Home / Country / Italy vs Spain
Italy vs Spain
Price level and homicide-based safety head to head, plus every ICP category both Italy and Spain publish. Statistics, not reviews.
1Visa-free traveltourist stays
Do I need a visa for Italy or Spain
Tourist entry rules in both directions: a passport from Italy travelling to Spain, and a passport from Spain travelling to Italy.
Tourist stays only, refreshed with each release. Long stays always need a consular check.
3Climate · capital cities
Weather and climate: Italy against Spain, month by month
How warm and how wet each month is, averaged over twenty years. Measured in Rome and Madrid — the capital city, not the whole country.
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Rome · Italy Madrid · Spain
Warmest
August (26.1°) vs July (25.3°)
Coldest
January — 7.0° vs 3.8°
Kinder months to visit
May–Jul, Sep–Oct in Rome · May–Sep in Madrid
“Kinder months” is our own reading: a mean of 15–26 °C with moderate rain, measured at the capital.
4bFood price levels2024
Where food is cheaper, Italy or Spain
EU average = 100 for 2024: above 100 is dearer than the EU, below 100 is cheaper. These are published price levels, not prices — they say how far apart two countries are, not what a kilo costs.
Base: EU27_2020 = 100, 2024. Note: A price level index says how a country compares with the EU average in the same year, not what anything costs. Values above 100 mean dearer than the EU average, below 100 cheaper. Coverage is limited to EU, EFTA and candidate countries, and this block is shown only when both countries are covered. Index values are reproduced as published; the difference column is our own. The headline index beside this table sits on a different base, World = 100, so the two must not be read against each other.
3Price level · US = 100
on the price-level index · gap 6% · Spain cheaper
Moving to Spain
A modest saving: prices in Spain run 6% below Italy.
Scorecard
A split table: Italy wins 4, Spain wins 6. The widest gap is eating out price level, 32%.
Lower wins for prices and homicides, higher for income. Lines within 2% count as level.
5bPay by occupation2022
Salary compared: Italy and Spain
Mean gross monthly pay in euro, 2022, before tax and social contributions. Europe publishes pay for nine broad groups of work, not for named jobs — and these are means, which large salaries pull upwards, unlike the medians in the card beside this one.
mean gross monthly earnings in euro, enterprises with 10 employees or more, all ages, both sexes. Note: These are means, not medians, so large salaries pull them up; they are gross, before tax and social contributions. The survey runs every four years, so 2022 is the latest round. Occupations are the nine broad ISCO-08 groups — Europe publishes nothing finer, unlike the United States. Coverage is limited to EU, EFTA and candidate countries. Earnings are reproduced as published; the difference column is our own.
5Actual pay
The median wage: half of employees earn less than this, half earn more. Gross monthly pay in 2022, before tax and social contributions.
Italy pays more
Higher median pay — 17% more, and still 13% ahead once local prices are taken into account.
PPS units are the source’s own adjustment for price differences between countries.
Same life, other side
Spending of $3,507 a month — income per head in Italy — goes as far as about $3,300 in Spain. Income per head there is $3,093, 6% short of it — the move works better on a salary brought from elsewhere.
Amounts a month, before tax, scaled by the ratio of the two overall price levels — our own calculation.
4bEnergy pricesmeasured
Electricity and gas prices in Italy and Spain
Prices households actually pay, in euro per kilowatt-hour with every tax and levy included, as published for 2025-S2. Both rows are published figures; only the difference column is ours.
Consumption bands: electricity band DC, 2 500-4 999 kWh a year; gas band D2, 20-199 GJ a year; both including all taxes and levies. Note: Prices are per kilowatt-hour for a typical household band, including all taxes and levies, as published. Where a country has not reported the latest half-year, its most recent reported half-year is used and named in the row. Coverage is limited to EU, EFTA and candidate countries. Prices are reproduced as published; the difference column is our own. A dash means that price is not published for the country.
6Three movers, three answersderived from the figures above
The earner
Wages usually track local prices: the 6% gap matters less when the paycheck is local too.
SpainThe remote worker
A salary pegged elsewhere buys more where prices are lower — here that is Spain.
