Cost of living comparison

compared to

Tokyo vs. Seattle Cost of Living Summary

Tokyo vs. Seattle Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Tokyo instead of Seattle, you would:

pay 65.4% less for restaurants

 
Seattle
Tokyo
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant $25.00
 
$8.02
¥1,280
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
$15.00
 
$5.01
¥800
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) $3.00
 
$1.16
¥185

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pay 24.4% less for groceries

 
Seattle
Tokyo
Bread
1 loaf
$5.23
 
$1.55
¥248
Local cheese (8 oz) $11.39
 
$7.21
¥1,151
Milk (1 gallon) $5.40
 
$5.71
¥912

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pay 5.3% more for transportation

 
Seattle
Tokyo
Gasoline (1 gallon) $4.55
 
$4.50
¥718
Monthly public transit pass $99.50
 
$73.51
¥11,736
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) $36,656.56
 
$22,332.63
¥4M

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pay 54.2% less for housing

 
Seattle
Tokyo
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
$78.37
 
$33.44
¥5,339
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area $2,333.68
 
$1,071.65
¥171K
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center $1,900.00
 
$642.24
¥103K

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pay 63.0% less for childcare

 
Seattle
Tokyo
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly $2,200.00
 
$519.69
¥82,970
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters $30,000.00
 
$15,131.74
¥2M

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pay 40.3% less for entertainment and sports

 
Seattle
Tokyo
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) $7.75
 
$4.01
¥640
Cappuccino in mid-range area $6.04
 
$3.43
¥548
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
$12.75
 
$4.01
¥640

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pay 30.9% less for clothing

 
Seattle
Tokyo
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
$69.52
 
$56.84
¥9,074
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
$54.68
 
$40.48
¥6,463
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
$116.24
 
$62.67
¥10,006

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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: April 2026
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See the cost of living in United States vs. Japan. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within United States and Japan.

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