---
title: "Cost of Living: Seoul vs Tokyo — Geo-Parity"
description: "Japan is 14% more expensive than South Korea for monthly essentials ($1,524 vs $1,334). Full 32-item price comparison: rent, pint, groceries, transport, gym."
canonical: "https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/japan-vs-south-korea/"
json: "https://geo-parity.com/api/micro-costs.json?base=KR&target=JP"
generator: geo-parity markdown twin
---
Cost of Living · KR vs JP

# 🇰🇷 Seoul vs 🇯🇵 Tokyo: what everyday life costs

Monthly essentials: **$1,334** in South Korea vs **$1,524** in Japan — 14% more expensive.

- **Essentials, South Korea**: $1,334/mo
- **Essentials, Japan**: $1,524/mo
- **Difference**: +14%
- **1-bed city rent, Japan**: $1,041/mo

## Biggest differences

Smallest premium in Japan

- Jeans (mid-range brand): +4.4%
- Running shoes (brand): +4.4%
- Imported beer, 330ml bottle: +4.6%

Pricier in Japan

- Rent: 3-bedroom, city center: +16%
- Rent: 1-bedroom, outside center: +16%
- Rent: 1-bedroom, city center: +16%

## The full basket (32 items)

| Item | South Korea | Japan | Diff |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Housing |  |  |  |
| Rent: 1-bedroom, city center | $894 | $1,041 (155,785 JPY) | +16% |
| Rent: 1-bedroom, outside center | $715 | $833 (124,628 JPY) | +16% |
| Rent: 3-bedroom, city center | $1,635 | $1,903 (284,865 JPY) | +16% |
| Food out |  |  |  |
| Meal, inexpensive restaurant | $10.62 | $11.97 (1,791 JPY) | +13% |
| Dinner for two, mid-range | $44.25 | $49.86 (7,462 JPY) | +13% |
| Fast-food combo meal | $6.81 | $7.59 (1,136 JPY) | +11% |
| Groceries |  |  |  |
| Milk, 1L | $0.75 | $0.82 (123 JPY) | +9.3% |
| Bread, fresh loaf 500g | $2.18 | $2.38 (356 JPY) | +9.2% |
| Eggs, dozen | $2.32 | $2.53 (379 JPY) | +9.1% |
| Chicken breast, 1kg | $6.81 | $7.43 (1,112 JPY) | +9.1% |
| White rice, 1kg | $2.73 | $2.97 (444 JPY) | +8.8% |
| Apples, 1kg | $3.27 | $3.57 (534 JPY) | +9.2% |
| Local cheese, 1kg | $8.18 | $8.92 (1,335 JPY) | +9.1% |
| Water, 1.5L bottle | $1.36 | $1.49 (223 JPY) | +9.6% |
| Drinks |  |  |  |
| Domestic beer, pint (draught) | $3.54 | $3.99 (597 JPY) | +13% |
| Imported beer, 330ml bottle | $6.60 | $6.90 (1,033 JPY) | +4.6% |
| Cappuccino | $2.95 | $3.32 (497 JPY) | +13% |
| Coke/Pepsi, 330ml | $1.57 | $1.71 (256 JPY) | +8.9% |
| Transport |  |  |  |
| Public transport, monthly pass | $40.24 | $44.85 (6,712 JPY) | +11% |
| Public transport, one-way | $1.70 | $1.90 (284 JPY) | +12% |
| Taxi start (normal tariff) | $2.36 | $2.66 (398 JPY) | +13% |
| Taxi, per km | $1.06 | $1.20 (180 JPY) | +13% |
| Petrol/gasoline, 1L | $0.78 | $0.82 (123 JPY) | +5.1% |
| Utilities & comms |  |  |  |
| Basic utilities, 85m² apartment | $124 | $138 (20,653 JPY) | +11% |
| Internet, 60Mbps+ unlimited | $43.33 | $48.30 (7,228 JPY) | +11% |
| Mobile plan, 10GB+ data | $27.86 | $31.05 (4,647 JPY) | +11% |
| Lifestyle |  |  |  |
| Gym membership, month | $29.50 | $33.24 (4,975 JPY) | +13% |
| Cinema seat | $8.26 | $9.31 (1,393 JPY) | +13% |
| Men's haircut | $17.70 | $19.95 (2,986 JPY) | +13% |
| Jeans (mid-range brand) | $45.40 | $47.41 (7,095 JPY) | +4.4% |
| Running shoes (brand) | $74.29 | $77.59 (11,612 JPY) | +4.4% |
| Coworking hot desk, month | $148 | $166 (24,876 JPY) | +13% |

Estimated from World Bank — Consumption price levels with per-item elasticity — model figures, not quotes. Compare any pair in the [interactive tool](https://geo-parity.com/expenses/?tab=prices&base=KR&target=JP).

