Sendai vs South Tarawa - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Sendai	South Tarawa
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1010	$538
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2419	$1303
🏠 One person rent	$416	$233
🏘️ Family rent	$661	$392
🍽️ Food expenses	$353	$226
🚐 Transport expenses	$137	$22.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1272	$164
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	20 km
🎓 Higher education	73	1
😀 Quality of life	74	28
🏙️ Population	1.06M	63.4K

The cost of living in Sendai is 88% more expensive than in South Tarawa. Cities ranked 5585th and 8474th ($1010 vs $538) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 415th and 2nd in Japan and Kiribati, respectively. Check Japan vs Kiribati comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.3 months in Sendai compared to 0.3 months in South Tarawa. Sendai ranked 169th best city to live in Japan vs South Tarawa ranked 1st in Kiribati, while ranked 2145th and 8872nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this infographic!

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/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	$5.58	$4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$31.4	$22.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.34	$5.15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.84	$1.82
☕ Cappuccino	$3.85	$1.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.77	$0.63
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$488	$226
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$246	$151
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$723	$412
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$433	$274
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$89.3	$41
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$137	$63.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$32.4	$26.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	2.75%	12.43%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2579	$1374
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1456	$845
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.65	$0.41
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$53.8	$15.9
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$18	$7.47
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.06	$1.01
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.46	$1.22
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.99	$0.76
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.3	$1.21
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.74	$1.73
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.08	$7.22
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.34	$4.59
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.8	$7.22
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.4	$2.38
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.37	$1.25
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.45	$1.67
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.11	$1.16
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.08	$1.04
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.65	$1.04
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.51	$0.39
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.23	$1.24
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.09	$8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.76	$1.46
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4.27	$2.98
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.5	$3.96
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.44	$3.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.26	$1.6
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.28	$1.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$51.3	$24.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$10.5	$4.49
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$63.9	$19.1
💇 Haircut, simple	$13.7	$4.22
👖 Brand Jeans	$50	$31.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$40.8	$65.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$256	$131
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$5002	$4200

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	$940
12 km or 7.2 mi	Rifu	$941
12 km or 7.5 mi	Tagajo	$942
14 km or 8.7 mi	Tomiya	$941
14 km or 8.9 mi	Shiogama	$942
18 km or 11 mi	Iwanuma	$945
20 km or 12 mi	Taiwa	$944
25 km or 16 mi	Shibata	$947
26 km or 16 mi	Watari	$950
27 km or 17 mi	Ogawara	$949
33 km or 21 mi	Kakuda	$953
34 km or 21 mi	Kami	$965
35 km or 21 mi	Higashimatsushima	$966
35 km or 22 mi	Misato	$970
35 km or 22 mi	Osaki	$970
37 km or 23 mi	Shiroishi	$943
42 km or 26 mi	Ishinomaki	$982
44 km or 27 mi	Tendo	$948
45 km or 28 mi	Higashine	$958
47 km or 29 mi	Yamagata	$948
49 km or 30 mi	Murayama	$969
53 km or 33 mi	Soma	$976
53 km or 33 mi	Kurihara	$991
53 km or 33 mi	Sagae	$958
54 km or 34 mi	Kaminoyama	$941
55 km or 34 mi	Tome	$993
57 km or 35 mi	Date	$926
66 km or 41 mi	Fukushima	$942
66 km or 41 mi	Takahata	$954
67 km or 42 mi	Nan'yo	$961
70 km or 44 mi	Minamisoma	$997
74 km or 46 mi	Shinjo	$1014
75 km or 46 mi	Nagai	$975
77 km or 48 mi	Yonezawa	$968
77 km or 48 mi	Ichinoseki	$1016
85 km or 53 mi	Nihonmatsu	$961
94 km or 58 mi	Kesennuma	$1022
94 km or 58 mi	Motomiya	$983
96 km or 59 mi	Tamura	$999
100 km or 62 mi	Oshu	$1022

Cities near South Tarawa

Distance	City	Cost of living
658 km or 409 mi	Majuro	$1507
661 km or 411 mi	Djarrit	$1510
706 km or 439 mi	Yaren	$783
1302 km or 809 mi	Vaiaku	$714
1302 km or 809 mi	Funafuti	$718
1768 km or 1099 mi	Auki	$1422
1879 km or 1167 mi	Honiara	$1422
1988 km or 1235 mi	Luganville	$2062
2172 km or 1349 mi	Lautoka	$633
2190 km or 1361 mi	Nadi	$1039
2190 km or 1361 mi	Port Vila	$2068
2248 km or 1397 mi	Nasinu	$857
2253 km or 1400 mi	Suva	$879
2310 km or 1435 mi	Manase	$790
2382 km or 1480 mi	Apia	$791
2712 km or 1685 mi	Dumbea	$1865
2713 km or 1686 mi	Paita	$1865
2725 km or 1693 mi	Noumea	$1928
2817 km or 1750 mi	Nukualofa	$1035
2825 km or 1756 mi	Mua	$1033
3022 km or 1878 mi	Lae	$558
3104 km or 1929 mi	Port Moresby	$572
3286 km or 2042 mi	London	$539
3357 km or 2086 mi	Saipan	$1415
3375 km or 2097 mi	Dededo	$2401
3383 km or 2102 mi	Hagatna	$3009
3611 km or 2244 mi	Cairns	$1695
3612 km or 2244 mi	Jayapura	$506
3658 km or 2273 mi	Gladstone	$1640
3665 km or 2277 mi	Townsville	$1839
3668 km or 2279 mi	Bundaberg	$1727
3672 km or 2282 mi	Hervey Bay	$1864
3673 km or 2282 mi	Rockhampton	$1635
3762 km or 2338 mi	Kauai	$2821
3779 km or 2348 mi	Sunshine Coast	$1835
3788 km or 2354 mi	Caloundra	$1864
3822 km or 2375 mi	Caboolture	$1988
3851 km or 2393 mi	Waipahu	$2700
3854 km or 2395 mi	Brisbane	$2269
3855 km or 2396 mi	Pearl	$2610