Sendai Cost of Living vs Salary

Urban Stress Index: 25.70

Is Sendai an affordable place to live? A typical resident spends around 17.2% of income on rent and 8.5% on food. That leaves approximately 74.3% of income available for savings and daily expenses.

The Urban Stress Index (USI) provides a structured way to evaluate cost-of-living pressure in Sendai. By combining housing and essential food costs, it highlights how much income is required to maintain a basic standard of living relative to local wages.

Cost Breakdown

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Cost Structure Analysis

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Methodology

The Urban Stress Index (USI) measures how much of a typical income is spent on housing and essential food.

USI = Housing burden + Food cost share.

See full methodology here.

Sources

Housing data for Japanese cities are based on listings from SUUMO. For each city, housing cost is proxied using the average rent for a 1DK apartment in the administrative ward where the city’s main central station is located. For example, Yokohama uses the average 1DK rent in Nishi Ward, as Yokohama Station is located there. This approach is intended to reflect the rent level most relevant to the city’s main urban core.

Food cost estimates are based on a standardized inexpensive meal benchmark using charcoal-grilled mackerel set meal (さばの炭火焼き) from Ootoya. This benchmark is used instead of Numbeo restaurant prices in order to better reflect everyday dining habits in Japan and provide a more consistent proxy for affordable local meal costs across cities.

Salary data are based on the Japanese government’s 令和６年賃金構造基本統計調査, using きまって支給する現金給与額 (scheduled cash earnings), 男女計 (combined male and female values), as the salary benchmark for each prefecture or relevant labour market area.

For full explanation of assumptions, please see the Methodology and Sources pages.

See Related Cities & Comparisons

Other cities in Japan:

• Compare with Kobe (USI: 25.9)
• Compare with Chiba (USI: 26.2)
• Compare with Shizuoka (USI: 24.9)
• Compare with Yokohama (USI: 26.6)

Cities with similar affordability outside Japan:

• Compare with Nuremberg, Germany (USI: 25.7)
• Compare with Austin, USA (USI: 25.7)
• Compare with Stuttgart, Germany (USI: 26.0)
• Compare with Dresden, Germany (USI: 24.9)