Skip to content
Vicinalia
Italiano Sign up

Merate: what to know before buying a home

A municipality in the province of Lecco, Lombardia. Official data on earthquakes, population, services and transport.

Liveability index free for any address

Search for an address in Merate

The report looks at the exact point: landslide and flood risk, seismic zone, price per square metre for the area, services and nearby stops.

For example: Via Statale 1, Merate.

Merate, Brianza hills between Montevecchia and the Adda

In the Meratese, the southern part of the province of Lecco, Merate acts as a small capital: it has the hospital, secondary schools, offices and shops that serve the surrounding villages. It sits in the Brianza hills, between Montevecchia park to the west and the Adda valley to the east, and it hosts one of the two sites of the Brera Astronomical Observatory. By population it ranks number 2 in the province, after Lecco.

The municipality combines a compact centre with hillside hamlets such as Pagnano, Novate and Sartirana, the last with its own small lake. Housing ranges from early twentieth-century villas to blocks of flats from the 1970s and more recent detached houses. In the hamlets on the slopes, check access, parking and retaining walls.

People working in Milan or Monza usually use Cernusco-Merate station, just over the municipal boundary, on the line towards Carnate and Milan. There are no railway stops inside Merate itself.

The population is growing slowly, up 2.1% since 2011 according to Istat, the national statistics office, and it is older than average: over-65s make up 28.4% against 25.2% in the province. Foreign residents account for 9.7% and declared incomes are above the provincial average. The hospital shows up in the services: 1.48 healthcare facilities per 1,000 residents against 0.64 in the province, and schools and sports facilities are above average too.

Seismic hazard is low. Merate is in zone 3, like 63 other municipalities in the province, while 20 are in zone 4, and expected ground acceleration in the built-up area is about 0.066 g. The condition of the building, the service charges and the energy rating matter more. The Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) publishes the cadastral maps, and landslide or flood hazard is checked for the address, which makes a difference on these hills.

Key points

  • Service centre of the Meratese, with a hospital and the Brera Observatory.
  • Over-65s at 28.4%, against 25.2% in the province.
  • 1.48 healthcare facilities per 1,000 residents.
  • Seismic zone 3, expected acceleration about 0.066 g.

Overview

Merate is a municipality in the province of Lecco, in Lombardia. At the end of 2023 it had 14,882 residents, the second most populous in the province.

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Merate is in seismic zone 3, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible but rare. Most municipalities in the province (64 of 84) are in the same zone.

In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.066 g, a moderate value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.

Even in zone 3, seismic standards apply to new buildings: for an older building, ask about the design year and any structural work.

Population

Compared with the 2011 census, the resident population has grown by 2.1%. The estimated average age is 48 years, in line with the province. 28% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 24%). Foreign residents make up 9.7% of the population. On average, a household has 2.2 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Merate declared an average taxable income of 30,852 euros, above the provincial average (28,624 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Merate is in climate zone E, with 2,484 heating degree days: heating may be switched on from 15 October to 15 April, for up to 14 hours a day. The same table puts the town hall at 292 metres above sea level.

Services

In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Merate has 16 schools and 4 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 12 grocery shops and supermarkets, 22 healthcare facilities, 21 sports facilities and 2 parks and green areas.

There are 1.5 healthcare facilities per 1,000 residents, more than the province average (0.6).

Public transport

The open timetables available for the area do not list any stops within the territory of Merate.

How built-up it is

Buildings, roads, car parks and other sealed surfaces cover 35.0% of the land in Merate, compared with 12.1% in the province and 12.2% in the region. In 2024 built-up land stayed almost the same.

Radon and contaminated sites

Merate is not among the radon priority areas designated by the Regione Lombardia in 2023. Radon varies from building to building and can only be known by measuring it, especially on ground floors and in basements.

Official databases list no open contaminated sites in Merate; 3 have been cleaned up or closed.

Landslides and flooding

Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Merate: the report checks the address against the ISPRA maps.

House prices

The Revenue Agency's price ranges per square metre (OMI) apply to zones, not to whole municipalities: the report gives the range for the address's zone.

Land registry

The cadastral maps for Merate are public: from the address the report finds the sheet and parcel number.

Liveability area by area

The Vicinalia liveability index runs from 0 to 100 and looks at the place, not the people who live there: services within walking distance, transport, green space, natural hazards, air, quiet, buildings and connection. Here it is worked out at the centre of each of the 65 inhabited census areas in Merate. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 74 or more.

Residents by band

  • fair 9.5%
  • good 76.0%
  • very good 14.4%

Vicinalia index by census area, licence CC BY-SA 4.0. Data: IdroGEO ISPRA (2026), Istat, INGV, EEA, AGCOM, Overture Maps and OpenStreetMap.

The colour is the value at the centre of the area. For an exact address, search for it above: the free check looks at that exact point. How the index is worked out

Data sources

ISTAT code 097048. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.