Cost of living comparison

Japan

compared to

Mexico

Mexico vs. Japan Cost of Living Summary

Mexico is 2.5% cheaper than Japan overall.

Restaurants: pay 57.2% more in Mexico
Groceries: pay 14.5% less in Mexico
Transportation: pay 8.7% less in Mexico
Housing: pay 0.9% more in Mexico
Childcare: pay 45.6% less in Mexico
Entertainment and Sports: pay 19.7% less in Mexico
Clothing: pay 31.0% more in Mexico

The cost of restaurants, clothing, and housing in Mexico are more expensive than in Japan. Expenses including childcare, entertainment and sports, groceries, and transportation are lower in Mexico.

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Mexico vs. Japan Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 57.2% more for restaurants

	Japan	Mexico
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$6.75 ¥1,066	$10.46 MX$193.35	+54.9%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.10 ¥805	$9.03 MX$166.91	+77.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.13 ¥179	$1.43 MX$26.47	+26.1%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.76 ¥120	$1.04 MX$19.32	+38.0%
Average			+57.2%

Japan vs. Mexico - Cost of restaurants

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pay 14.5% less for groceries

	Japan	Mexico
Bread 1 loaf	$1.53 ¥241	$2.72 MX$50.21	+77.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.55 ¥877	$4.30 MX$79.55	-22.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.56 ¥879	$6.19 MX$114.55	+11.3%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.01 ¥318	$2.55 MX$47.12	+26.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.85 ¥450	$3.66 MX$67.67	+28.5%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.16 ¥342	$1.30 MX$23.98	-40.1%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.08 ¥171	$0.70 MX$12.93	-35.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.54 ¥243	$0.94 MX$17.44	-38.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.92 ¥303	$0.84 MX$15.45	-56.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.10 ¥174	$0.90 MX$16.67	-18.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.08 ¥170	$0.91 MX$16.80	-15.6%
Average			-14.5%

Japan vs. Mexico - Cost of groceries

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pay 8.7% less for transportation

	Japan	Mexico
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.11 ¥649	$5.55 MX$102.60	+35.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$63.20 ¥9,986	$30.03 MX$555.39	-52.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$21,047.50 ¥3M	$21,794.64 MX$403K	+3.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$24.65 ¥3,895	$20.12 MX$372.17	-18.3%
Average			-8.7%

Japan vs. Mexico - Cost of transportation

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pay 0.9% more for housing

	Japan	Mexico
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$33.54 ¥5,300	$30.02 MX$555.11	-10.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$546.58 ¥86,367	$634.01 MX$11,724.61	+16.0%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$360.78 ¥57,008	$441.86 MX$8,171.36	+22.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$113.26 ¥17,897	$49.08 MX$907.55	-56.7%
Average			+0.9%

Japan vs. Mexico - Cost of housing

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pay 45.6% less for childcare

	Japan	Mexico
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$417.01 ¥65,893	$244.36 MX$4,518.93	-41.4%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$11,300.14 ¥2M	$5,712.49 MX$106K	-49.4%
Average			-45.6%

Japan vs. Mexico - Cost of childcare

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pay 19.7% less for entertainment and sports

	Japan	Mexico
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.57 ¥406	$2.63 MX$48.58	+2.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.06 ¥483	$3.45 MX$63.89	+13.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.83 ¥605	$4.64 MX$85.88	+21.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$53.31 ¥8,424	$39.21 MX$725.11	-26.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.73 ¥1,853	$5.46 MX$100.90	-53.5%
Average			-19.7%

Japan vs. Mexico - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 31.0% more for clothing

	Japan	Mexico
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$46.32 ¥7,320	$55.30 MX$1,022.71	+19.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$31.33 ¥4,950	$42.67 MX$789.09	+36.2%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$59.45 ¥9,394	$96.26 MX$1,780.17	+61.9%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$81.04 ¥12,805	$90.77 MX$1,678.66	+12.0%
Average			+31.0%

Japan vs. Mexico - 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

Compare further: Japan vs. Mexico

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Mexico?

Quality of Life Comparison · 19 statistics

Make 61.4% less money in Mexico

Size Comparison · See true size

Japan is about 5 times smaller than Mexico.

Moving from Japan to Mexico · OECD 2023

512 people moved from Japan to Mexico.

City Size Comparison · See true size

Compare the size of Tokyo vs Mexico City

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