Cost of living in Japan for one person

What is left each month by salary and rent

For someone aged 30 working in Tokyo, once resident tax has started, spending the 2025 survey average of ¥136,059 on everything except rent.

In your first calendar year in Japan there is no resident tax, so about ¥7,000 to ¥26,000 more a month is left on these salaries.

With furusato nozei (hometown tax donation), a donation minus ¥2,000 comes off your income tax and resident tax, up to a limit set by your salary.

Average living cost in Japan for one person, per month

People aged 34 or under living alone spent ¥177,542 a month in 2025. Their average age was 27.4, and 77.6% paid rent (Statistics Bureau household survey, table 002).

Education (¥161) and small repairs are in the total but not listed. Tax and social insurance are not spending in this survey; they come out of pay before it.

Cost of living by city in Japan: Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo

In 2025, households of two or more people spent the most in Nagoya among the cities below, about ¥367,889 a month, and the least in Naha, about ¥240,265. The figure for all of Japan was ¥314,001.

This is not a single person's budget. The Statistics Bureau publishes single-person household results by city class and region, not by city, so the table shows households of two or more people, with 2.79 to 2.98 people each.

• Each city figure comes from 90 to 290 households, so a small gap between two cities may only reflect which households were sampled.
• Spending is what the households paid, not a price comparison. The table does not adjust for household size or age.
• Sapporo has the highest electricity, gas and water of the six, ¥31,322 a month, against ¥21,356 in Fukuoka.
• Naha has the lowest spending of the 47 prefectural capitals. 47.4% of its households pay rent, against 11.7% across Japan.

Sources: e-Stat, 2025 household survey, table 4-1 and the survey's list of result tables (Statistics Bureau). Monthly figures are the annual figure divided by 12. Tokyo is the 23 wards (東京都区部), and the other cities are prefectural capitals.

What this calculator leaves out

• Moving-in costs: deposit, key money, agent fee and guarantor company, paid before the first month.
• A car. People aged 34 or under living alone averaged ¥6,424 a month on one, including those with none.
• Money sent home, loan repayments and savings.
• Anything the take-home pay calculator leaves out: dependents, side income, company health insurance society (組合健保) rates.
• Where you live. The survey figures are a national average, and the city table covers only households of two or more people.

Phone and internet on a Japanese salary

The phone line above starts at the survey’s ¥6,400, which also covers home internet. Two monthly SIM plans for someone with a residence card are below, one paid from a Japanese bank account and one by credit card; put your plan’s price in the calculator to see the difference. The SIM card finder covers other situations, and home internet and pocket Wi-Fi have their own pages.