Cost of Living in Japan: The Real Monthly Budget of a Homeowner

Cost of living in Japan: the short answer

The official benchmark is the kakei chosa (家計調査, Family Income and Expenditure Survey), published monthly by the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is the only series that measures what Japanese households actually spend, from a national sample of real household account books.

Household	Consumption spending, 2025	Equivalent	Detail
Two or more people	314,001 JPY / month	1,938 EUR / month	Average household of 2.87 people, head of household aged 60.7
Single person	173,042 JPY / month	1,068 EUR / month	Average age 58.6
Two or more people, Hokkaido	294,154 JPY / month	1,816 EUR / month	6 % below the national average, heating included

Three warnings before you turn those numbers into your own budget.

This is not total spending

The consumption spending line excludes, by design, hi shohi shishutsu (非消-hi支出, non-consumption expenditure): income tax, local resident tax, social insurance and pension contributions. For an employee those deductions commonly add another 15 to 25 % of gross income. For a non-resident owner they take a different form, covered further down.

Housing is almost invisible in it

The survey's housing line only counts rent paid and minor repairs. Imputed rent for owner-occupiers is deliberately excluded. Since Japan's housing stock of roughly 65 million dwellings is largely owner-occupied, the national housing line stays structurally low and says nothing about what a roof really costs.

The average Japanese household is not you

That household is 60.7 years old, usually in a house paid off long ago, with a written-off car. A European couple buying a house to renovate at 45 has neither the same grocery basket, nor the same healthcare bill, nor the same works ahead. Use the average as an anchor, never as a forecast.

Energy, water and telecoms: what a home actually consumes

This is the line buyers scrutinise most, and where wrong assumptions cost the most. Here are the 2025 monthly averages for a household of two or more people.

Item	National average, 2025	Equivalent	What moves the bill
Electricity	10,962 JPY / month	68 EUR / month	Summer air conditioning, winter electric heating, insulation of the shell
Piped gas or propane	4,161 JPY / month	26 EUR / month	Rural propane costs markedly more than city gas
Water and sewerage	3,941 JPY / month	24 EUR / month	Set by the municipality, with a 1 to 3 spread between local authorities
Other fuels (kerosene, wood)	The balance of the energy line	n/a	Nil in Kyushu, decisive in Tohoku and Hokkaido
Total energy and water	20,243 JPY / month	125 EUR / month	Annual average, strongly seasonal

Season matters more than region

That annual average hides a February and March peak that can double the bill. An older Japanese house is heated room by room, with no continuous insulation: thermal comfort is paid for in energy rather than in building work, until the shell is upgraded. That is exactly why insulating a Japanese house is the first renovation decision to make, ahead of the kitchen or the bathroom.

Kerosene heating in the cold regions

North of Sendai, heating runs on toyu (灯油, domestic kerosene), delivered to a tank or bought in 18-litre cans. In spring 2026 an 18-litre can traded around 2,500 JPY (15 EUR), about 139 JPY per litre. A poorly insulated detached house in Hokkaido commonly burns 1,000 to 1,800 litres per heating season, which is 139,000 to 250,000 JPY (860 to 1,543 EUR) for a single winter. This is the line that makes a very cheap northern house a poor bargain, and it is covered in our guide to buying a house in Hokkaido.

Off-grid sanitation: the forgotten line

Away from mains sewerage, a house runs a jokaso (浄化槽, individual wastewater treatment unit). The law requires a maintenance contract, an annual desludging and a statutory inspection: budget 60,000 to 100,000 JPY a year (370 to 617 EUR), or 5,000 to 8,300 JPY a month. The full set of obligations is in our article on the jokaso and sanitation in a Japanese house.

The owner-only lines the survey does not count

This is the part of the budget no cost-of-living comparator shows, and the part that decides whether a purchase works.

Fixed asset tax and city planning tax

Whoever owns the property on 1 January pays kotei shisan zei (kotei shisan-zei, fixed asset tax) at a standard rate of 1.4 % of the assessed value, plus, inside urbanisation promotion areas only, toshi keikaku zei (toshi keikaku-zei, city planning tax) capped at 0.3 %. Two mechanisms change everything:

• The residential land reduction. As long as a dwelling stands on the land, the taxable base of the land is divided by 6 up to 200 sqm (by 3 beyond that), and by 3 for the city planning tax.
• The exemption threshold. The menzeiten (免税点) waives fixed asset tax when, within one municipality and for one owner, the taxable base is below 300,000 JPY (1,852 EUR) for land or 200,000 JPY (1,235 EUR) for the building.