SpainThe cautious
The homicide-based score is 1 points apart, favouring Italy.
Italy10What the numbers say
The split: cost favours Spain by 6%, the homicide-based score favours Italy by 1 points. Which matters more depends on whose paycheck crosses the border.
Editor’s note. Averages hide category stories: the widest single gap here is Communication at +36%. Budget the move by category, not by the headline number.
Release v2026-08; homicide rates carry their own year per country. World ranks — #3 and #8 of 85 by score.
Everything else
All the comparisons on this page’s two sides
All comparisons with Italy 82
- Italy vs Albania
- Italy vs Antigua and Barbuda
- Italy vs Argentina
- Italy vs Australia
- Italy vs Austria
- Italy vs Bahamas
- Italy vs Barbados
- Italy vs Belgium
- Italy vs Belize
- Italy vs Bolivia
- Italy vs Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Italy vs Brazil
- Italy vs Bulgaria
- Italy vs Canada
- Italy vs Chile
- Italy vs Colombia
- Italy vs Costa Rica
- Italy vs Croatia
- Italy vs Cyprus
- Italy vs Czech Republic
- Italy vs Denmark
- Italy vs Dominica
- Italy vs Dominican Republic
- Italy vs Ecuador
- Italy vs El Salvador
- Italy vs Estonia
- Italy vs Fiji
- Italy vs Finland
- Italy vs France
- Italy vs Germany
- Italy vs Greece
- Italy vs Grenada
- Italy vs Guatemala
- Italy vs Guyana
- Italy vs Haiti
- Italy vs Honduras
- Italy vs Hungary
- Italy vs Iceland
- Italy vs Ireland
- Italy vs Jamaica
- Italy vs Kiribati
- Italy vs Latvia
- Italy vs Lithuania
- Italy vs Luxembourg
- Italy vs Malta
- Italy vs Marshall Islands
- Italy vs Mexico
- Italy vs Micronesia
- Italy vs Montenegro
- Italy vs Netherlands
- Italy vs New Zealand
- Italy vs Nicaragua
- Italy vs North Macedonia
- Italy vs Norway
- Italy vs Palau
- Italy vs Panama
- Italy vs Papua New Guinea
- Italy vs Paraguay
- Italy vs Peru
- Italy vs Poland
- Italy vs Portugal
- Italy vs Romania
- Italy vs Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Italy vs Saint Lucia
- Italy vs Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Italy vs Samoa
- Italy vs Serbia
- Italy vs Slovakia
- Italy vs Slovenia
- Italy vs Solomon Islands
- Italy vs Spain
- Italy vs Suriname
- Italy vs Sweden
- Italy vs Switzerland
- Italy vs Tonga
- Italy vs Trinidad and Tobago
- Italy vs Tuvalu
- Italy vs United Kingdom
- Italy vs United States
- Italy vs Uruguay
- Italy vs Vanuatu
- Italy vs Venezuela
All comparisons with Spain 74
- Spain vs Albania
- Spain vs Antigua and Barbuda
- Spain vs Argentina
- Spain vs Australia
- Spain vs Austria
- Spain vs Bahamas
- Spain vs Barbados
- Spain vs Belgium
- Spain vs Belize
- Spain vs Bolivia
- Spain vs Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Spain vs Brazil
- Spain vs Bulgaria
- Spain vs Canada
- Spain vs Chile
- Spain vs Colombia
- Spain vs Costa Rica
- Spain vs Croatia
- Spain vs Cyprus
- Spain vs Czech Republic
- Spain vs Denmark
- Spain vs Dominica
- Spain vs Dominican Republic
- Spain vs Ecuador
- Spain vs El Salvador
- Spain vs Estonia
- Spain vs Fiji
- Spain vs Finland
- Spain vs France
- Spain vs Germany
- Spain vs Greece
- Spain vs Grenada
- Spain vs Guatemala
- Spain vs Guyana
- Spain vs Haiti
- Spain vs Honduras
- Spain vs Hungary
- Spain vs Iceland
- Spain vs Ireland
- Spain vs Italy
- Spain vs Jamaica
- Spain vs Kiribati
- Spain vs Latvia
- Spain vs Lithuania
- Spain vs Luxembourg
- Spain vs Malta
- Spain vs Marshall Islands
- Spain vs Mexico
- Spain vs Micronesia
- Spain vs Montenegro
- Spain vs Netherlands
- Spain vs New Zealand
- Spain vs Nicaragua
- Spain vs North Macedonia
- Spain vs Norway
- Spain vs Panama
- Spain vs Paraguay
- Spain vs Peru
- Spain vs Poland
- Spain vs Portugal
- Spain vs Romania
- Spain vs Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Spain vs Saint Lucia
- Spain vs Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Spain vs Serbia
- Spain vs Slovakia
- Spain vs Slovenia
- Spain vs Suriname
- Spain vs Sweden
- Spain vs Switzerland
- Spain vs Trinidad and Tobago
- Spain vs United Kingdom
- Spain vs United States
- Spain vs Uruguay
12Compare
Another pair of countries
Both directions live on the same page — order does not matter.
