63.08, from the 2.951% HICP weight), leaving water, energy, maintenance and condominium charges. Items sum to $1,094 against the $1,093 headline; the €1 gap is rounding.
- Notes
- Food is the largest single line at a quarter of the basket — a high share for Western Europe, and one reason Italy's overall cost sits below France and Austria despite comparable incomes. Health is out-of-pocket only: the Servizio Sanitario Nazionale covers residents, with co-payments (ticket) and private consultations making up this line.
Food & non-alcoholic beverages281 USD
Housing (water, energy, maintenance — excl. rent)160 USD
Transport157 USD
Restaurants & accommodation85 USD
Other goods & services (personal care, social protection, misc.)71 USD
Furnishings & household equipment61 USD
Health (out-of-pocket)61 USD
Recreation, sport & culture55 USD
Clothing & footwear54 USD
Insurance & financial services39 USD
Information & communication38 USD
Alcoholic beverages & tobacco23 USD
Education9 USD
04
Housing
Rent by apartment type
Asking rent, central price with outside-centre in parentheses ($/mo).
Milan
Naples
Immobiliare.it — Mercato immobiliare Milano, canoni di locazione richiesti per zona (giugno 2026)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jun 30, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Two per-m² rates derived from the 32 zone quotations of June 2026: central = mean of the priciest quartile (8 zones) = €26.71/m²; outside the centre = mean of the cheapest quartile (8 zones, Bisceglie/Baggio to Affori/Bovisa) = €17.54/m². Applied to assumed floor areas — studio 35 m², 1BR 55 m², 2BR 80 m², 3BR 110 m² — and converted at 1 EUR = 1.1399 USD (ECB, 2026-07-02).
- Notes
- Milan's centre-to-periphery spread is only 1.5×, much flatter than Rome's 1.8×: even the cheapest quarter of Milan costs more per square metre than the average Roman zone, which is what makes the city expensive across the board rather than just in the centre.
Immobiliare.it — Mercato immobiliare Napoli, canoni di locazione richiesti per zona (giugno 2026)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jun 30, 2026
- Verified
- Aug 28, 2026
- Method
- Two per-m² rates from the 14 zone quotations of June 2026: central = mean of the priciest quartile (4 zones) = €17.12/m²; outside the centre = mean of the cheapest quartile (Barra/Ponticelli/San Giovanni a Teduccio €9.60, Pianura/Soccavo/Traiano €9.94, Chiaiano/Piscinola €10.30, Scampia/Secondigliano/Capodichino €10.99) = €10.21/m². Applied to the dataset's assumed floor areas — studio 35 m², 1BR 55 m², 2BR 80 m², 3BR 110 m² — and converted at 1 EUR = 1.1534 USD (ECB, 2026-08-13). Read through the Internet Archive snapshot of 2026-07-17, as above.
- Notes
- A central premium of 1.68x, second only to Rome's 1.78x, and the districts on either side of that gap differ by much more than price: the cheap quartile is Scampia, Ponticelli, Barra and Secondigliano, the eastern and northern peripheries with the city's worst reputation for crime and services. A $648 one-bedroom outside the centre and a $1,086 one inside are not the same product with a longer commute, which is the assumption the studio/1br/2br/3br matrix makes everywhere else.
01Studio
Milan
$1,066$700 outside
Naplescheaper
$691$412 outside
021-bedroom
Milan
$1,675$1,100 outside
Naplescheaper
$1,086$648 outside
032-bedroom
Milan
$2,436$1,599 outside
Naplescheaper
$1,579$942 outside
043-bedroom
Milan
$3,349$2,199 outside
Naplescheaper
$2,172$1,295 outside
05
Safety
CriterionMilanNaples
01+−Homicide rateintentional homicides per 100,000/yearMilan0.6Naples0.6
What this measures
Intentional homicide victims per 100,000 population, latest available year. Country level: UNODC national series. City level: official municipal/police statistics where published; otherwise null (country value shown as country-level).
Lower is better· intentional homicides per 100,000/year· re-verified every 730 days
Milan
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (2023 was also 0.57). Dataset last updated by Eurostat 2026-04-29. Among the safest large countries in Europe — roughly half the French rate and a fifth of the global average — and down from 1.05 in 2008.
Naples
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (2023 was also 0.57). Dataset last updated by Eurostat 2026-04-29. Among the safest large countries in Europe — roughly half the French rate and a fifth of the global average — and down from 1.05 in 2008.
