Saitama vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Saitama	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1037	$3469
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2691	$7890
🏠 One person rent	$364	$2370
🏘️ Family rent	$607	$4148
🍽️ Food expenses	$370	$726
🚐 Transport expenses	$203	$179
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1593	$5254
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	21 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	99	86
😀 Quality of life	80	93
🏙️ Population	1.33M	1.39M

The cost of living in Saitama is 70% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 5298th and 43rd ($1037 vs $3469) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 260th and 33rd 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 1.5 months in Saitama compared to 1.5 months in San Diego. Saitama ranked 31st best city to live in Japan vs San Diego ranked 26th in the United States, while ranked 750th and 97th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Saitama vs San Diego infographic

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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	$21.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$33	$85.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.63	$15.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.99	$8.63
☕ Cappuccino	$2.97	$6.32
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.71	$3.03
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$369	$2499
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$218	$2053
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$663	$4569
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$393	$3654
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$83.4	$156
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$127	$240
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$32.4	$71
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	1.88%	6.43%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5146	$9580
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2855	$7151
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.56	$2.49
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$73.6	$71
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$24.6	$19.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.16	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.45	$1.26
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.75	$3.92
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.86	$3.92
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.18	$6.16
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.59	$15.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.71	$13.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.5	$20.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.71	$4.5
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.29	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.85	$4.03
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.74	$4.81
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.16	$2.56
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$2.37
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.53	$1.58
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.32	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.62	$16.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.71	$2.91
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.94	$12.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.86	$14.9
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.49	$9.97
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.46	$5.53
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.68	$2.47
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65.6	$63.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.6	$17.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.5	$131
💇 Haircut, simple	$18.1	$30.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$35.9	$60.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$57.4	$108
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$268	$1745
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$17943	$28967

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	$945
5.7 km or 3.6 mi	Toda	$961
6.5 km or 4 mi	Shiki	$972
8.5 km or 5.3 mi	Asaka	$1020
8.7 km or 5.4 mi	Fujimi	$975
9.3 km or 5.8 mi	Kawaguchi	$1025
9.6 km or 6 mi	Wako	$1035
10 km or 6.5 mi	Niiza	$1033
11 km or 7 mi	Miyoshi	$997
11 km or 7.1 mi	Fujimino	$961
14 km or 8.4 mi	Koshigaya	$1078
14 km or 8.5 mi	Kiyose	$1025
14 km or 8.5 mi	Ageo	$1004
15 km or 9.2 mi	Hasuda	$994
15 km or 9.3 mi	Soka	$1047
16 km or 9.6 mi	Ina	$990
16 km or 9.7 mi	Higashikurume	$1049
16 km or 9.9 mi	Kasukabe	$1038
17 km or 10 mi	Kawagoe	$952
17 km or 10 mi	Matsubushi	$1028
17 km or 11 mi	Tokorozawa	$1061
18 km or 11 mi	Musashino	$1110
18 km or 11 mi	Okegawa	$976
18 km or 11 mi	Shiraoka	$998
18 km or 11 mi	Nishitokyo	$1094
18 km or 11 mi	Yoshikawa	$1031
18 km or 11 mi	Yashio	$1002
19 km or 12 mi	Miyashiro	$1007
20 km or 12 mi	Tokyo	$1698
20 km or 12 mi	Higashimurayama	$1040
20 km or 12 mi	Sugito	$1007
21 km or 13 mi	Misato	$1005
21 km or 13 mi	Sayama	$1005
21 km or 13 mi	Kitamoto	$981
21 km or 13 mi	Kodaira	$1066
21 km or 13 mi	Mitaka	$1125
22 km or 14 mi	Koganei	$1066
22 km or 14 mi	Kuki	$1016
23 km or 14 mi	Iruma	$1017
23 km or 14 mi	Noda	$1055

Cities near San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3195
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$3013
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2932
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$2972
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2943
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2909
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$2996
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$2988
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1210
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2887
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2922
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3066
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1063
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1055
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3215
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2931
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3252
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2930
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3274
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2873
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2681
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2967
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3049
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$2994
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2715
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3057
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2776
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3490
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3075
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2626
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$903
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2671
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3585
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3037
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$3014
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3450
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2539
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2742
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2691
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2782