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13Sources & licences
Sources behind this comparison
Our calculations, not official figures.
Sources: World Bank WDI · ICP 2021 · UNODC via WDI · Passport Index · NASA POWER · Eurostat · BLS · Statistics Canada · release v2026-08
Rights holder: The World Bank · World Development Indicators, PA.NUS.PRVT.PLI · reference year 2025 · accessed 22 July 2026 · data.worldbank.org · licence: CC BY 4.0, reuse subject to the World Bank Dataset Terms of Use. Values are reproduced as published; United States = 100 is the indicator’s own base. Every ranking, gap and comment is a Costely calculation. Note: The World Bank does not endorse this site.
Rights holder: The World Bank · International Comparison Program 2021, measure PX.WL · benchmark year 2021, published May 2024 · accessed 22 July 2026 · worldbank.org · licence: CC BY 4.0 — commercial use permitted, subject to the World Bank Dataset Terms of Use. World = 100 — a different base from the summary index above; the two are deliberately not merged.
Rights holder: The World Bank (distribution); original data provider: UNODC (Intentional Homicide, UN-CTS) · WDI VC.IHR.PSRC.P5 · latest available year per country, marked on the page · accessed 22 July 2026 · data.worldbank.org · licence: CC BY 4.0 — these terms describe the World Bank distribution, not a licence we assign to UNODC data. Rates are reproduced exactly as published, per 100,000 population. Note: the homicide-based score — clamp(105 − 20·ln(1 + rate), 0, 100) — is our construction, not a World Bank or UNODC indicator, and covers intentional homicide only.
Rights holder: Passport Index (Arton Capital) · open dataset · accessed 8 August 2026 · passport-index-dataset · licence: MIT — commercial use permitted with attribution. Codes cover tourist stays only; day counts are reproduced as published. Note: entry rules change frequently — always confirm with the consulate before booking.
Rights holder: NASA Langley Research Center · POWER Project, MERRA-2 monthly climatology, T2M and PRECTOTCORR · averaging period January 2001 – December 2020 · accessed 13 August 2026 · power.larc.nasa.gov · U.S. Government work, public domain — free to use, including commercially. Each figure is the model grid cell containing the capital city, reproduced as published. Note: the capital is not the whole country, and the “kinder months to visit” band (15–26 °C mean, moderate rain) is a Costely reading, not a NASA recommendation. NASA does not endorse this site.
Rights holder: European Union, Eurostat · Structure of Earnings Survey, earn_ses_monthly — median and mean gross monthly earnings, all employees, industry, construction and services except public administration · reference year 2022 · accessed 14 August 2026 · ec.europa.eu/eurostat · reuse authorised with acknowledgement of the source, including for commercial purposes. Figures are reproduced as published; PPS values are Eurostat’s own adjustment for price differences between countries. Note: gross pay before tax and social contributions; the survey runs every four years, so 2022 is the latest wave. The European Commission does not endorse this site.
