Sendai vs South Tarawa - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Sendai	South Tarawa
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1069	$533
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2571	$1272
🏠 One person rent	$460	$235
🏘️ Family rent	$750	$392
🍽️ Food expenses	$374	$220
🚐 Transport expenses	$122	$22.3
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1516	$181
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	20 km
🎓 Higher education	72	1
😀 Quality of life	90	25
🏙️ Population	1.06M	63.4K

The cost of living in Sendai is 100% more expensive than in South Tarawa. Cities ranked 5094th and 8428th ($1069 vs $533) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 139th and 1st in Japan and Kiribati, respectively. Check Japan vs Kiribati comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Sendai compared to 0.3 months in South Tarawa. Sendai ranked 7th best city to live in Japan vs South Tarawa ranked 1st in Kiribati, while ranked 242nd and 8954th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Sendai vs South Tarawa infographic

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

Prices in Sendai vs South Tarawa

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

	Sendai	South Tarawa
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$6.27	$3.73
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$33.1	$21.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.59	$5.03
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.32	$1.8
☕ Cappuccino	$3.84	$1.9
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.54	$0.61
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$497	$226
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$282	$155
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$798	$405
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$503	$280
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$102	$39.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$155	$61.5
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$33.2	$26.2
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	2.98%	12.18%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2230	$1457
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1261	$926
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.66	$0.42
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$46.4	$16.3
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$15.6	$6.92
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.1	$1.07
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.37	$1.21
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.15	$0.74
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.6	$1.21
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.75	$1.7
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.54	$7.34
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.18	$4.41
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.13	$7.25
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.16	$2.21
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$1.24
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.8	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.54	$1.12
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.45	$1.03
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.93	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.49	$0.36
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.28	$1.23
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.88	$7.85
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2	$1.43
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.63	$2.9
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.4	$3.83
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.67	$2.92
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.33	$1.54
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.32	$1.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$52	$24.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$11.8	$4.54
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$66.3	$18.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.3	$3.66
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.8	$30.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$48.5	$66.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$303	$113
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5899	$3644

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

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

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