The assessed value is not the price you pay: for land it targets roughly 70 % of the official market value, and for buildings it starts from reconstruction cost and depreciates with age. The full calculation, including payment dates and how to pay from abroad, is set out in our article on property tax in Japan.

Two real calculations

Line	Mid-size city house	Rural akiya
Assessed value of the land	5,000,000 JPY (30,864 EUR)	800,000 JPY (4,938 EUR)
Assessed value of the building	3,000,000 JPY (18,519 EUR)	150,000 JPY (926 EUR)
Land base after reduction	833,333 JPY	133,333 JPY, below the threshold
Fixed asset tax	53,666 JPY / year	0 JPY, land and building both exempt
City planning tax	14,000 JPY / year	0 JPY, outside the urbanisation area
Annual total	67,666 JPY (418 EUR)	0 JPY

Yes, a small country house can pay nothing at all. And yes, this is also why the landscape looks the way it does: demolish that building and the land loses the reduction, the base jumps to 800,000 JPY and the bill climbs to about 11,200 JPY a year (69 EUR). Keeping a ruin standing is cheaper than clearing it, which is one reason the 2023 housing census counted 899,500 more vacant homes than in 2018.

Condominium charges, if you buy an apartment

A manshon (mansion (condominium), condominium block) adds two compulsory monthly payments: kanrihi (kanri-hi, running charges) and shuzen tsumitatekin (shūzen tsumitatekin, sinking fund for major works), often 25,000 to 40,000 JPY combined (154 to 247 EUR). The second rises in scheduled steps over the life of the building, which many buyers discover too late: see our breakdown of Japanese condominium charges. On our listings, these amounts appear on the property page whenever the source publishes them.

Insurance, maintenance, provisions

Fire insurance covers typhoon, flood and water damage; earthquake cover is a capped add-on priced by prefecture and construction date. Budget 5,000 to 10,000 JPY a month (31 to 62 EUR) for a detached house, more in a high-risk zone: the criteria are set out in our article on home insurance in Japan. On top of that, a realistic maintenance provision of 1 % of the building value per year is not accounting caution but the reality of timber construction exposed to damp and termites.

Tokyo, mid-size city, countryside: three real budgets

Here are three budgets built line by line from the official averages quoted above and the tax rules just described. They are estimates, not statements: use them to compare orders of magnitude, not as a substitute for a quote.

Case A: couple in Tokyo, 65 sqm condominium bought outright for 45,000,000 JPY (277,778 EUR)

Item	JPY / month	EUR / month
Food, two people	80,000	494
Electricity, gas, water	19,100	118
Phone and internet	12,000	74
Transport, two passes, no car	20,000	123
National health insurance, two people	30,000	185
Condominium charges and sinking fund	32,000	198
Fixed asset tax and city planning tax	10,700	66
Fire and earthquake insurance	5,500	34
Public broadcasting fee	1,100	7
Leisure, clothing, miscellaneous	60,000	370
Total	270,400	1,669

Case B: family of three in Fukuoka, 110 sqm house on 180 sqm, bought for 25,000,000 JPY (154,321 EUR)

Item	JPY / month	EUR / month
Food, three people	95,000	586
Electricity, gas, water	22,000	136
Phone and internet	14,000	86
One car: tax, roadworthiness test, insurance, fuel	20,000	123
Public transport	8,000	49
National health insurance, three people	35,000	216
Fixed asset tax and city planning tax	5,600	35
Fire and earthquake insurance	6,000	37
Building maintenance provision	10,000	62
Public broadcasting fee	1,100	7
School, leisure, clothing, miscellaneous	70,000	432
Total	286,700	1,770

Case C: retired couple in Wakayama, akiya bought for 4,000,000 JPY and renovated for 6,000,000 JPY

Item	JPY / month	EUR / month
Food, two people	78,000	481
Electricity, propane, water	24,000	148
Jokaso servicing, annualised	6,500	40
Phone and internet	12,000	74
Two light kei cars	32,000	198
Healthcare, couple over 65	25,000	154
Fixed asset tax, outside the urbanisation area	1,200	7
Fire and earthquake insurance, older building	8,000	49
Maintenance provision, older building	12,000	74
Neighbourhood association dues	500	3
Public broadcasting fee	1,100	7
Leisure, clothing, miscellaneous	45,000	278
Total	245,300	1,514

What the three columns teach

Between Tokyo and rural Wakayama the gap in monthly living cost is only 25,100 JPY (155 EUR), about 9 %. The house costs three to ten times less to buy, but two cars, an older building to maintain and off-grid sanitation take back nearly everything the land gave. In other words: in the countryside you save on capital tied up, not on the monthly budget. That is a strong argument for buying rural, and a weak argument for living there to spend less. The region is chosen on other grounds, as our guide to where to live in Japan as a foreigner and our article on buying in the Japanese countryside explain.