06
Climate
CriterionMilanNaples
01+−Climate comfortpleasant months/yearMilan5Naplesstronger6
What this measures
Number of months whose 1991–2020 climate normals satisfy: mean daily maximum between 15°C and 28°C and monthly precipitation under 150mm. Computed from the city's climate-normals indicator; the raw normals are stored alongside so users can judge by their own taste.
Higher is better· pleasant months/year· re-verified every 3650 days
Milan
SettleMetric — computed from the Milano Linate 1991–2020 WMO normals
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Months whose 1991–2020 normals have a mean daily maximum of 15–28°C and under 150mm of precipitation: March, April, May, June, September = 5. July and August exceed 28°C; October to February stay below 15°C.
Naples
SettleMetric — computed from the Naples 1991–2020 normals
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Aug 28, 2026
- Method
- Months whose 1991–2020 normals have a mean daily maximum of 15–28°C and under 150 mm of precipitation: March, April, May, June, September, October = 6. July and August are excluded for heat (30.6 and 31.2°C), December to February for cold, and November for rain — at 18.5°C it is warm enough but its 160 mm exceeds the 150 mm threshold. June qualifies at exactly 28.0°C, the top of the band.
- Notes
- November is the only month in the Italian set excluded by the rain rule rather than by temperature, and it fails narrowly. Because the precipitation row is an upper-bound city series (see the climate normals notes), a drier gauge could plausibly put November inside the threshold and raise this score to 7.
02+−Air quality (PM2.5)µg/m³, annual mean PM2.5Milan19Naplesstronger15.1
What this measures
Annual mean fine-particulate (PM2.5) concentration for the city, latest available year. Anchors follow the WHO 2021 guideline (5 µg/m³ → 10) through the EU limit value territory (25 µg/m³ → 2). Preferred source: European Environment Agency city-level air quality data; outside Europe: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database or the national monitoring network.
Lower is better· µg/m³, annual mean PM2.5· re-verified every 730 days
Milan
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Annual mean of 19.0 µg/m³ across five verified monitoring stations in 2024 — 3.8× the WHO guideline of 5 µg/m³ and among the worst readings in Western Europe, though still under the EU's current 25 µg/m³ limit value. The cause is geography as much as traffic: the Po Valley is ringed by the Alps and Apennines, so winter inversions trap particulate matter for weeks. The EU's 2030 target is 10 µg/m³.
Naples
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Aug 28, 2026
- Method
- Row "Napoli Greater City/ITA", year 2024, pm25_concentration 15.118 µg/m³ at 94% temporal coverage, from eighteen stations — three suburban background, three urban background, four suburban industrial, one urban industrial, one suburban traffic and six urban traffic. The largest station network of the Italian cities in this dataset.
- Notes
- Read the boundary before the number. WHO publishes no city-proper row for Naples, only a "Greater City" one, and it aggregates a station centroid of 40.87367°N 14.31456°E over a footprint of 2,855,958 people against the comune's 905,050 — so this covers the whole metropolitan belt, including the industrial areas east of the city and around Pozzuoli, not the historic centre alone. Five of the eighteen stations are industrial, a mix no other Italian city here has. The comparison with Florence, Bologna, Rome and Genoa, whose rows are all city-proper, is therefore not like for like. On its own terms: three times the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³, inside the current EU limit of 25, above the 2030 EU limit of 10, and falling — 17.2 in 2020, 17.15 in 2022, 15.41 in 2023, 15.12 in 2024.
07
Healthcare
CriterionMilanNaples
01+−Private healthcare costUSD/year, comprehensive private insurance premium, healthy 35-year-oldMilanno verified dataNaplesno verified data
What this measures
Median of at least three publicly quoted annual premiums for comprehensive private medical insurance (outpatient + inpatient, ~$100k coverage, small deductible) for a healthy 35-year-old resident foreigner, from local and international insurers. Method field lists the insurers quoted.
Lower is better· USD/year, comprehensive private insurance premium, healthy 35-year-old· re-verified every 365 days
Milan
No verified premium. Italian insurers do not publish individual health-policy tariffs the way French mutuelle comparators do, and the figures circulating on broker blogs (roughly €300–500 a year for a basic individual policy at 35) are not traceable to a named tariff table, so they are not recorded here. What is certain is the structure: residents — including foreigners with a residence permit — enrol in the Servizio Sanitario Nazionale, which covers GP care, hospital treatment and subsidised specialist care against a co-payment (ticket). Private policies in Italy are supplementary, bought mainly to skip public waiting lists, not a replacement. Non-residents on a digital-nomad or elective-residence visa must instead hold private travel/health insurance for the visa itself.
