Cost of living comparison

compared to

Santa Barbara vs. Rome Cost of Living Summary

Santa Barbara is 63.2% more expensive than Rome.

Restaurants: pay 39.5% more in Santa Barbara
Groceries: pay 48.4% more in Santa Barbara
Transportation: pay 0.3% more in Santa Barbara
Housing: pay 97.8% more in Santa Barbara
Childcare: pay 2.9 times more in Santa Barbara
Entertainment and Sports: pay 61.5% more in Santa Barbara
Clothing: pay 0.5% more in Santa Barbara

The cost of childcare, housing, entertainment and sports, groceries, restaurants, and clothing in Santa Barbara are more expensive than in Rome. Notably, childcare and housing are significantly more expensive in Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara vs. Rome Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Santa Barbara instead of Rome, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 39.5% more for restaurants

	Rome	Santa Barbara
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$17.52 €15.11	$25.00	+42.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.68 €10.07	$15.00	+28.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.50 €2.16	$2.67	+6.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.34 €1.15	$2.42	+80.5%
Average			+39.5%

Rome vs. Santa Barbara - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 48.4% more for groceries

	Rome	Santa Barbara
Bread 1 loaf	$2.21 €1.91	$4.40	+99.0%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$9.54 €8.23	$12.68	+32.9%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.12 €6.14	$5.25	-26.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.62 €3.99	$5.38	+16.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$5.53 €4.77	$8.38	+51.5%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.21 €1.04	$2.90	+139.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.04 €0.90	$0.74	-28.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.08 €0.93	$1.75	+62.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.44 €1.24	$2.48	+72.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.85 €0.73	$1.47	+73.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.98 €0.84	$1.36	+39.4%
Average			+48.4%

Rome vs. Santa Barbara - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 0.3% more for transportation

	Rome	Santa Barbara
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$7.66 €6.61	$4.73	-38.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$40.88 €35.25	$52.00	+27.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$29,199.74 €25,179.72	$28,500.00	-2.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$19.86 €17.12	$22.78	+14.7%
Average			+0.3%

Rome vs. Santa Barbara - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 97.8% more for housing

	Rome	Santa Barbara
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$32.12 €27.69	$74.25	+131.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,436.63 €1,238.84	$2,720.83	+89.4%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$927.65 €799.94	$2,538.89	+173.7%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$171.74 €148.10	$166.24	-3.2%
Average			+97.8%

Rome vs. Santa Barbara - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 2.9 times more for childcare

	Rome	Santa Barbara
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$568.18 €489.96	$1,425.00	+150.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$10,951.36 €9,443.66	$37,000.00	+237.9%
Average			+194.4%

Rome vs. Santa Barbara - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 61.5% more for entertainment and sports

	Rome	Santa Barbara
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$5.84 €5.04	$8.00	+37.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.01 €1.74	$6.14	+204.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$7.18 €6.19	$11.82	+64.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$70.65 €60.92	$66.50	-5.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.68 €10.07	$12.50	+7.0%
Average			+61.5%

Rome vs. Santa Barbara - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 0.5% more for clothing

	Rome	Santa Barbara
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$81.76 €70.50	$69.00	-15.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$37.76 €32.57	$40.75	+7.9%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$88.68 €76.47	$77.00	-13.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$116.80 €100.72	$143.33	+22.7%
Average			+0.5%

Rome vs. Santa Barbara - 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: December 2025

More cost comparisons

Rome vs.

Cairo

Rome vs.

Hong Kong

Rome vs.

Dublin

Rome vs.

Dodoma

Rome vs.

Vienna

Rome vs.

Nairobi

Rome vs.

Hanoi

Rome vs.

Algiers

Share this

Compare countries by overall cost of living

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

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 Rome

Add prices for Santa Barbara

ASK THE ELSEWHERE COMMUNITY

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