Can a Site Reliability Engineer afford to live in Tokyo?

Comfortable28% of take-home left to save — solid margin to save and invest.
Median salary (gross)
Site Reliability Engineer · Tokyo
$78,765
Income tax (~21% effective)
United States
– $16,148
Take-home pay
$5,218/mo
$62,617
Living costs (1 person)
$3,780/mo · derived
– $45,360
Savings potential
$1,438/mo · 28% of take-home
$17,257

Single professional, after-tax. Salary − tax − living costs = what you could save each year.

Full salary breakdown →Is this a good salary in Tokyo? →Compare Tokyo with another city →

How we calculated this

• Salary: OECD 2024 median for Site Reliability Engineer, adjusted for Tokyo.

• Tax: United States single-filer effective rate (~21%). Official calculator.

• Living costs: derived from cost-of-living index for a single professional.

Planning estimates, not financial or tax advice. Updated 2026. Your situation will differ.