Cost of Living in Seoul
Summary about cost of living in Seoul, South Korea:
- Family of four estimated monthly costs are 4,063.34$ (4,520,044.47₩) without rent (using our estimator).
- A single person estimated monthly costs are 1,120.45$ (1,246,388.72₩) without rent.
- Seoul is 14.68% less expensive than New York (without rent, see our cost of living index).
- Rent in Seoul is, on average, 66.15% lower than in New York.
Restaurants |  Edit |
Range |
|---|---|---|
| Meal, Inexpensive Restaurant | 7.19 $ | |
| Meal for 2 People, Mid-range Restaurant, Three-course | 44.95 $ | |
| McMeal at McDonalds (or Equivalent Combo Meal) | 5.84 $ | |
| Domestic Beer (1 pint draught) | 3.60 $ | |
| Imported Beer (12 oz small bottle) | 5.39 $ | |
| Cappuccino (regular) | 4.28 $ | |
| Coke/Pepsi (12 oz small bottle) | 1.64 $ | |
| Water (12 oz small bottle) | 0.78 $ | |
Markets | Edit |
|
| Milk (regular), (1 gallon) | 8.61 $ | |
| Loaf of Fresh White Bread (1 lb) | 2.45 $ | |
| Rice (white), (1 lb) | 2.05 $ | |
| Eggs (regular) (12) | 3.10 $ | |
| Local Cheese (1 lb) | 8.26 $ | |
| Chicken Fillets (1 lb) | 4.47 $ | |
| Beef Round (1 lb) (or Equivalent Back Leg Red Meat) | 15.55 $ | |
| Apples (1 lb) | 3.56 $ | |
| Banana (1 lb) | 1.60 $ | |
| Oranges (1 lb) | 2.56 $ | |
| Tomato (1 lb) | 3.23 $ | |
| Potato (1 lb) | 1.76 $ | |
| Onion (1 lb) | 1.33 $ | |
| Lettuce (1 head) | 2.31 $ | |
| Water (1.5 liter bottle) | 1.19 $ | |
| Bottle of Wine (Mid-Range) | 17.98 $ | |
| Domestic Beer (0.5 liter bottle) | 2.36 $ | |
| Imported Beer (12 oz small bottle) | 2.83 $ | |
| Cigarettes 20 Pack (Marlboro) | 4.05 $ | |
Transportation | Edit |
|
| One-way Ticket (Local Transport) | 1.12 $ | |
| Monthly Pass (Regular Price) | 49.44 $ | |
| Taxi Start (Normal Tariff) | 3.42 $ | |
| Taxi 1 mile (Normal Tariff) | 1.14 $ | |
| Taxi 1hour Waiting (Normal Tariff) | 10.79 $ | |
| Gasoline (1 gallon) | 5.28 $ | |
| Volkswagen Golf 1.4 90 KW Trendline (Or Equivalent New Car) | 28,766.74 $ | |
| Toyota Corolla Sedan 1.6l 97kW Comfort (Or Equivalent New Car) | 25,714.52 $ | |
Utilities (Monthly) | Edit |
|
| Basic (Electricity, Heating, Cooling, Water, Garbage) for 915 sq ft Apartment | 184.50 $ | |
| 1 min. of Prepaid Mobile Tariff Local (No Discounts or Plans) | 0.14 $ | |
| Internet (60 Mbps or More, Unlimited Data, Cable/ADSL) | 24.05 $ | |
Sports And Leisure | Edit |
|
| Fitness Club, Monthly Fee for 1 Adult | 56.90 $ | |
| Tennis Court Rent (1 Hour on Weekend) | 18.32 $ | |
| Cinema, International Release, 1 Seat | 9.89 $ | |
Childcare | Edit |
|
| Preschool (or Kindergarten), Full Day, Private, Monthly for 1 Child | 418.68 $ | |
| International Primary School, Yearly for 1 Child | 20,253.58 $ | |
Clothing And Shoes | Edit |
|
| 1 Pair of Jeans (Levis 501 Or Similar) | 68.04 $ | |
| 1 Summer Dress in a Chain Store (Zara, H&M, ...) | 45.35 $ | |
| 1 Pair of Nike Running Shoes (Mid-Range) | 83.97 $ | |
| 1 Pair of Men Leather Business Shoes | 137.53 $ | |
Rent Per Month | Edit |
|
| Apartment (1 bedroom) in City Centre | 853.47 $ | |
| Apartment (1 bedroom) Outside of Centre | 585.07 $ | |
| Apartment (3 bedrooms) in City Centre | 2,374.04 $ | |
