Kyoto vs. San Diego Cost of Living Summary

Kyoto vs. San Diego Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Kyoto instead of San Diego, you would:

pay 64.6% less for restaurants

 
San Diego
Kyoto
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant $25.00
 
$9.49
¥1,504
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
$13.50
 
$5.06
¥802
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) $3.11
 
$0.85
¥135

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pay 33.2% less for groceries

 
San Diego
Kyoto
Bread
1 loaf
$5.64
 
$1.62
¥257
Local cheese (8 oz) $8.60
 
$4.32
¥685
Milk (1 gallon) $5.12
 
$5.81
¥920

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pay 23.7% less for transportation

 
San Diego
Kyoto
Gasoline (1 gallon) $5.99
 
$4.10
¥649
Monthly public transit pass $72.00
 
$63.27
¥10,026
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) $36,998.00
 
$21,725.38
¥3M

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pay 81.4% less for housing

 
San Diego
Kyoto
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
$85.53
 
$30.84
¥4,888
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area $3,232.94
 
$564.23
¥89,416
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center $2,390.67
 
$327.84
¥51,955

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pay 75.5% less for childcare

 
San Diego
Kyoto
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly $1,948.90
 
$649.00
¥103K
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters $36,280.62
 
$6,550.09
¥1M

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pay 45.6% less for entertainment and sports

 
San Diego
Kyoto
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) $8.00
 
$3.16
¥501
Cappuccino in mid-range area $5.92
 
$3.30
¥523
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
$11.71
 
$3.92
¥622

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pay 25.6% less for clothing

 
San Diego
Kyoto
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
$67.12
 
$56.15
¥8,898
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
$55.50
 
$45.86
¥7,268
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
$112.00
 
$69.69
¥11,044

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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 November 2026). How we calculate this

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