What a house you do not live in costs

This is the question most of our readers ask and almost nobody answers: what does a Japanese house cost during the eleven months you are not there? The line items change completely, because the weight shifts from consumption to custody of the property.

Annual item	JPY / year	EUR / year	Note
Fixed asset tax and city planning tax	12,000	74	Akiya bought for 5,000,000 JPY, low assessed value
Fire and earthquake insurance	60,000	370	Loaded rate for an unoccupied dwelling, which must be declared as such
Water and electricity standing charges kept live	36,000	222	Closing the meters is cheaper but makes any visit impossible
Jokaso servicing	78,000	481	A legal obligation, occupied or not
Monthly visit by a caretaker	120,000	741	Airing, mail, photo report, 5,000 to 15,000 JPY per visit
Clearing and garden	60,000	370	Two visits a year, unavoidable in a humid climate
Works provision	100,000	617	1 % of the building, roof and frame first
Total	466,000	2,877	About 39,000 JPY (241 EUR) a month

The risk that multiplies the bill by six

Since the December 2023 revision of the vacant housing act, a municipality can classify a property as kanri fuzen akiya (kanri fuzen akiya, poorly managed vacant house) before it becomes dangerous. A formal recommendation is then enough to strip the residential land reduction: the fixed asset tax base returns to full value and the bill can be multiplied by six. A house left alone for two years, garden overgrown and letterbox full, ticks exactly those boxes. The monthly caretaker visit is therefore not a comfort, it is the cheapest insurance in the table.

If the property is let, the maths change

A property put on the rental market moves into another regime: charges become deductible, but a non-resident must appoint a tax representative and accept withholding at source on the rent. The full mechanism is described in our article on rental income tax for non-residents, and the yield simulator already builds these charges into the net return it displays.

Healthcare, cars and school: what surprises Europeans

Health insurance is not free

Every resident registered for more than three months belongs to a compulsory scheme. Without a Japanese employer, that means kokumin kenko hoken (国民健康保険, national health insurance), with a premium set by the municipality on the previous year's taxable income: broadly 7 to 10 % of income, subject to an annual cap, plus a flat amount per person. A foreign retiree arriving with a European pension declared in Japan can therefore face a high premium from the second year. From the age of 40 a long-term care contribution is added. The patient share at the doctor is 30 % for a working-age adult, 20 % or 10 % for older people depending on income. Our article on retiring in Japan sets out the thresholds that apply after 65.

A car, compulsory the moment you leave the city

Line	Light kei car	Standard car, under 1,000 cc
Annual vehicle tax	10,800 JPY (67 EUR)	25,000 JPY (154 EUR)
Roadworthiness test	Every two years	Every two years
Proof of a parking space	Often waived in rural areas	Required in most cities
All-in monthly budget	14,000 to 18,000 JPY (86 to 111 EUR)	20,000 to 28,000 JPY (123 to 173 EUR)

A property more than 30 minutes from a station requires a car, sometimes two if both partners work. That is why we keep repeating that a rural property is judged on its distance to a station and to shops, a criterion our houses under 100,000 euros display well before their price.

The small lines that do not exist in Europe

• Public broadcasting fee. 1,100 JPY a month (7 EUR) for the terrestrial contract, 1,950 JPY (12 EUR) with satellite, due as soon as a television set can receive the programmes.
• Neighbourhood association. The chonaikai (町内会, neighbourhood association) collects a few hundred yen a month and above all expects participation in collective chores: cleaning the drainage channels, the local festival, snow clearing.
• Paid rubbish bags. Many municipalities accept only their own bags, sold in convenience stores, on a strict sorting calendar.
• Snow clearing. In heavy-snow prefectures, clearing the roof is a real annual expense and a service to book before winter.

The mistakes that blow up the budget

1. Comparing a European rent with a Japanese purchase price. The right benchmark is the full monthly budget, taxes and maintenance included, as in the three tables above. A house bought outright does not cost zero per month.
2. Forgetting that fixed asset tax is owed by whoever owns on 1 January. It is apportioned between seller and buyer by custom, not by law: it is a clause to check in the contract, never an assumption.
3. Taking the assessed value for the property's price. It targets about 70 % of the official land value and has nothing to do with the asking price. A seller who invokes it to justify a price is mixing two scales.
4. Underestimating heating in the north. One kerosene winter can exceed the annual fixed asset tax. Always compare energy budgets before comparing purchase prices.
5. Leaving the house unattended. Two years of neglect are enough to trigger a municipal procedure, the loss of the reduction and a tax multiplied by six.
6. Underestimating the second-year health premium. It is calculated on the previous year's income: the shock lands twelve months after arrival, never on arrival.
7. Believing a 300,000 JPY used car costs 300,000 JPY. The two-yearly roadworthiness test, insurance and parking weigh more than the purchase price over five years.
8. Counting on a Japanese mortgage. Home loans are reserved for salaried residents in Japan; without that, purchase is in cash, which changes the cash plan but not the monthly budget. See mortgages in Japan for foreigners.

