All things you need to know about living in Scalea
Scalea, in the province of Cosenza, is home to 300 Ukrainians: 2.60% of its 11,537 residents.
That is the 14th-highest concentration of Ukrainians among the 5,872 Italian comuni with at least 1,000 residents.
Within Calabria it ranks 1st.
ISTAT counts 1,522 residents with a foreign citizenship in Scalea, 13.19% of the population. The largest groups among the nationalities we follow most closely are Russians (144), Britons (28), Argentinians (18).
That is above the national average for an Italian comune, which is 7.30%.
Scalea qualifies for the 7% pensioner regime.
On ISTAT's well-being measures, the province of Cosenza scores in the top quarter of Italian provinces for burglaries reported and PM10 Annual average concentration.
It scores in the bottom quarter for employment rate (20-64 years old) and life expectancy at birth.
These figures describe the province, not the town. A comune can sit some way from its province's average.
Summers average a high of 30.1°C (86°F) and winters a low of 4.2°C (40°F), measured over 2015 to 2024.
Scalea sees about 37 days a year above 30°C (86°F).
It gets about 1,219mm of rain a year, spread across roughly 129 days.
These come from ERA5-Land reanalysis at the comune itself, not from the nearest weather station.
Scalea population over time
By nationality
| Nationality | Citizens | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Romania | 346 | 3.00% |
| Ukraine | 300 | 2.60% |
| Russia | 144 | 1.25% |
| Poland | 75 | 0.65% |
| Albania | 35 | 0.30% |
| United Kingdom | 28 | 0.24% |
| Argentina | 18 | 0.16% |
| Lithuania | 17 | 0.15% |
| Venezuela | 17 | 0.15% |
| Brazil | 16 | 0.14% |
| Czechia | 13 | 0.11% |
| Sweden | 11 | 0.10% |
| United States | 10 | 0.09% |
| Germany | 8 | 0.07% |
| Latvia | 7 | 0.06% |
| Bulgaria | 5 | 0.04% |
| Estonia | 5 | 0.04% |
| France | 5 | 0.04% |
| Belgium | 4 | 0.03% |
| Canada | 4 | 0.03% |
| Spain | 4 | 0.03% |
| Netherlands | 4 | 0.03% |
| Hungary | 3 | 0.03% |
| Slovakia | 3 | 0.03% |
| Finland | 2 | 0.02% |
| Ireland | 2 | 0.02% |
| Austria | 1 | 0.01% |
| Croatia | 1 | 0.01% |
| Malta | 1 | 0.01% |
| Portugal | 1 | 0.01% |
| Australia | 0 | 0.00% |
| Switzerland | 0 | 0.00% |
| Cyprus | 0 | 0.00% |
| Denmark | 0 | 0.00% |
| Greece | 0 | 0.00% |
| Japan | 0 | 0.00% |
| South Korea | 0 | 0.00% |
| Luxembourg | 0 | 0.00% |
| Mexico | 0 | 0.00% |
| Norway | 0 | 0.00% |
| Slovenia | 0 | 0.00% |
Country of birth
| Group | Residents | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Born in Italy | 9,656 | 83.70% |
| Born elsewhere in the EU | 560 | 4.85% |
| Born outside the EU | 1,321 | 11.45% |
Ukrainians over time
Quality of life in Cosenza
Full BES profile for Cosenza →Cosenza on cost vs quality of life (province-level) →
Tax regimes
Scalea qualifies for the 7% pensioner regime. Comfortably below the 30,000-resident ceiling.
Qualifying is about the town. Whether it applies to you depends on criteria no map can check — where you were tax-resident before, and where your income comes from.
How the 7% pensioner regime works, and every qualifying comune →Property prices
Buying in Scalea is well above the Cosenza average of €795/m². Based on a single OMI micro-zone, so it describes the town as one market.
22.1 years of rent here equal the purchase price, close to the national median of 22.2 years.
A ratio between two OMI prices, not a return on investment. It leaves out purchase taxes, IMU, maintenance, financing and the months a place sits empty — all of which push the real figure up. Useful for the question it does answer: whether this town looks expensive to buy relative to what renting in it costs.
A detached house here averages €1,180/m², against €1,060 for an apartment.
Compared street for street — houses and flats priced in the same neighborhood — a house costs 11% more per square meter.
OMI prices “Ville e Villini” separately from the apartments every other figure on this page describes. Nationally a house costs about 14% more per square meter, but in 450 comuni it costs less — worth checking rather than assuming.
Nearby comuni
← See Scalea on the interactive map
This page, as data
Every figure above sits behind the page as a value with its source, its date and its coverage attached. Your assistant reads the same record, gaps included.