Your money: Japan
Japan is the world's fourth-largest economy, and after three decades of famously flat prices its households have recently seen the fastest price rises in a generation. This page shows what an average Japanese household spends and takes home each month, and what everyday items actually cost in Tokyo stores — Japan's unusually direct official data.
Latest price reading: July 2026 · latest wage reading: July 2026 · recomputed automatically every night
The average monthly living costs — Japan
Total household spending
was ¥293,379 /mo in 2019
Latest month: July 2026. Japan's Family Income & Expenditure Survey publishes this directly each month — no annual-survey estimate needed, unlike the US page. Full category breakdown further down this page.
Average household income — after tax (estimate)
was ≈¥451,335 /mo in 2019 (after tax, same estimate)
Latest month: July 2026. The survey publishes income before tax (¥689,476 (≈$4332) this month); the headline applies a ~77% take-home estimate (OECD figure for Japan) so it's comparable to spending. Household income, not a wage rate (see "where this data comes from" below).
Spending is Japan's official total monthly consumption for two-or-more-person worker households — everything they spend, at register prices with consumption tax already inside, since it's real money paid out. The income headline is an after-tax estimate (~77% take-home applied to the survey's official pre-tax figure, OECD-sourced — the same method the US page uses for wages); the official pre-tax number is in the small print above. A full spending breakdown by category is further down this page.
Grocery & everyday prices in Tokyo
Not an index — the actual price charged in stores, from Japan's official Retail Price Survey (monthly). Units are exactly as the survey publishes them. These are register totals, always including Japan's consumption tax — nothing to add on top.
Rice (5 kg bag), Tokyo retail price
since 2019
as of July 2026
White bread (per kg), Tokyo retail price
since 2019
as of July 2026
Milk (1000 mL carton), Tokyo retail price
since 2019
as of July 2026
Eggs (pack of 10), Tokyo retail price
since 2019
as of July 2026
Regular gasoline (per litre), Tokyo retail price
since 2019
as of July 2026
Chicken thighs (per 100 g), Tokyo retail price
since 2019
as of July 2026
Pork belly (per 100 g), Tokyo retail price
since 2019
as of July 2026
Cabbage (per kg), Tokyo retail price
since 2019
as of July 2026
Tokyo (ward area) is the survey's reference city, disclosed in the sources below. Monthly, published ~1 month after the month ends. Change is vs each item's 2019 average; a rising price reads red, a falling one green. Prices are tax-inclusive (the survey records what shoppers actually pay, not a pre-tax label price).
Price trend of the tracked items — Tokyo
Each of the 76 tracked items above is rebased to its own 2019 average (=100), then averaged together — an equal weight for every item, not a yen total (these items have no realistic household quantities to weight by, unlike the US page's basket). A rising line means the tracked items are, on average, more expensive than their 2019 average.
Average monthly household spending — by category
What two-or-more-person households actually spend each month, by category, from Japan's official Family Income & Expenditure Survey — prices and behavior together, compared with 2019.
Food
since 2019
as of July 2026
Housing
since 2019
as of July 2026
Utilities (fuel, light & water)
since 2019
as of July 2026
Furniture & household goods
since 2019
as of July 2026
Clothing & footwear
since 2019
as of July 2026
Health & medical care
since 2019
as of July 2026
Transport & communication
since 2019
as of July 2026
Education
since 2019
as of July 2026
Two-or-more-person households — the survey's headline group. Monthly, published ~1 month after the month ends. Change is vs each category's 2019 monthly average; a rising cost reads red, a falling one green.
For reference, how energy prices specifically have moved (a price index, not a spending amount):
Energy
0.9% vs year ago
+20.6% vs 2019 average
as of July 2026
Where this data comes from
- Statistics Bureau of Japan (総務省統計局), via e-Stat — monthly, published ~5 weeks after month end
- Statistics Bureau of Japan (総務省統計局), via e-Stat — monthly, published ~1-2 months after month end
- Statistics Bureau of Japan (総務省統計局), via e-Stat — monthly, published ~1-2 months after month end
- Statistics Bureau of Japan (総務省統計局), via e-Stat — monthly, published ~5 weeks after month end
- Individual item prices are Tokyo-area readings from the official Retail Price Survey — a consistent city benchmark, not a nationwide average.
- These are the actual amount charged at the register (実売価格), always including Japan's consumption tax — not a pre-tax label price, so no separate tax needs adding on top.
- The $ amounts shown in brackets are a rough guide, not a live price: each converts that figure's own yen amount using the US Federal Reserve's official daily USD/JPY reference rate (FRED, series DEXJPUS) closest to that same date.
- Japan's CPI is published on a 2020=100 base; for the chart it's re-based here so the 2019 average = 100, alongside household income re-based the same way.
- The income line's regular sharp spikes are real: most Japanese employees receive two large lump-sum bonuses a year (typically around June/July and December) on top of a flatter monthly salary, so household income jumps in those months and settles back down the rest of the year — Japan's normal pay structure, not a data error.
- Household income (実収入) is published pre-tax — Japan's own statistics glossary defines it as gross, before income tax, resident tax and social-insurance premiums are deducted. The after-tax figure on this page is an estimate: gross × 0.77 (OECD Taxing Wages, average single worker, Japan) — the same rate applied to 2019 and today, not a directly published figure (Japan's own "disposable income" series exists but isn't fetched by this site yet).
- Household spending is the Family Income & Expenditure Survey monthly average for two-or-more-person households — actual outlays, not a price index. Like the item prices, these are amounts actually paid, tax included; no separate adjustment is needed.
- The spending-by-category breakdown is the same Family Income & Expenditure Survey — monthly average outlays per two-or-more-person household, split across the survey's headline categories.
- These ten categories are the survey's complete breakdown — at the latest month they add up to the published spending total.
- retail prices: this survey publishes city-level prices only; using "特別区部" (code 13100, Tokyo's ward area) as the reference city — every series is labeled accordingly.
- Japan's official wage indexes (Monthly Labour Survey) are frozen at 2015 in e-Stat's API database — the household income side of the Family Income & Expenditure Survey serves as the income signal instead, and the wage indexes can be added if a live table surfaces.
- All data via the official e-Stat API (api.e-stat.go.jp) with the same free ESTAT_APP_ID as the japan source.
- The tracked-items trend line averages each of the 76 priced items relative to its own 2019 average (100 = that item's 2019 average) — not a yen total; see the price cards above for actual prices.
Common questions
Is Japan's household income shown before or after tax?
The headline figure is an after-tax estimate (gross income × roughly 77%, based on OECD Taxing Wages data for Japan), with the official pre-tax survey figure shown in smaller print below it, since spending is easier to compare against income on the same after-tax basis.
Are Tokyo retail prices representative of all of Japan?
They come from Japan's official Retail Price Survey using Tokyo's ward area as the reference city, which is standard practice for this survey — prices elsewhere in Japan can differ, and the page discloses Tokyo as the reference city on every price shown.
Do Japan's shelf prices already include tax?
Yes. Japan's Statistics Bureau records the actual transaction price paid at the register (実売価格), which always includes consumption tax — no adjustment is needed, unlike US grocery prices, which are published before sales tax.