Can a Software Engineer afford to live in Tokyo?

Tight-3% of take-home left to save — expenses eat your whole take-home.
Median salary (gross)
Software Engineer · Tokyo
$53,034
Income tax (~17% effective)
United States
– $8,992
Take-home pay
$3,670/mo
$44,042
Living costs (1 person)
$3,780/mo · derived
– $45,360
Savings potential
$-110/mo · -3% of take-home
$-1,318

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: JP-MHLW median for Software Engineer, adjusted for Tokyo.

• Tax: United States single-filer effective rate (~17%). 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.