Cost of living comparison

Vietnam

compared to

Japan

Tokyo vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost of Living Summary

Tokyo is 91.6% more expensive than Ho Chi Minh City.

Restaurants: pay 2.4 times more in Tokyo
Groceries: pay 85.1% more in Tokyo
Transportation: pay 69.8% more in Tokyo
Housing: pay 2.1 times more in Tokyo
Childcare: pay 54.0% more in Tokyo
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.9 times more in Tokyo
Clothing: pay 14.1% less in Tokyo

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

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Tokyo vs. Ho Chi Minh City Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 2.4 times more for restaurants

	Ho Chi Minh City	Tokyo
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$1.92 ₫49,832	$7.59 ¥1,200	+294.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.62 ₫120K	$5.06 ¥800	+9.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.54 ₫13,905	$1.64 ¥259	+205.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.33 ₫8,590	$0.89 ¥140	+167.0%
Average			+136.2%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Tokyo - Cost of restaurants

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pay 85.1% more for groceries

	Ho Chi Minh City	Tokyo
Bread 1 loaf	$1.08 ₫27,843	$1.71 ¥270	+59.0%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.05 ₫157K	$5.29 ¥836	-12.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.13 ₫159K	$5.75 ¥909	-6.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.62 ₫42,008	$2.26 ¥358	+39.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.64 ₫42,570	$3.08 ¥487	+87.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.36 ₫35,261	$2.15 ¥340	+57.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,953	$1.07 ¥170	+85.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.72 ₫18,715	$1.96 ¥309	+170.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.58 ₫14,918	$2.39 ¥377	+314.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.54 ₫14,104	$1.53 ¥241	+180.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.53 ₫13,662	$1.46 ¥231	+176.9%
Average			+85.1%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Tokyo - Cost of groceries

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pay 69.8% more for transportation

	Ho Chi Minh City	Tokyo
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.55 ₫91,950	$4.08 ¥645	+15.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$11.55 ₫299K	$63.27 ¥9,997	+447.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$30,715.02 ₫795M	$21,725.38 ¥3M	-29.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.80 ₫150K	$28.47 ¥4,499	+390.7%
Average			+69.8%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Tokyo - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.1 times more for housing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Tokyo
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$10.46 ₫271K	$30.33 ¥4,793	+190.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$585.86 ₫15M	$1,280.34 ¥202K	+118.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$297.81 ₫8M	$692.48 ¥109K	+132.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$79.24 ₫2M	$113.45 ¥17,926	+43.2%
Average			+113.3%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Tokyo - Cost of housing

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pay 54.0% more for childcare

	Ho Chi Minh City	Tokyo
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$438.36 ₫11M	$1,341.43 ¥212K	+206.0%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$23,561.82 ₫610M	$18,252.10 ¥3M	-22.5%
Average			+54.0%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Tokyo - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.9 times more for entertainment and sports

	Ho Chi Minh City	Tokyo
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.03 ₫26,762	$3.80 ¥600	+267.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.81 ₫46,978	$3.56 ¥563	+96.4%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.23 ₫31,892	$3.92 ¥620	+218.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$25.91 ₫671K	$66.31 ¥10,478	+155.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.46 ₫89,697	$12.65 ¥1,999	+265.3%
Average			+191.5%

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

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pay 14.1% less for clothing

	Ho Chi Minh City	Tokyo
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$51.59 ₫1M	$55.50 ¥8,770	+7.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$34.61 ₫896K	$32.95 ¥5,207	-4.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$91.59 ₫2M	$65.04 ¥10,278	-29.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$94.62 ₫2M	$70.74 ¥11,178	-25.2%
Average			-14.1%

Ho Chi Minh City vs. Tokyo - 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 October 2026). How we calculate this

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Size Comparison · See true size

Ho Chi Minh City is about 11 times bigger than Tokyo.

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