Naples
No verified premium. Italian insurers do not publish individual health-policy tariffs the way French mutuelle comparators do, and the figures circulating on broker blogs (roughly €300–500 a year for a basic individual policy at 35) are not traceable to a named tariff table, so they are not recorded here. What is certain is the structure: residents — including foreigners with a residence permit — enrol in the Servizio Sanitario Nazionale, which covers GP care, hospital treatment and subsidised specialist care against a co-payment (ticket). Private policies in Italy are supplementary, bought mainly to skip public waiting lists, not a replacement. Non-residents on a digital-nomad or elective-residence visa must instead hold private travel/health insurance for the visa itself.
08
Money & crypto
CriterionMilanNaples
01+−Crypto regulationMilanLegal regulatedNaplesLegal regulated
What this measures
Own classification of the legal status of holding, trading and cashing out cryptocurrency for individuals: legal-friendly (legal with clear, favourable rules or explicit tax exemptions), legal-regulated (legal under standard licensing/AML and taxation), restricted (partial bans: payments or banking access prohibited), banned (holding/trading prohibited). Classified from national regulators' and central banks' official positions.
Rated by category· re-verified every 180 days
Milan
Official source
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Legal and fully regulated, but taxed harder than most of Europe from 2026: the substitute tax on crypto capital gains (art. 67(1)(c-sexies) TUIR) rose from 26% to 33% on gains realised from 1 January 2026, and the previous €2,000 annual exemption threshold was abolished from 2025 — so the first euro of gain is taxable. Euro-denominated e-money tokens stay at 26%. Service providers operate under the EU MiCA regime, supervised by CONSOB and the Bank of Italy. Note that the regime forfettario's substitute tax does not cover capital gains: crypto is declared separately in quadro RT whatever your business regime.
Naples
Official source
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Legal and fully regulated, but taxed harder than most of Europe from 2026: the substitute tax on crypto capital gains (art. 67(1)(c-sexies) TUIR) rose from 26% to 33% on gains realised from 1 January 2026, and the previous €2,000 annual exemption threshold was abolished from 2025 — so the first euro of gain is taxable. Euro-denominated e-money tokens stay at 26%. Service providers operate under the EU MiCA regime, supervised by CONSOB and the Bank of Italy. Note that the regime forfettario's substitute tax does not cover capital gains: crypto is declared separately in quadro RT whatever your business regime.
02+−Financial control levelMilanLowNaplesLow
What this measures
Own composite of state control over personal money flows: currency/capital controls (IMF AREAER), restrictions on foreign accounts and transfers, mandatory income declaration scope for residents, cash payment limits, banking access for foreigners. Low = free movement of personal funds and easy non-resident banking; very-high = strict capital controls and pervasive reporting. Method field on each value lists the inputs used.
Rated by category· re-verified every 365 days
Milan
Official source
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Composite: Italy uses the euro, with EU free movement of capital and no exchange or capital controls. The binding constraints are ordinary anti-money-laundering rules — a ceiling on cash transfers between parties (art. 49 of D.Lgs. 231/2007), a reporting duty on large cash tourism sales, and the RW section of the tax return, in which residents must declare foreign accounts and assets including crypto. Non-resident banking is available with standard KYC. None of this restricts moving your own money, so the classification is 'low', the same as France and Spain.
- Notes
- Two official sources disagree on the general cash ceiling and we flag rather than hide it: the 2023 Budget Law (law 197/2022) raised it from €1,000 to €5,000 from 1 January 2023, and this Agenzia delle Entrate page tracks that by setting the tourism cash-sale reporting threshold at €5,000 ('previously €1,000 until 2025'), while the Treasury's own prevention-of-financial-crime FAQ still displays €1,000 as the limit in force since 2022. Either figure lands Italy in the same band. Worth knowing separately: Italy's declaration duty for foreign-held assets is broad, and penalties for undeclared foreign accounts are real.
Naples
Official source
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Composite: Italy uses the euro, with EU free movement of capital and no exchange or capital controls. The binding constraints are ordinary anti-money-laundering rules — a ceiling on cash transfers between parties (art. 49 of D.Lgs. 231/2007), a reporting duty on large cash tourism sales, and the RW section of the tax return, in which residents must declare foreign accounts and assets including crypto. Non-resident banking is available with standard KYC. None of this restricts moving your own money, so the classification is 'low', the same as France and Spain.