## Beyond prices

What each place pays, charges and offers — wages, rent, healthcare, climate, risk and time off. Figures come from the same engines behind the individual tools, so they match what those pages say. They sit about **1,181 km** apart as the crow flies.

| Measure | 🇰🇷 South Korea | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Median local wage Monthly, USD. The local midpoint, not an average. | $2,316 | $2,387 |
| Rent, modelled 1-bed Monthly, USD. | $797 | $939 |
| Rent as % of a local wage Are locals priced out? | 34.4% | 39.3% |
| Out-of-pocket healthcare Per person per year, USD. | $1,058 | $445 |
| Doctors per 1,000 WHO. | 2.6 | 2.6 |
| Comfortable days a year 18-27 °C and dry. Measured at Seoul and Tokyo. | 76 | 72 |
| Rule of law World Bank WGI. A survey composite, so the band leads, not the decimal. | strong | very strong |
| Country risk INFORM, 0-10. Lower is safer. | 2 (very low) | 2 (very low) |
| Public holidays Observed nationwide; regional days are counted separately. | 18 | 16 |
| Air quality Mean annual PM2.5, µg/m³. WHO guideline is 5. Lower is better. | 19.2 | 8.5 |
| Life expectancy Years at birth — the outcome, not the spending. | 83.6 | 84 |
| Homicide rate Per 100,000 a year. A count, not a perception score. | 0.5 | 0.2 |
| Population online % using the internet. Reach, not speed — the row below is speed. | 97.9% | 85.5% |
| Internet download Measured median, Mbps. | 273.4 | 248 |

## Cheap for you, or cheap for everyone?

Rent measured twice: against a $6,000/month remote income, and against what people actually earn locally. The gap between the two is the arbitrage — and it is the reason somewhere can be affordable to you and unaffordable to a local at once.

🇰🇷 South Korea

21.1 pts

13.3% of your income vs 34.4% of a local wage

🇯🇵 Japan

23.7 pts

15.6% of your income vs 39.3% of a local wage

Worked at $6,000/month. [Run it on your own income](https://geo-parity.com/expenses/?tab=housing)

## The whole South Korea → Japan move, in one place

Everything above is free and always will be. The relocation report is the same engines run together for this one corridor: what you keep after rent, prices, healthcare and tax; the local wage ladder you would be earning against; which visas your income qualifies for; the day count that makes you tax-resident; and the months worth being there for.

[See the South Korea → Japan report — £7](https://geo-parity.com/report/south-korea-to-japan/) One-off. No subscription. Free preview first.

## Related

- [Reverse view: Japan vs South Korea](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/japan-vs-south-korea/)
- [Fair salary: South Korea → Japan](https://geo-parity.com/salary/south-korea-to-japan/)
- [How much to retire in Japan?](https://geo-parity.com/fire/japan/)
- [Cost of living in Japan vs the US](https://geo-parity.com/ppp/japan/)

## More comparisons

### South Korea compared with

- [South Korea vs Italy](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/south-korea-vs-italy/)
- [South Korea vs Spain](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/south-korea-vs-spain/)
- [South Korea vs Portugal](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/south-korea-vs-portugal/)
- [South Korea vs France](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/south-korea-vs-france/)
- [South Korea vs Singapore](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/south-korea-vs-singapore/)
- [South Korea vs Greece](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/south-korea-vs-greece/)

### Moving to Japan from

- [Portugal vs Japan](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/portugal-vs-japan/)
- [Singapore vs Japan](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/singapore-vs-japan/)
- [Greece vs Japan](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/greece-vs-japan/)
- [Czechia vs Japan](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/czechia-vs-japan/)
- [United Arab Emirates vs Japan](https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/united-arab-emirates-vs-japan/)

## Frequently asked questions

- **How much more expensive is Japan than South Korea?**: A single person's monthly essentials run about $1,524 in Japan versus $1,334 in South Korea — 14% more. Rents differ the most; world-priced goods like petrol and electronics the least.
- **What does a beer cost in Japan?**: A domestic draught pint is roughly $3.99 in Japan (≈ 597.14 JPY), versus about $3.54 in South Korea.
- **How much is rent in Japan compared to South Korea?**: A 1-bedroom city-center apartment is estimated at $1,041/month in Japan versus $894/month in South Korea (+16%). Housing is the most locally-priced item in the basket.
- **How are these prices estimated?**: Curated US baseline prices scaled by each country's purchasing-power price level with per-item elasticities (housing 1.4, services 1.1, groceries 0.8, world-priced goods 0.4) — model estimates for orientation, not quotes.

Model estimates — verify locally. Agents: GET /api/micro-costs.json?base=KR&target=JP.

---

Source: Geo-Parity — https://geo-parity.com/cost-of-living/japan-vs-south-korea/ · JSON: https://geo-parity.com/api/micro-costs.json?base=KR&target=JP