Cost of living comparison

Vietnam

compared to

Japan

Kyoto vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost of Living Summary

Kyoto is 41.6% more expensive than Ho Chi Minh City.

Restaurants: pay 2.4 times more in Kyoto
Groceries: pay 60.6% more in Kyoto
Transportation: pay 72.9% more in Kyoto
Housing: pay 7.8% more in Kyoto
Childcare: pay 35.8% less in Kyoto
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.6 times more in Kyoto
Clothing: pay 4.6% more in Kyoto

The cost of entertainment and sports, restaurants, transportation, groceries, housing, and clothing in Kyoto are more expensive than in Ho Chi Minh City. Notably, entertainment and sports and restaurants are significantly more expensive in Kyoto.

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Kyoto vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Kyoto instead of Ho Chi Minh City, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 2.4 times more for restaurants

	Ho Chi Minh City	Kyoto
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$1.92 ₫49,658	$9.49 ¥1,495	+393.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.62 ₫119K	$5.06 ¥798	+9.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.54 ₫13,857	$0.85 ¥135	+59.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.33 ₫8,560	$0.71 ¥112	+115.0%
Average			+139.4%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Kyoto - Cost of restaurants

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pay 60.6% more for groceries

	Ho Chi Minh City	Kyoto
Bread 1 loaf	$1.08 ₫27,746	$1.62 ¥255	+50.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.05 ₫156K	$4.32 ¥681	-28.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.13 ₫158K	$5.81 ¥915	-5.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.62 ₫41,862	$2.14 ¥337	+31.9%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.64 ₫42,421	$3.55 ¥560	+116.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.36 ₫35,138	$2.30 ¥362	+68.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,901	$1.05 ¥166	+82.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.72 ₫18,650	$2.30 ¥362	+217.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,866	$1.63 ¥256	+182.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.54 ₫14,055	$0.86 ¥136	+58.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.53 ₫13,615	$0.77 ¥121	+45.0%
Average			+60.6%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Kyoto - Cost of groceries

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pay 72.9% more for transportation

	Ho Chi Minh City	Kyoto
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.55 ₫91,630	$4.10 ¥646	+15.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$11.55 ₫298K	$63.27 ¥9,969	+447.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$30,715.02 ₫793M	$21,725.38 ¥3M	-29.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.80 ₫150K	$33.69 ¥5,309	+480.6%
Average			+72.9%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Kyoto - Cost of transportation

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pay 7.8% more for housing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Kyoto
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$10.46 ₫270K	$30.84 ¥4,860	+194.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$585.86 ₫15M	$564.23 ¥88,911	-3.7%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$297.81 ₫8M	$327.84 ¥51,661	+10.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$79.24 ₫2M	$78.16 ¥12,317	-1.4%
Average			+7.8%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Kyoto - Cost of housing

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pay 35.8% less for childcare

	Ho Chi Minh City	Kyoto
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$438.36 ₫11M	$649.00 ¥102K	+48.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$23,561.82 ₫608M	$6,550.09 ¥1M	-72.2%
Average			-35.8%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Kyoto - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.6 times more for entertainment and sports

	Ho Chi Minh City	Kyoto
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.03 ₫26,669	$3.16 ¥498	+206.1%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.81 ₫46,814	$3.30 ¥520	+81.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.23 ₫31,781	$3.92 ¥618	+218.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$25.91 ₫668K	$52.76 ¥8,314	+103.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.46 ₫89,385	$12.34 ¥1,944	+256.1%
Average			+159.7%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Kyoto - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 4.6% more for clothing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Kyoto
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$51.59 ₫1M	$56.15 ¥8,848	+8.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$34.61 ₫893K	$45.86 ¥7,227	+32.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$91.59 ₫2M	$69.69 ¥10,982	-23.9%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$94.62 ₫2M	$103.33 ¥16,283	+9.2%
Average			+4.6%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Kyoto - Cost of clothing

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We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated November 2026). How we calculate this

Compare further: Ho Chi Minh City vs. Kyoto

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Ho Chi Minh City is about 8 times bigger than Kyoto.

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