San Diego vs Sendai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	San Diego	Sendai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$3469	$1069
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$7890	$2571
🏠 One person rent	$2370	$460
🏘️ Family rent	$4148	$750
🍽️ Food expenses	$726	$374
🚐 Transport expenses	$179	$122
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$5254	$1516
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	3 km	15 km
🎓 Higher education	86	72
😀 Quality of life	93	90
🏙️ Population	1.39M	1.06M

The cost of living in San Diego is 225% more expensive than in Sendai. Cities ranked 43rd and 5094th ($3469 vs $1069) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 33rd and 139th in the United States and Japan, respectively. Check the United States vs Japan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.5 months in San Diego compared to 1.4 months in Sendai. San Diego ranked 26th best city to live in the United States vs Sendai ranked 7th in Japan, while ranked 97th and 242nd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in San Diego vs Sendai infographic

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Prices in San Diego vs Sendai

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

	San Diego	Sendai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$21.5	$6.27
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$85.1	$33.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$15.1	$4.59
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$8.63	$3.32
☕ Cappuccino	$6.32	$3.84
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.03	$1.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2499	$497
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$2053	$282
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$4569	$798
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$3654	$503
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$156	$102
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$240	$155
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$71	$33.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.43%	2.98%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$9580	$2230
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7151	$1261
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$2.49	$1.66
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$71	$46.4
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.6	$15.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.25	$1.1
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.26	$1.37
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.92	$1.15
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.92	$3.6
🥚 Eggs, x12	$6.16	$1.75
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$15.2	$9.54
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.1	$7.18
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$20.3	$9.13
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.5	$5.16
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$2.12
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.03	$4.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.81	$3.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.56	$2.45
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$1.93
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.58	$0.49
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$3.26	$1.28
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$16.6	$7.88
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.91	$2
🚬 Cigarette pack	$12.3	$4.63
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$14.9	$10.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$9.97	$4.67
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$5.53	$1.33
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.47	$1.32
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$63.1	$52
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$17.9	$11.8
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$131	$66.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$30.4	$14.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$60.2	$58.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$108	$48.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1745	$303
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$28967	$5899

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

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

Cities near Sendai

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.8 mi	Natori	$989
12 km or 7.2 mi	Rifu	$992
12 km or 7.5 mi	Tagajo	$986
14 km or 8.7 mi	Tomiya	$988
14 km or 8.9 mi	Shiogama	$989
18 km or 11 mi	Iwanuma	$983
20 km or 12 mi	Taiwa	$988
25 km or 16 mi	Shibata	$972
26 km or 16 mi	Watari	$979
27 km or 17 mi	Ogawara	$969
33 km or 21 mi	Kakuda	$966
34 km or 21 mi	Kami	$995
35 km or 21 mi	Higashimatsushima	$997
35 km or 22 mi	Misato	$992
35 km or 22 mi	Osaki	$994
37 km or 23 mi	Shiroishi	$951
42 km or 26 mi	Ishinomaki	$1002
44 km or 27 mi	Tendo	$955
45 km or 28 mi	Higashine	$967
47 km or 29 mi	Yamagata	$953
49 km or 30 mi	Murayama	$972
53 km or 33 mi	Soma	$969
53 km or 33 mi	Kurihara	$1001
53 km or 33 mi	Sagae	$959
54 km or 34 mi	Kaminoyama	$938
55 km or 34 mi	Tome	$1001
57 km or 35 mi	Date	$921
66 km or 41 mi	Fukushima	$929
66 km or 41 mi	Takahata	$950
67 km or 42 mi	Nan'yo	$951
70 km or 44 mi	Minamisoma	$980
74 km or 46 mi	Shinjo	$1006
75 km or 46 mi	Nagai	$964
77 km or 48 mi	Yonezawa	$959
77 km or 48 mi	Ichinoseki	$1010
85 km or 53 mi	Nihonmatsu	$942
94 km or 58 mi	Kesennuma	$1011
94 km or 58 mi	Motomiya	$963
96 km or 59 mi	Tamura	$977
100 km or 62 mi	Oshu	$1013