Cost of living comparison

Japan

compared to

Thailand

Bangkok vs. Saitama Cost of Living Summary

Bangkok is 11.7% more expensive than Saitama.

Restaurants: pay 20.0% less in Bangkok
Groceries: pay 11.8% less in Bangkok
Transportation: pay 17.0% more in Bangkok
Housing: pay 33.5% more in Bangkok
Childcare: pay 0.4% more in Bangkok
Entertainment and Sports: pay 9.2% less in Bangkok
Clothing: pay 80.0% more in Bangkok

The cost of clothing, housing, transportation, and childcare in Bangkok are more expensive than in Saitama. Expenses including restaurants, groceries, and entertainment and sports are lower in Bangkok. Notably, clothing is significantly more expensive in Bangkok.

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Bangkok vs. Saitama Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Bangkok instead of Saitama, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 20.0% less for restaurants

	Saitama	Bangkok
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$5.69 ¥900	$2.97 THB98.83	-47.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.74 ¥750	$6.98 THB232.24	+47.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.71 ¥112	$0.65 THB21.64	-8.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.62 ¥97	$0.35 THB11.72	-42.9%
Average			-20.0%

Saitama vs. Bangkok - Cost of restaurants

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pay 11.8% less for groceries

	Saitama	Bangkok
Bread 1 loaf	$1.70 ¥268	$1.48 THB49.16	-13.0%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.18 ¥819	$8.63 THB287.02	+66.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.37 ¥849	$7.27 THB241.89	+35.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.04 ¥322	$2.56 THB85.32	+25.9%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.50 ¥395	$1.63 THB54.28	-34.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.58 ¥408	$1.77 THB58.85	-31.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.00 ¥158	$0.81 THB26.83	-19.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.31 ¥206	$1.24 THB41.35	-4.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.90 ¥300	$0.87 THB29.09	-54.0%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.17 ¥185	$0.78 THB26.00	-33.2%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.72 ¥113	$0.69 THB23.01	-3.6%
Average			-11.8%

Saitama vs. Bangkok - Cost of groceries

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pay 17.0% more for transportation

	Saitama	Bangkok
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.11 ¥649	$5.32 THB176.90	+29.4%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$34.98 THB1,163.67
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$21,434.36 ¥3M	$31,193.83 THB1M	+45.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$24.67 ¥3,899	$10.55 THB350.83	-57.3%
Average			+17.0%

Saitama vs. Bangkok - Cost of transportation

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pay 33.5% more for housing

	Saitama	Bangkok
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$32.16 ¥5,082	$17.88 THB594.63	-44.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$411.23 ¥64,980	$675.80 THB22,480.48	+64.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$237.25 ¥37,488	$346.10 THB11,513.16	+45.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$101.00 ¥15,960	$82.03 THB2,728.64	-18.8%
Average			+33.5%

Saitama vs. Bangkok - Cost of housing

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pay 0.4% more for childcare

	Saitama	Bangkok
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$632.30 ¥99,913	$568.31 THB18,904.94	-10.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$14,725.05 ¥2M	$16,500.59 THB549K	+12.1%
Average			+0.4%

Saitama vs. Bangkok - Cost of childcare

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pay 9.2% less for entertainment and sports

	Saitama	Bangkok
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.53 ¥400	$2.67 THB88.94	+5.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.01 ¥475	$2.79 THB92.95	-7.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.80 ¥600	$4.60 THB153.18	+21.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$62.63 ¥9,897	$58.43 THB1,943.57	-6.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.07 ¥1,749	$7.58 THB252.00	-31.6%
Average			-9.2%

Saitama vs. Bangkok - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 80.0% more for clothing

	Saitama	Bangkok
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$34.80 ¥5,498	$70.75 THB2,353.53	+103.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$25.31 ¥3,999	$42.94 THB1,428.36	+69.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$55.36 ¥8,747	$97.05 THB3,228.30	+75.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$63.27 ¥9,997	$109.92 THB3,656.54	+73.7%
Average			+80.0%

Saitama vs. Bangkok - 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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