- Notes
- Two official sources disagree on the general cash ceiling and we flag rather than hide it: the 2023 Budget Law (law 197/2022) raised it from €1,000 to €5,000 from 1 January 2023, and this Agenzia delle Entrate page tracks that by setting the tourism cash-sale reporting threshold at €5,000 ('previously €1,000 until 2025'), while the Treasury's own prevention-of-financial-crime FAQ still displays €1,000 as the limit in force since 2022. Either figure lands Italy in the same band. Worth knowing separately: Italy's declaration duty for foreign-held assets is broad, and penalties for undeclared foreign accounts are real.
09
Infrastructure
CriterionMilanNaples
01+−Domestic delivery qualityMilanGoodNaplesGood
What this measures
Quality of in-country parcel delivery. excellent = nationwide next-day widely available, dense parcel-locker network, real-time tracking standard; good = 1–3 day delivery, lockers in major cities; basic = reliable but slow (3–7 days), mostly to-door or post-office pickup; poor = unreliable delivery, street addresses often unusable, informal workarounds common. Classified from official service/coverage data of the national postal operator and the two largest private carriers; inputs itemized in each value's method field.
Rated by category· re-verified every 730 days
Milan
Poste Italiane — Rete Punto Poste (punti di ritiro e Locker)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 28, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Poste Italiane's Punto Poste network lists over 18,000 pickup points and lockers, and more than 30,000 proximity points counting post offices, alongside private networks — BRT, GLS, SDA, DHL, UPS and InPost Italia. Home delivery is nationwide with next-day options in the north and centre. Rated 'good' rather than 'excellent': locker density is far below Poland's or France's (Poste's own locker estate is in the low thousands, against ~26,000 InPost lockers in Poland), and delivery reliability is noticeably weaker in the south and on the islands.
- Notes
- Cash on delivery (contrassegno) is still a mainstream consumer option in Italy, unlike in France — a legacy of lower card penetration that remains useful for anyone without an Italian bank card yet.
Naples
Poste Italiane — Rete Punto Poste (punti di ritiro e Locker)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 28, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Poste Italiane's Punto Poste network lists over 18,000 pickup points and lockers, and more than 30,000 proximity points counting post offices, alongside private networks — BRT, GLS, SDA, DHL, UPS and InPost Italia. Home delivery is nationwide with next-day options in the north and centre. Rated 'good' rather than 'excellent': locker density is far below Poland's or France's (Poste's own locker estate is in the low thousands, against ~26,000 InPost lockers in Poland), and delivery reliability is noticeably weaker in the south and on the islands.
- Notes
- Cash on delivery (contrassegno) is still a mainstream consumer option in Italy, unlike in France — a legacy of lower card penetration that remains useful for anyone without an Italian bank card yet.
02+−International delivery easeMilanMinor frictionNaplesMinor friction
What this measures
Ease of receiving goods from abroad. seamless = major international carriers deliver door-to-door, meaningful duty-free de-minimis threshold, customs clearance predictable in days; minor-friction = carriers present but low de-minimis, extra paperwork or routine delays; significant-friction = frequent customs holds, high brokerage fees, some marketplaces refuse to ship; unreliable = parcels regularly lost or blocked, informal import channels dominate. De-minimis thresholds and clearance rules from the national customs authority (official source, cite the regulation); carrier presence from carriers' official pages.
Rated by category· re-verified every 365 days
Milan
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Intra-EU shipping is frictionless under the single market — a parcel from Germany or Spain arrives like a domestic one. For non-EU imports the EU removed the €150 duty-free threshold and from 1 July 2026 applies a temporary flat customs duty per item on consignments up to €150, with VAT already collected at checkout through IOSS. The same EU-wide regime as every member state; Italian customs handling of non-EU parcels is slower than northern Europe's, which is the 'minor friction' in practice.
Naples
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Intra-EU shipping is frictionless under the single market — a parcel from Germany or Spain arrives like a domestic one. For non-EU imports the EU removed the €150 duty-free threshold and from 1 July 2026 applies a temporary flat customs duty per item on consignments up to €150, with VAT already collected at checkout through IOSS. The same EU-wide regime as every member state; Italian customs handling of non-EU parcels is slower than northern Europe's, which is the 'minor friction' in practice.
03+−Internet speedMbps, median fixed downloadMilan27.4Naples27.4
What this measures
Median fixed-broadband download speed over the trailing 6 months from M-Lab NDT open data (CC0), aggregated at country or city level. Not comparable with Ookla figures (different test methodology) — do not mix sources within this criterion.
