Saitama vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Saitama	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1055	$3486
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2709	$7909
🏠 One person rent	$378	$2368
🏘️ Family rent	$631	$4139
🍽️ Food expenses	$376	$735
🚐 Transport expenses	$202	$181
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1511	$5217
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	21 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	99	86
😀 Quality of life	77	91
🏙️ Population	1.33M	1.39M

The cost of living in Saitama is 70% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 5168th and 52nd ($1055 vs $3486) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 148th and 39th in Japan and the United States, respectively. Check Japan vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Saitama compared to 1.5 months in San Diego. Saitama ranked 70th best city to live in Japan vs San Diego ranked 38th in the United States, while ranked 1050th and 155th among best cities to live in the world.

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/saitama/san-diego.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Saitama vs San Diego infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/saitama/san-diego" target="_blank">Saitama vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Saitama vs San Diego

Prices for goods and services in Saitama and San Diego are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Saitama	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.57	$22.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$31.1	$84.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.69	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.59	$8.97
☕ Cappuccino	$2.96	$6.34
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.69	$3.17
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$352	$2489
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$205	$2046
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$643	$4508
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$377	$3643
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$110	$162
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$166	$251
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$34.3	$71.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	2.07%	6.31%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5095	$8050
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2901	$6577
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.35	$2.5
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$69.1	$71.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$25.9	$19.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.09	$1.37
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.44	$1.38
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.75	$4.32
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$3.81
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.55	$7.04
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.5	$16
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.43	$13.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$18.8	$20.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.44	$4.24
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.18	$1.77
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.19	$4.14
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.52	$4.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.12	$2.64
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$2.63
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.5	$1.5
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.21	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.77	$16.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.86	$3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.91	$12.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.38	$15.2
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.25	$9.97
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.37	$5.48
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.57	$2.47
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$62.3	$72.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$10.9	$19.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$40	$131
💇 Haircut, simple	$17.2	$30.2
👖 Brand Jeans	$34.2	$66.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$55	$112
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$355	$1937
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14598	$22295

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Saitama

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.1 km or 3.1 mi	Warabi	$973
5.7 km or 3.6 mi	Toda	$985
6.5 km or 4 mi	Shiki	$1004
8.5 km or 5.3 mi	Asaka	$1051
8.7 km or 5.4 mi	Fujimi	$1009
9.3 km or 5.8 mi	Kawaguchi	$1045
9.6 km or 6 mi	Wako	$1073
10 km or 6.5 mi	Niiza	$1068
11 km or 7 mi	Miyoshi	$1033
11 km or 7.1 mi	Fujimino	$1006
14 km or 8.4 mi	Koshigaya	$1107
14 km or 8.5 mi	Kiyose	$1064
14 km or 8.5 mi	Ageo	$1040
15 km or 9.2 mi	Hasuda	$1029
15 km or 9.3 mi	Soka	$1075
16 km or 9.6 mi	Ina	$1028
16 km or 9.7 mi	Higashikurume	$1086
16 km or 9.9 mi	Kasukabe	$1065
17 km or 10 mi	Kawagoe	$998
17 km or 10 mi	Matsubushi	$1051
17 km or 11 mi	Tokorozawa	$1091
18 km or 11 mi	Musashino	$1131
18 km or 11 mi	Okegawa	$1020
18 km or 11 mi	Shiraoka	$1036
18 km or 11 mi	Nishitokyo	$1123
18 km or 11 mi	Yoshikawa	$1053
18 km or 11 mi	Yashio	$1037
19 km or 12 mi	Miyashiro	$1035
20 km or 12 mi	Tokyo	$1679
20 km or 12 mi	Higashimurayama	$1085
20 km or 12 mi	Sugito	$1038
21 km or 13 mi	Misato	$1038
21 km or 13 mi	Sayama	$1046
21 km or 13 mi	Kitamoto	$1027
21 km or 13 mi	Kodaira	$1101
21 km or 13 mi	Mitaka	$1144
22 km or 14 mi	Koganei	$1087
22 km or 14 mi	Kuki	$1039
23 km or 14 mi	Iruma	$1055
23 km or 14 mi	Noda	$1096

Cities near San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3269
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$3094
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$3023
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$3033
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2997
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2984
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$3065
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$3077
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1276
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2956
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$3012
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3265
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1126
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1108
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3274
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$3008
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3269
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$3011
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3221
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2984
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2690
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2994
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3137
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$3051
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2799
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3075
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2850
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3492
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3129
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2646
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$967
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2663
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3520
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3064
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$2984
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3503
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2598
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2768
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2738
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2826