Cost of living comparison

Japan

compared to

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone vs. Japan Cost of Living Summary

Sierra Leone is 2.0% more expensive than Japan overall.

Restaurants: pay 19.6% less in Sierra Leone
Groceries: pay 15.0% less in Sierra Leone
Transportation: pay 30.1% less in Sierra Leone
Housing: pay 82.5% more in Sierra Leone
Entertainment and Sports: pay 13.3% less in Sierra Leone
Clothing: pay 64.5% less in Sierra Leone

Expenses including clothing, transportation, restaurants, groceries, and entertainment and sports are lower in Sierra Leone. Notably, housing is significantly more expensive in Sierra Leone.

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Sierra Leone vs. Japan Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Sierra Leone instead of Japan, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 19.6% less for restaurants

	Japan	Sierra Leone
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$6.75 ¥1,066	$2.00 SLL41,939	-70.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.10 ¥805	$11.00 SLL231K	+115.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.13 ¥179	$1.83 SLL38,444	+61.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.76 ¥120	$0.85 SLL17,805	+12.1%
Average			-19.6%

Japan vs. Sierra Leone - Cost of restaurants

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pay 15.0% less for groceries

	Japan	Sierra Leone
Bread 1 loaf	$1.53 ¥241	$0.66 SLL13,755	-57.0%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.55 ¥877	$3.54 SLL74,319	-36.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.56 ¥879	$9.15 SLL192K	+64.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.01 ¥318	$1.81 SLL38,023	-9.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.85 ¥450	$4.54 SLL95,116	+59.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.16 ¥342	$3.18 SLL66,581	+46.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.08 ¥171	$1.36 SLL28,535	+25.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.54 ¥243	$0.32 SLL6,742	-79.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.92 ¥303	$2.27 SLL47,558	+18.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.10 ¥174	$0.91 SLL19,023	-17.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.08 ¥170	$0.74 SLL15,488	-31.3%
Average			-15.0%

Japan vs. Sierra Leone - Cost of groceries

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pay 30.1% less for transportation

	Japan	Sierra Leone
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.11 ¥649	$5.02 SLL105K	+22.1%
Monthly public transit pass	$63.20 ¥9,986	??
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$21,047.50 ¥3M	$12,000.00 SLL252M	-43.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$24.65 ¥3,895	$4.50 SLL94,363	-81.7%
Average			-30.1%

Japan vs. Sierra Leone - Cost of transportation

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pay 82.5% more for housing

	Japan	Sierra Leone
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$33.54 ¥5,300	$55.00 SLL1M	+64.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$546.58 ¥86,367	$928.33 SLL19M	+69.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$360.78 ¥57,008	$1,261.67 SLL26M	+249.7%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$113.26 ¥17,897	$45.88 SLL962K	-59.5%
Average			+82.5%

Japan vs. Sierra Leone - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Japan	Sierra Leone
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$417.01 ¥65,893	??
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$11,300.14 ¥2M	??

Japan vs. Sierra Leone - Cost of childcare

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pay 13.3% less for entertainment and sports

	Japan	Sierra Leone
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.57 ¥406	$2.25 SLL47,181	-12.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.06 ¥483	$2.76 SLL57,878	-9.7%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.83 ¥605	$3.00 SLL62,908	-21.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$53.31 ¥8,424	??
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.73 ¥1,853	??
Average			-13.3%

Japan vs. Sierra Leone - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 64.5% less for clothing

	Japan	Sierra Leone
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$46.32 ¥7,320	$10.00 SLL210K	-78.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$31.33 ¥4,950	??
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$59.45 ¥9,394	$20.00 SLL419K	-66.4%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$81.04 ¥12,805	$50.00 SLL1M	-38.3%
Average			-64.5%

Japan vs. Sierra Leone - 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. Sierra Leone

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Sierra Leone?

Quality of Life Comparison · 22 statistics

Make 97.6% less money in Sierra Leone

Size Comparison · See true size

Japan is about 5 times bigger than Sierra Leone.

Moving from Japan to Sierra Leone · UN DESA 2015

1 people born in Japan live in Sierra Leone.

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