Higher is better· Mbps, median fixed download· re-verified every 365 days
Milan
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Italy
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 344 daily country-median download values for IT in 2023 (17.42M download tests; daily medians ranged 8.6–29.9 Mbps). M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below advertised or Ookla-style figures — comparable only within this criterion. 2023 is the latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API.
- Notes
- Low by Western European standards on this metric: Italy's copper legacy is long and FTTH rollout, while accelerating under the national broadband plan, still lags France and Spain. Fibre is available in the three modelled cities; rural and southern coverage is where the national median is lost.
Naples
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Italy
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 344 daily country-median download values for IT in 2023 (17.42M download tests; daily medians ranged 8.6–29.9 Mbps). M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below advertised or Ookla-style figures — comparable only within this criterion. 2023 is the latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API.
- Notes
- Low by Western European standards on this metric: Italy's copper legacy is long and FTTH rollout, while accelerating under the national broadband plan, still lags France and Spain. Fibre is available in the three modelled cities; rural and southern coverage is where the national median is lost.
10
Language
CriterionMilanNaples
01+−English proficiencyMilanModerateNaplesModerate
What this measures
Own banding of how far English gets a resident in daily life (government offices, healthcare, housing, services). Informed by EF EPI band (research source, cited with attribution, not republished) plus official language status and service-sector realities. Values are our bands, not EF scores.
Rated by category· re-verified every 730 days
Milan
EF EPI 2025 — Italy (score 513, rank 59/123, Moderate band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Italy score 513, global rank 59, 'Moderate' band (EF cutoffs: Moderate 500–549), down 15 points on the previous edition. Reading scores highest (534) and speaking lowest (417), which matches the lived experience: written and technical English is workable in Milan's professional world, but Italian is required for administration, healthcare and most daily life, and proficiency falls sharply from north to south.
Naples
EF EPI 2025 — Italy (score 513, rank 59/123, Moderate band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 28, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): Italy score 513, global rank 59, 'Moderate' band (EF cutoffs: Moderate 500–549), down 15 points on the previous edition. Reading scores highest (534) and speaking lowest (417), which matches the lived experience: written and technical English is workable in Milan's professional world, but Italian is required for administration, healthcare and most daily life, and proficiency falls sharply from north to south.
11
Education
CriterionMilanNaples
01+−International schoolsaccredited international schools, countMilanstronger26Naples6
What this measures
Count of international schools in the metro area accredited by or member of IB, CIS, COBIS, or an equivalent national-curriculum-abroad body (verified against the accreditor's public registry, not aggregator sites).
Higher is better· accredited international schools, count· re-verified every 730 days
Milan
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Aug 1, 2026
- Verified
- Aug 1, 2026
- Method
- Count of the distinct school entries listed for Milan and its immediate surroundings (including Monza), each carrying a published curriculum record; the same directory was used for Athens elsewhere in this dataset. Recognised systems confirmed present in the listing: IB (American School of Milan, International School of Milan, The British School of Milan, Canadian School of Milan, St. Louis School, Bilingual European School, International School of Monza), French AEFE (Lycée Stendhal), German (Deutsche Schule Mailand), Swiss (Schweizer Schule Rahn Education, SIS Swiss International School), Japanese (Japanese School in Milan) and a British-curriculum group.
- Notes
- A directory count rather than a strict accreditor-by-accreditor tally — the IB registry answers automated requests with a bot challenge we do not bypass, Cambridge renders its finder client-side, and Italy has no consolidated national register of authorised foreign schools. The basis is slightly broader than a pure accreditation count, so small differences against cities counted per accreditor are method noise. Milan matches Rome's provision on a city a third the size, which is what the corporate expat population buys.
Naples
International Schools Database — International schools in Naples (6 schools listed)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Aug 28, 2026
- Verified
- Aug 28, 2026
- Method
- The directory's headline count and its list agree at six: TAIS Naples (American), The International School of Naples (American and Montessori), Teodoro Monticelli International School (American), International School of Lago Patria (American), Anglo-Italian School — Montessori Division, and École Française de Naples Alexandre-Dumas (French). The same directory and the same counting rule were used for Rome, Milan, Genoa, Florence and Bologna in this dataset.
- Notes
- Six schools, but four of the six teach an American curriculum and one is French — there is no British, IB or German option in the city, the narrowest curriculum range of the Italian cities here despite the middling count. The American concentration reflects the large United States Navy presence at Naples and nearby Lago Patria, which is also why one of the six sits 20 km outside the city. A directory count rather than an accreditor-by-accreditor tally, because the IB World School registry answers automated requests with a bot challenge that we do not bypass.