Cost of living comparison

 United States
compared to
 Okinawa, Japan
Okinawa vs. United States Cost of Living Summary
Okinawa vs. United States Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Okinawa instead of United States, you would:

pay 54.0% less for restaurants

 
United States
Okinawa
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant $18.59
 
$7.16
¥1,066
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
$10.47
 
$5.63
¥838
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) $2.50
 
$1.24
¥185

Improve prices ·

pay 0.1% less for groceries

 
United States
Okinawa
Bread
1 loaf
$3.49
 
$2.12
¥316
Local cheese (8 oz) $6.33
 
$7.74
¥1,151
Milk (1 gallon) $3.91
 
$6.20
¥922

Improve prices ·

pay 4.4% more for transportation

 
United States
Okinawa
Gasoline (1 gallon) $3.61
 
$4.19
¥623
Monthly public transit pass $65.15
 
$32.57
¥4,846
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) $31,583.67
 
$21,767.76
¥3,239,262

Improve prices ·

pay 54.9% less for housing

 
United States
Okinawa
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
$67.50
 
$29.96
¥4,459
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area $1,655.99
 
$418.16
¥62,226
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center $1,423.40
 
$374.52
¥55,732

Improve prices ·

pay 75.9% less for childcare

 
United States
Okinawa
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly $1,351.84
 
$325.67
¥48,463
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters $22,265.44
 
??

Improve prices ·

pay 31.1% less for entertainment and sports

 
United States
Okinawa
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) $5.78
 
$3.26
¥485
Cappuccino in mid-range area $5.04
 
$2.80
¥417
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
$9.68
 
$4.56
¥678

Improve prices ·

pay 20.5% less for clothing

 
United States
Okinawa
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
$50.38
 
$45.26
¥6,735
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
$40.66
 
$28.95
¥4,308
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
$85.52
 
$67.74
¥10,080

Improve prices ·
The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: July 2025
Share this

Compare countries by overall cost of living

See the cost of living in United States vs. Japan. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within United States and Japan.

Help us improve these prices

MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative project. Please enter price information for your location to help assist us in making these comparisons more accurate. Learn more

ASK THE ELSEWHERE COMMUNITY

Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about Okinawa or United States. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.