Cost of living comparison
compared to
Saitama vs. Washington Cost of Living Summary
Saitama is 65.1% cheaper than Washington.
Saitama vs. Washington Cost Breakdown
If you lived in Saitama instead of Washington, you would:
pay 73.7% less for restaurants
|
Washington
|
Saitama
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant |
$28.00
|
$5.69
¥900
|
|
|
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
|
$12.00
|
$4.74
¥750
|
|
| Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) |
$3.17
|
$0.71
¥112
|
|
| Bottle of water (11 fl. oz) |
$2.64
|
$0.62
¥97
|
|
Washington vs. Saitama - Cost of restaurants
pay 39.7% less for groceries
|
Washington
|
Saitama
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bread
1 loaf
|
$4.11
|
$1.70
¥268
|
|
| Local cheese (8 oz) |
$8.53
|
$5.18
¥819
|
|
| Milk (1 gallon) |
$4.95
|
$5.37
¥849
|
|
|
Eggs
1 dozen
|
$5.64
|
$2.04
¥322
|
|
| Boneless chicken breast (1 lb) |
$7.63
|
$2.50
¥395
|
|
| Apples (1 lb) |
$3.17
|
$2.58
¥408
|
|
| Bananas (1 lb) |
$1.06
|
$1.00
¥158
|
|
| Oranges (1 lb) |
$2.27
|
$1.31
¥206
|
|
| Tomatoes (1 lb) |
$2.64
|
$1.90
¥300
|
|
| Potatoes (1 lb) |
$1.29
|
$1.17
¥185
|
|
| Onions (1 lb) |
$1.73
|
$0.72
¥113
|
|
Washington vs. Saitama - Cost of groceries
pay 15.5% less for transportation
|
Washington
|
Saitama
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline (1 gallon) |
$4.19
|
$4.11
¥649
|
|
| Monthly public transit pass |
$120.00
|
?? | |
| New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) |
$36,375.00
|
$21,434.36
¥3M
|
|
| Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles) |
$16.73
|
$24.67
¥3,899
|
|
Washington vs. Saitama - Cost of transportation
pay 82.9% less for housing
|
Washington
|
Saitama
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
|
$77.77
|
$32.16
¥5,082
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area |
$2,717.33
|
$411.23
¥64,980
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment outside city center |
$2,228.89
|
$237.25
¥37,488
|
|
|
Utilities for two
(700 sq ft apartment)
including electric, gas, water, heating
|
$161.22
|
$101.00
¥15,960
|
|
Washington vs. Saitama - Cost of housing
pay 73.6% less for childcare
|
Washington
|
Saitama
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Private preschool for 1 child, monthly |
$3,221.33
|
$632.30
¥99,913
|
|
| Middle school for 1 child, two semesters |
$41,506.00
|
$14,725.05
¥2M
|
|
Washington vs. Saitama - Cost of childcare
pay 55.0% less for entertainment and sports
|
Washington
|
Saitama
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic/local beer (1 pint) |
$9.00
|
$2.53
¥400
|
|
| Cappuccino in mid-range area |
$6.15
|
$3.01
¥475
|
|
|
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
|
$13.94
|
$3.80
¥600
|
|
| Monthly membership at local gym |
$114.30
|
$62.63
¥9,897
|
|
| Movie ticket to theater/cinema |
$18.00
|
$11.07
¥1,749
|
|
Washington vs. Saitama - Cost of entertainment and sports
pay 47.7% less for clothing
|
Washington
|
Saitama
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
|
$71.42
|
$34.80
¥5,498
|
|
|
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
|
$44.11
|
$25.31
¥3,999
|
|
|
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
|
$104.50
|
$55.36
¥8,747
|
|
| Men's business shoes (leather) |
$125.16
|
$63.27
¥9,997
|
|
Washington vs. Saitama - Cost of clothing
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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