Rights holder: European Union, Eurostat · Structure of earnings survey 2022 (earn_ses22_21), mean monthly earnings by occupation · mean gross monthly earnings in euro, enterprises with 10 employees or more, all ages, both sexes · retrieved 20 August 2026 via the Eurostat dissemination API · ec.europa.eu/eurostat · reuse authorised with acknowledgement of the source, including for commercial purposes. Earnings are reproduced as published; the difference column is a Costely calculation. Note: These are means, not medians, so large salaries pull them up; they are gross, before tax and social contributions. The survey runs every four years, so 2022 is the latest round. Occupations are the nine broad ISCO-08 groups — Europe publishes nothing finer, unlike the United States. Coverage is limited to EU, EFTA and candidate countries. These are means, while the median wage card on the same page comes from the same survey but is a different measure, so the two figures will not match. The European Commission does not endorse this site.
Rights holder: European Union, Eurostat · Purchasing power parities, price level indices by expenditure category (prc_ppp_ind) · EU27_2020 = 100, reference year 2024 · retrieved 20 August 2026 via the Eurostat dissemination API · ec.europa.eu/eurostat · reuse authorised with acknowledgement of the source, including for commercial purposes. Index values are reproduced as published; the difference column is a Costely calculation. Note: these are price levels, not prices — 100 is the EU average of the same year, so a value of 120 means dearer than the EU average by a fifth, and nothing about what a kilo costs. This measure is shown only when both countries of a pair are covered by Eurostat, which is the EU, EFTA and candidate countries; every other pair keeps the World Bank benchmark of 2021 on the World = 100 base, and the two must not be read against each other. A price level index says how a country compares with the EU average in the same year, not what anything costs. Values above 100 mean dearer than the EU average, below 100 cheaper. Coverage is limited to EU, EFTA and candidate countries, and this block is shown only when both countries are covered. The European Commission does not endorse this site.
Rights holder: European Union, Eurostat · Energy prices for household consumers, bi-annual data (nrg_pc_204 electricity, nrg_pc_202 gas) · 2025-S2 · retrieved 20 August 2026 via the Eurostat dissemination API · ec.europa.eu/eurostat · reuse authorised with acknowledgement of the source, including for commercial purposes. Consumption bands: electricity band DC, 2 500-4 999 kWh a year; gas band D2, 20-199 GJ a year; both including all taxes and levies. Prices are in euro and reproduced as published; the difference column is a Costely calculation. Note: coverage is limited to EU, EFTA and candidate countries, because the reuse terms do not extend to data about other countries. Prices are per kilowatt-hour for a typical household band, including all taxes and levies, as published. Where a country has not reported the latest half-year, its most recent reported half-year is used and named in the row. Coverage is limited to EU, EFTA and candidate countries. The European Commission does not endorse this site.
Rights holder: The World Bank · World Development Indicators, household final consumption expenditure per capita · spending per person converted to a month, in current US dollars · accessed not recorded — collected before the plugin stored provenance in the file · data.worldbank.org · licence: CC BY 4.0, reuse subject to the World Bank Dataset Terms of Use. Used only as the starting point of the cost planner; the split by category uses the International Comparison Program 2021 ratios listed above, and household size is scaled on the OECD-modified equivalence scale. Note: The monthly figure and the flag marking an estimated year are Costely calculations. The World Bank does not endorse this site.
Rights holder: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · Current Employment Statistics, national — average weekly earnings of all employees, total private, CES0500000011 · retrieved 14 August 2026 via the BLS Public Data API · bls.gov/ces · work of the U.S. Government, public domain — free to reuse, including commercially. The monthly figure is a Costely conversion from weekly earnings. Note: this is an average, while the European figures are medians, so the two are not measured the same way; averages sit above medians. BLS.gov cannot vouch for data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov. The BLS does not endorse this site.
Rights holder: Statistics Canada · Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours, table 14-10-0223-01, vector 79311153 — average weekly earnings including overtime, all employees, industrial aggregate excluding unclassified businesses, seasonally adjusted · May 2026 · accessed 14 August 2026 · www150.statcan.gc.ca · Statistics Canada Open Licence — reuse and redistribution permitted, including commercially, with acknowledgement of source. Reproduced and distributed on an “as is” basis with the permission of Statistics Canada. The published value is weekly; the monthly figure and the conversion to US dollars are Costely calculations. Note: this is a mean, unlike the Eurostat medians. Statistics Canada does not endorse this website.