Sapporo vs Sendai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Sapporo	Sendai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1137	$1007
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2691	$2414
🏠 One person rent	$510	$414
🏘️ Family rent	$833	$669
🍽️ Food expenses	$385	$354
🚐 Transport expenses	$152	$141
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1763	$1115
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	15 km
🎓 Higher education	75	73
😀 Quality of life	90	74
🏙️ Population	1.96M	1.06M

The cost of living in Sapporo is 13% more expensive than in Sendai. Cities ranked 4901st and 5531st ($1137 vs $1007) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 42nd and 360th in Japan.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.6 months in Sapporo compared to 1.1 months in Sendai. Ranked 8th vs 228th best cities to live in Japan, and 196th vs 2040th among the best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this picture

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

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

Prices in Sapporo vs Sendai

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

	Sapporo	Sendai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$5.74	$5.41
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$27.8	$31.9
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$5.77	$4.33
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.74	$3.24
☕ Cappuccino	$3.75	$3.41
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.01	$1.5
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$404	$471
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$247	$265
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$743	$705
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$443	$476
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$185	$75.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$283	$116
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$46.7	$31.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	2.23%	2.71%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2166	$2654
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1568	$1391
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.56	$1.58
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$46.6	$48
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$17.1	$20.8
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.08	$1.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.56	$1.39
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.37	$1.13
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.03	$3.77
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.74	$1.94
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.4	$9.31
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.81	$7.22
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$24.8	$8.68
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.2	$3.75
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.07	$2.11
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.54	$4.65
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.27	$2.96
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.17	$2.21
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.69	$1.89
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.39	$0.59
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.47	$1.23
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.37	$7.69
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.88	$1.68
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.81	$4.09
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.07	$10.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.05	$4.34
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.33	$1.26
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.36	$1.25
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$48.7	$49.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.9	$10.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$25.2	$61.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$18.5	$13.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$37.8	$42.5
👟 Brand Sneakers	$46.5	$37.7
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$248	$224
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$9894	$4242

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Sapporo

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8.4 mi	Ishikari	$1015
15 km or 9.6 mi	Ebetsu	$1020
19 km or 12 mi	Kitahiroshima	$1022
27 km or 17 mi	Eniwa	$1022
32 km or 20 mi	Otaru	$1017
36 km or 23 mi	Chitose	$1016
37 km or 23 mi	Iwamizawa	$1017
50 km or 31 mi	Bibai	$1016
52 km or 32 mi	Tomakomai	$1020
71 km or 44 mi	Takikawa	$1014
75 km or 47 mi	Noboribetsu	$988
77 km or 48 mi	Date	$983
89 km or 55 mi	Muroran	$954
89 km or 55 mi	Furano	$1008
93 km or 58 mi	Fukagawa	$1010
100 km or 62 mi	Rumoi	$1009
113 km or 70 mi	Asahikawa	$1040
115 km or 72 mi	Shinhidaka	$988
141 km or 87 mi	Nanae	$914
149 km or 93 mi	Hokuto	$909
150 km or 93 mi	Otofuke	$992
151 km or 94 mi	Obihiro	$1001
152 km or 95 mi	Hakodate	$914
164 km or 102 mi	Makubetsu	$993
169 km or 105 mi	Nayoro	$1000
197 km or 123 mi	Mutsu	$964
216 km or 134 mi	Monbetsu	$990
220 km or 137 mi	Kushiro	$972
221 km or 137 mi	Kitami	$984
254 km or 158 mi	Aomori	$1055
258 km or 160 mi	Abashiri	$979
261 km or 162 mi	Wakkanai	$986
262 km or 163 mi	Goshogawara	$1017
263 km or 164 mi	Tsugaru	$1017
265 km or 164 mi	Misawa	$991
273 km or 169 mi	Towada	$1000
274 km or 170 mi	Oirase	$995
276 km or 172 mi	Kuroishi	$1051
283 km or 176 mi	Hirakawa	$1051
283 km or 176 mi	Hirosaki	$1061

Cities near Sendai

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.8 mi	Natori	$935
12 km or 7.2 mi	Rifu	$934
12 km or 7.5 mi	Tagajo	$936
14 km or 8.7 mi	Tomiya	$939
14 km or 8.9 mi	Shiogama	$936
18 km or 11 mi	Iwanuma	$937
20 km or 12 mi	Taiwa	$943
25 km or 16 mi	Shibata	$937
26 km or 16 mi	Watari	$943
27 km or 17 mi	Ogawara	$938
33 km or 21 mi	Kakuda	$941
34 km or 21 mi	Kami	$957
35 km or 21 mi	Higashimatsushima	$960
35 km or 22 mi	Misato	$964
35 km or 22 mi	Osaki	$964
37 km or 23 mi	Shiroishi	$924
42 km or 26 mi	Ishinomaki	$975
44 km or 27 mi	Tendo	$928
45 km or 28 mi	Higashine	$944
47 km or 29 mi	Yamagata	$924
49 km or 30 mi	Murayama	$949
53 km or 33 mi	Soma	$954
53 km or 33 mi	Kurihara	$980
53 km or 33 mi	Sagae	$933
54 km or 34 mi	Kaminoyama	$919
55 km or 34 mi	Tome	$982
57 km or 35 mi	Date	$904
66 km or 41 mi	Fukushima	$914
66 km or 41 mi	Takahata	$932
67 km or 42 mi	Nan'yo	$935
70 km or 44 mi	Minamisoma	$974
74 km or 46 mi	Shinjo	$994
75 km or 46 mi	Nagai	$950
77 km or 48 mi	Yonezawa	$942
77 km or 48 mi	Ichinoseki	$1004
85 km or 53 mi	Nihonmatsu	$932
94 km or 58 mi	Kesennuma	$1007
94 km or 58 mi	Motomiya	$956
96 km or 59 mi	Tamura	$978
100 km or 62 mi	Oshu	$1014