| Apartment (3 bedrooms) Outside of Centre | 1,277.98 $ | |
Buy Apartment Price | Edit |
|
| Price per Square Feet to Buy Apartment in City Centre | 1,792.84 $ | |
| Price per Square Feet to Buy Apartment Outside of Centre | 903.56 $ | |
Salaries And Financing | Edit |
|
| Average Monthly Net Salary (After Tax) | 2,583.72 $ | |
| Mortgage Interest Rate in Percentages (%), Yearly, for 20 Years Fixed-Rate | 3.39 |
Prices in Seoul
This city had 1315 entries in the past 12 months by 168 different contributors.
Last update: February 2021
Last update: February 2021
Sources and References
Would you like to live and work in Seoul?
Explore Seoul:
Nearby cities:| Cost of Living in Bucheon | 14.63 miles |
| Cost of Living in Anyang | 16.48 miles |
| Cost of Living in Seongnam | 17.54 miles |
| Cost of Living in Uijeongbu | 17.54 miles |
| Cost of Living in Incheon | 19.09 miles |
| Cost of Living in Ilsan | 19.10 miles |
| Cost of Living in Gimpo | 19.16 miles |
| Cost of Living in Gunpo | 19.35 miles |
| Cost of Living in Suji-gu | 20.07 miles |
| Cost of Living in Yangju-si | 20.74 miles |
This page in other languages:
DeutschLebenshaltungskosten in Seoul
PortuguêsCusto de Vida em Seul
ItalianoCosto della Vita a Seul
FrançaisCoût de la Vie à Séoul
EspañolCosto de Vida en Seúl
It is increased a lot for last a year
Minimum wage is about $8, 8 hours * 25 days (when you work for 5 days a week, you get paid for extra day)
$1,600 is the minimum wage per month
Private child care starts from 1800~ 3000 depending on the number of kids, and what nationality you are.
400 USD is not even close.
And preliminary school for expats start from 35,000 to 40,000 usd, equivalent to the tuition level in US.
Could someone please message me at KKT @missborja? I really need the answers on my query below comment. Just need the numbers soonest.
Thanks.
V
if you are healthy and get a job at construction industry as a unskilled worker,
you can get a 220~260k won at a month. (26days/month)
and minimum wage is about 160k at a month. (5days/week) (in every industry)
buger shop in Hongdae is not a ordinary korean restaurant.
for ordinary korean, 8k won is reasonable price for lunch at the seoul.
I have lived in this country for a long time and yes this is an expensive country and salary is quite high. Median household income is 8th in the world. Check the stats above
- Milk
- White Bread
- Cheese
- Tomatos
- Bananas
- Beef
Sound like a typical Korean diet to you? Me neither... of course groceries for eating a Western diet will be more expensive in EAST ASIA.
And ₩2,388 for .5L of domestic beer at the grocery store? More like 1.5L for domestic at near that price.
Also, Seoul has the most expensive 1kg of Potatoes... in the world. Apparently. Seems like a dubious claim to me.
its trap
to get the salary it described you might work 13hours every day and of course have to go work saturday and sunday.
and you will be very sick and all the money goes to hospital
From the annual report for yearly income, Korean earn about 3.2k( 30k usd) krw and 2.5k (22k usd).
Monthly income should around 2m krw.
The truth is the half of people cannot make even that money, means less than 2m krw.
