Juku spending in grades 4 to 6: what the ministry's fiscal 2023 survey shows
学習塾費（小学4〜6年）令和5年度子供の学習費調査より
- Applies to
- All of Japan
- Source last checked
- , Open the Japanese source
- Official source
- 令和5年度子供の学習費調査 調査結果の概要（文部科学省、令和8年1月16日差替）
Japan's Ministry of Education (文部科学省) runs a survey of what parents spend on each child's education, the 子供の学習費調査 (kodomo no gakushūhi chōsa, survey of children's learning costs). The latest results cover fiscal 2023 (令和5年度), the Japanese school year from April 2023 to March 2024. The ministry corrected the figures and replaced the results on 16 January 2026. The numbers below are the corrected ones.
What "juku fees" means in this survey
The survey's item list counts as juku fees (学習塾費, gakushū-juku hi) everything a family paid to send the child to a juku: the joining fee, monthly tuition, seasonal course fees (講習会費), materials, mock tests taken at that juku, and travel to the juku. Juku fees are one part of supplementary study (補助学習費, hojo gakushū hi), which also includes study materials at home, correspondence courses and private tutors.
Each figure is an average per child per year across all children at that type of school, including children whose families paid nothing for juku. It is not the cost for a family preparing for the junior-high exam.
Grades 4, 5 and 6
| Grade | Public elementary: juku fees | Public elementary: all supplementary study | Private elementary: juku fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | ¥80,935 | ¥116,753 | ¥267,097 |
| 5 | ¥106,550 | ¥143,318 | ¥375,686 |
| 6 | ¥145,161 | ¥186,559 | ¥442,735 |
Across all six elementary grades the average juku fee was ¥75,194 a year at public elementary schools and ¥259,492 at private ones. The survey says the single highest juku figure for any grade, public or private, was private elementary grade 6, at about ¥443,000.
The survey also says that at public schools supplementary study tends to take a larger share of out-of-school spending than lessons, sports and other activities from grade 6 onward. At private elementary schools that happens from grade 4.
Most families pay nothing; a few pay a lot
The same summary shows how spending is spread across families of public elementary children (all grades together):
| Juku fees in the year | Share of children |
|---|---|
| ¥0 | 61.0% |
| Under ¥10,000 | 2.3% |
| ¥10,000 to under ¥50,000 | 7.0% |
| ¥50,000 to under ¥100,000 | 7.4% |
| ¥100,000 to under ¥200,000 | 11.4% |
| ¥200,000 to under ¥300,000 | 4.3% |
| ¥300,000 to under ¥400,000 | 1.8% |
| ¥400,000 or more | 4.7% |
Among families that paid anything at all, the average was about ¥193,000 a year for public elementary children and about ¥361,000 for private elementary children.
City size and household income
The summary does not split juku fees by place, but it does split the wider out-of-school total (学校外活動費, supplementary study plus lessons, sports and other activities). For public elementary children in cities of one million people or more and in Tokyo's special wards, it was ¥355,320 a year, against a national average of ¥256,489.
Supplementary study for public elementary children rises with household income: about ¥59,000 a year in households earning under ¥4 million, and about ¥261,000 in households earning ¥12 million or more.
What comes after grade 6
- If the child goes on to a private junior high, school costs alone (fees, trips, uniforms, commuting; 学校教育費) averaged ¥1,128,061 a year, against ¥150,761 at a public junior high.
- If the child stays in the public junior high, juku fees in the third year (grade 9, before the high-school exam) averaged ¥341,220.
What this survey cannot tell you
It does not give the cost of a juku course aimed at 中学受験. Those fees are set by each juku. Ask for the written fee schedule for the full year, including seasonal courses and mock tests, before you sign up. Spending more on juku does not decide a result.
Your child's dates, not the general ones
Add your child and ward. The timeline does the rest.