Expert advice for holding the budget you planned

Ask for the fixed asset tax notice before you make an offer

Every spring the owner receives a tax notice stating the assessed value of land and building and the exact amount paid last year. That document can be requested, is never refused, and gives you the one non-negotiable figure in the budget. It also reveals the registered land area, which sometimes differs from the listing.

Get twelve months of meter readings

A house sold out of an estate often shows absurdly low energy bills because it stood empty. Ask for readings from the last year of real occupancy, or reason from the national average adjusted for the local climate.

Fix the shell before the decoration

On a building from before 1990, loft insulation, double glazing and airtightness return more comfort per yen than any other item, and pay themselves back on the energy bill. The orders of magnitude are in our article on the cost of renovating a machiya or a kominka.

Budget for custody of the property from day one

If you do not live on site, write the monthly caretaker visit into the financing plan, not into contingencies. It is the line that protects the tax reduction, the insurance cover and the resale value all at once.

Check the zoning before counting on no city planning tax

City planning tax applies only inside urbanisation promotion areas. A property just outside saves 0.3 % a year but inherits other constraints: utilities, off-grid sanitation, sometimes limits on rebuilding. The subject is covered in detail in our guide to buying a house in Japan, and our akiya listings state the zoning whenever the source publishes it.

Conclusion: a moderate cost of living, an ownership cost to calculate

Japan remains a country where two or three people live decently on 245,000 to 290,000 JPY a month (1,500 to 1,800 EUR), energy, healthcare and local taxes included. It is the cost of living that makes buying attractive, not only the price of the houses. But an owner's budget cannot be deduced from a national average: it depends on the assessed value, the zoning, the sanitation, the climate and, above all, on whether you occupy the property or not.

The method comes down to three moves: obtain the fixed asset tax notice before making an offer, cost the energy over a full real year, and budget for custody of the property from day one. You can test those assumptions in the simulator, check them against real properties in our listings or among the houses under 50,000 euros, and, if you would rather have those checks done for you on the ground, our end-to-end buying service covers exactly this work.

Frequently asked questions

How much do you need per month to live in Japan?

In 2025 a household of two or more people spent 314,001 JPY a month on average (1,938 EUR), and a single person 173,042 JPY (1,068 EUR), excluding taxes and social contributions. An owner adds fixed asset tax, insurance and maintenance, which is another 15,000 to 50,000 JPY depending on the property.

Is Japan cheaper than Europe or the United States?

On food, transport and healthcare the levels are comparable. The gap is in housing: the purchase price of a house outside the big metros bears no relation to European or American markets, while day-to-day spending stays close.

How much is property tax on a Japanese house?

The standard rate is 1.4 % of the assessed value, plus a city planning tax capped at 0.3 % inside urbanised areas. Thanks to the residential land reduction, a mid-size city house often pays 50,000 to 100,000 JPY a year (309 to 617 EUR), and a small rural house can be fully exempt.

What does a Japanese house you do not live in cost?

Budget roughly 400,000 to 500,000 JPY a year (2,500 to 3,100 EUR) for an akiya: tax, loaded insurance for an unoccupied dwelling, standing charges kept live, sanitation servicing, a monthly caretaker visit and a works provision.

Is electricity expensive in Japan?

The average bill for a household of two or more people was 10,962 JPY a month in 2025 (68 EUR), but it commonly doubles in February and March in an older, poorly insulated house. Insulating the shell is the most effective lever on this line.

Do you need a car to live in the Japanese countryside?

Yes, as soon as the property is more than 20 to 30 minutes from a served station. A light kei car costs 14,000 to 18,000 JPY a month all in (86 to 111 EUR), and a working couple often runs two, which cancels much of the saving made on the house price.

Does a foreign owner have to pay Japanese health insurance?

Enrolment is compulsory for any resident registered for more than three months, whatever their ownership status. A non-resident who owns a property without living in it pays no premium, but still owes fixed asset tax and, if letting, income tax on the rent.

Is buying cheaper than renting in Japan?

Over time, yes in most regions, provided you account for building depreciation: the structure loses its value over twenty to thirty years and only the land keeps it. Buying is justified by use and by control of the monthly budget, not by expected capital gains.