How much does a garbage collector make in Japan?
a year · about $14 an hour
The average garbage collector in Japan makes $26,573 (¥3.99M) a year, monthly pay × 12 plus bonus, below a typical worker in Japan ($33,720) (average, 2025, Japan's Basic Survey on Wage Structure).
What do they do?
Crews check a truck, follow a neighborhood route, and load bags and bins before taking the waste to a treatment site. They flag items that cannot be collected, tidy pickup spots, and clean the truck.
Did you know? A garbage collector in Japan may gather five or six truckloads of waste in a single day.
Is that a lot?
Compared with jobs you knowWhat if you were…
In Japan, age and company size matter mostPick a company size, sex or age to see that group's average here.
How it changes with age
Tap an age to update the number above (Any company size, men and women combined)
How it changes with company size
How do you become one?
In Japan, no special degree or national trade test is usually needed; people may enter after school or switch careers, though some jobs ask for a driving license. New hires learn safety on the job, and truck or machine licenses help with industrial waste.
Why does pay differ?
In Japan, pay can vary with experience, location, company size, and whether you work for a local government or a contractor. Driving or heavy-equipment licenses, hazardous-waste work, and early, late, or shift hours can also matter.
Jobs like this
In the US, a typical garbage collector makes $49,690 → see more
Data table and sources
| Company size | Everyone | Men | Women | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Any size | $26,573 | $27,731 | $20,059 | 49.3 |
| Big company | $27,518 | $29,097 | $21,104 | 49.6 |
| Mid-size | $24,817 | $26,493 | $19,904 | 49.9 |
| Small company | $27,554 | $28,213 | $20,050 | 48.9 |
Source: MHLW Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025 (regular workers, by occupation) (e-Stat). Yearly pay = monthly contractual cash earnings × 12 + annual bonus. Averages for regular workers at firms with 10+ employees. Public employees (teachers, police, firefighters) and company executives are not in this survey. e-stat.go.jp
Pages used for the text
- shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/Occupation/Detail/494
- shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/Occupation/Detail/496
- www.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/list/chinginkouzou_b.html
- www.e-stat.go.jp/stat-search/files?cycle=0&layout=datalist&page=1&stat_infid=000
- www.e-stat.go.jp/dbview?sid=0003445758
Data: MHLW Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025 · 1 USD = 150 JPY