Cost of Living Comparison

JPY

COMPARED TO

CNY

China is 29.5% cheaper than Japan.

If you lived in China instead of Japan, you would:

pay 48.9% less for restaurants

	Japan	China
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$7.42 ¥840	$3.40 CN¥23.06	-54.2%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.14 ¥695	$5.44 CN¥36.89	-11.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.34 ¥152	$0.52 CN¥3.51	-61.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.03 ¥117	$0.32 CN¥2.20	-68.5%
Average			-48.9%

Japan vs. China - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 42.4% less for groceries

	Japan	China
Bread 1 loaf	$2.14 ¥242	$1.82 CN¥12.31	-15.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$9.00 ¥1,019	$6.98 CN¥47.33	-22.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.53 ¥739	$7.82 CN¥53.01	+19.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.95 ¥221	$1.89 CN¥12.81	-3.1%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.50 ¥396	$2.01 CN¥13.62	-42.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$3.16 ¥358	$0.90 CN¥6.12	-71.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.35 ¥153	$0.61 CN¥4.14	-54.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$2.67 ¥302	$0.86 CN¥5.86	-67.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.55 ¥289	$0.62 CN¥4.22	-75.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.57 ¥178	$0.42 CN¥2.88	-73.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.14 ¥129	$0.45 CN¥3.07	-60.2%
Average			-42.4%

Japan vs. China - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 47.5% less for transportation

	Japan	China
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.92 ¥557	$4.16 CN¥28.21	-15.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$103.43 ¥11,713	$17.84 CN¥120.98	-82.8%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$23,566.38 ¥2,668,916	$22,106.75 CN¥149,936.81	-6.2%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$30.87 ¥3,496	$4.39 CN¥29.79	-85.8%
Average			-47.5%

Japan vs. China - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 55.2% less for housing

	Japan	China
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$43.56 ¥4,933	$14.92 CN¥101.17	-65.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$670.40 ¥75,923	$404.30 CN¥2,742.13	-39.7%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$463.85 ¥52,532	$256.14 CN¥1,737.27	-44.8%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$148.57 ¥16,826	$44.04 CN¥298.70	-70.4%
Average			-55.2%

Japan vs. China - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 18.9% more for childcare

	Japan	China
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$437.73 ¥49,573	$443.85 CN¥3,010.34	+1.4%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$12,146.82 ¥1,375,640	$16,577.11 CN¥112,432.56	+36.5%
Average			+18.9%

Japan vs. China - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 39.7% less for entertainment and sports

	Japan	China
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.88 ¥440	$1.06 CN¥7.17	-72.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.66 ¥415	$3.94 CN¥26.72	+7.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.69 ¥531	$3.36 CN¥22.76	-28.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$80.80 ¥9,151	$42.42 CN¥287.71	-47.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$15.74 ¥1,783	$6.74 CN¥45.72	-57.2%
Average			-39.7%

Japan vs. China - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 8.5% more for clothing

	Japan	China
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$61.16 ¥6,927	$66.87 CN¥453.56	+9.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$36.56 ¥4,140	$38.65 CN¥262.17	+5.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$76.40 ¥8,653	$95.94 CN¥650.72	+25.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$97.05 ¥10,991	$90.79 CN¥615.77	-6.5%
Average			+8.5%

Japan vs. China - 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 2021

More cost of living comparisons

Japan vs. United States

Japan vs. Egypt

Japan vs. Italy

China vs. Austria

China vs. United Kingdom

China vs. France

Help us improve these prices

MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative project. Please enter price information for your location (Ashburn, VA, United States) to help assist us in making these comparisons more accurate. Learn more

Contribute prices for Japan

Contribute prices for China

Narrow your comparison by city:

Select a city in Japan:

Select a city in China:

For example, try comparing the cost of living in Tokyo vs. Beijing

HAVE A QUESTION? ASK THE COMMUNITY

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