Saitama vs South Tarawa - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Saitama	South Tarawa
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1037	$533
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2691	$1272
🏠 One person rent	$364	$235
🏘️ Family rent	$607	$392
🍽️ Food expenses	$370	$220
🚐 Transport expenses	$203	$22.3
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1593	$181
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	21 km	20 km
🎓 Higher education	99	1
😀 Quality of life	80	25
🏙️ Population	1.33M	63.4K

The cost of living in Saitama is 95% more expensive than in South Tarawa. Cities ranked 5298th and 8428th ($1037 vs $533) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 260th and 1st in Japan and Kiribati, respectively. Check Japan vs Kiribati comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in Saitama compared to 0.3 months in South Tarawa. Saitama ranked 31st best city to live in Japan vs South Tarawa ranked 1st in Kiribati, while ranked 750th and 8954th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Saitama vs South Tarawa infographic

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

Prices in Saitama vs South Tarawa

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

	Saitama	South Tarawa
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.57	$3.73
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$33	$21.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.63	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.99	$1.8
☕ Cappuccino	$2.97	$1.9
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.71	$0.61
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$369	$226
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$218	$155
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$663	$405
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$393	$280
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$83.4	$39.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$127	$61.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$32.4	$26.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	1.88%	12.18%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5146	$1457
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2855	$926
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.56	$0.42
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$73.6	$16.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$24.6	$6.92
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.16	$1.07
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.45	$1.21
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.75	$0.74
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.86	$1.21
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.18	$1.7
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.59	$7.34
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.71	$4.41
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.5	$7.25
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.71	$2.21
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.29	$1.24
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.85	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.74	$1.12
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.16	$1.03
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.66	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.53	$0.36
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.32	$1.23
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.62	$7.85
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.71	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.94	$2.9
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$9.86	$3.83
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.49	$2.92
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.46	$1.54
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.68	$1.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$65.6	$24.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.6	$4.54
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.5	$18.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$18.1	$3.66
👖 Brand Jeans	$35.9	$30.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$57.4	$66.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$268	$113
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$17943	$3644

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 South Tarawa

Distance	City	Cost of living
658 km or 409 mi	Majuro	$1496
661 km or 411 mi	Djarrit	$1502
706 km or 439 mi	Yaren	$733
1302 km or 809 mi	Vaiaku	$684
1302 km or 809 mi	Funafuti	$683
1768 km or 1099 mi	Auki	$1417
1879 km or 1167 mi	Honiara	$1419
1988 km or 1235 mi	Luganville	$1882
2172 km or 1349 mi	Lautoka	$596
2190 km or 1361 mi	Nadi	$997
2190 km or 1361 mi	Port Vila	$1884
2248 km or 1397 mi	Nasinu	$818
2253 km or 1400 mi	Suva	$836
2310 km or 1435 mi	Manase	$751
2382 km or 1480 mi	Apia	$753
2712 km or 1685 mi	Dumbea	$1811
2713 km or 1686 mi	Paita	$1807
2725 km or 1693 mi	Noumea	$1878
2817 km or 1750 mi	Nukualofa	$1024
2825 km or 1756 mi	Mua	$1022
3022 km or 1878 mi	Lae	$548
3104 km or 1929 mi	Port Moresby	$566
3286 km or 2042 mi	London	$532
3357 km or 2086 mi	Saipan	$1437
3375 km or 2097 mi	Dededo	$2406
3383 km or 2102 mi	Hagatna	$2786
3611 km or 2244 mi	Cairns	$1513
3612 km or 2244 mi	Jayapura	$507
3658 km or 2273 mi	Gladstone	$1503
3665 km or 2277 mi	Townsville	$1683
3668 km or 2279 mi	Bundaberg	$1595
3672 km or 2282 mi	Hervey Bay	$1712
3673 km or 2282 mi	Rockhampton	$1482
3762 km or 2338 mi	Kauai	$2825
3779 km or 2348 mi	Sunshine Coast	$1697
3788 km or 2354 mi	Caloundra	$1710
3822 km or 2375 mi	Caboolture	$1798
3851 km or 2393 mi	Waipahu	$2700
3854 km or 2395 mi	Brisbane	$2065
3855 km or 2396 mi	Pearl	$2637