The workers who work for global big companies or some specialists make twice or bigger money of that( 4m ~ 10m krw / 3.7k ~ 8k ) .
Why this happening is that Korea is one of the highly exports nations.
Absorb global money => strong KRW => increases price index => demands of wage enlargement =>
global company press down products costs => sub contractors hold increasing wage but big companies.
If you guys get a job at one of the global big companies, you can afford a pretty nice life.
The Salary data in Numeo is not high.
if you work for well-known large companies or good one, your salary level is way higher.
It is a capitalistic country. so if you are capable or young, you can have more opportunities.
If you want to add an Asian experience in your resume, Seoul is one of the best city in Asia.
People here don't make that money at all.
Only IT workers, most people only make half.
I lived in Seoul for 30 years. My English is bad. Sorry.
The problem in Korea is the house price.
It starts at $ 450. It is a very small room.
And the deposit starts at $ 3,000~5,000
But the price of eating out is not bad.
The price is $ 7 or $ 10.
If you are frugal and do not live luxuriously.
You can live for even $ 800 a month. (Excluding deposit rental fee)
But your life will be little pain.
and no have fun.
I'm 18/5 years old and would probably move to S. Korea next year. I live in Iran and I'm really trying to get a scholarship which I think it would be the one that only pays for tuition fee of the university (wanna study music). With this, how much do I need to have for just having a place for sleep and a single meal everyday? (Yes just a place for sleeping like a 3×1 room will work for me/ I don't have problems with walking long distances and wearing the same cloth for a whole year, so pathetic HAHA) and how hard I can find a job that actually provides me with the money needed and a little bit more for saving?(i gave it a second thought. Is their anyone who will let me stay in the work place for the nights? Or we just see it in k-drama?)
Oh I forgot! I can speak Persian and Arabic too. Can I work as a traslator or A language teacher (persian and english)?
My Email is tiktaak13@gmail.com
thank you!
Most absurd thing I see is about the examples they used for the comparison of price of cars: VW Golf and Toyota Corolla. Both are considered "upscale" in Korea since they are priced higher than most domestic brand vehicles like Hyundai's or KIA's. Korea tax heavily for the import vehicles in order to protect their domestic brands' market, resulting in ridiculous prices for the most cars that are considered basic in other countries. Given that Korean domestic car manufacturer's known practice of cutting corners in their domestic products (yes, they do make it better for the export products, and it's always been a hot subject to be discussed in car forums in Korea), these import brands are considered more reliable and upscale. This result in pretty interesting vehicle lineups for the import brands. They really go for the upscale image for their brands as import manufacturers, ditch their most basic cars (they won't even sell very well anyways since Koreans don't like to have compacts/hatchbacks due to the pervasive assumption of bigger cars being safer in accidents, and bigger car having more "road authority") and make their lineup starting from mid-sized sedan and compact SUVs, priced almost x1.5 compared to their counterparts in North America. You'll see something like meticulously maintained Honda mid 2000's CR-Vs in Korea, while in the city I'm currently at, they're nothing more than 10-year beaters that are starting to show their age in paint bubbles or rusted out wheel wells. If you want to have a car in Korea, be prepared to buy either Hyundai or Kia, or Chevrolet (due to Korea-US free trades agreement, they are rather affordable there) made sub-par than their NA counterparts, or to pay whopping x2 price for the most basic import cars you'd usually see in any NA cities. Most of Korean domestic vehicles' price start at about the same as any other entry cars in NA market.
On a similar note, don't expect to buy any import goods for a reasonable price there... you'd better love Korean domestic products (which have gotten quite competitive in recent years, I gotta say) or you'll be paying above average for your groceries.
Next being the most important subject, housing. Rent per month for 1BR here seems about right, but for 3BRs in Korea, you'd almost never go for monthly rent. There is a form of leasing an apartment which you'd make a deposit for about its half to about 75% of its market value to the owner, called "전세" (pronounced "Jeon-seh"), that you just forget about the monthly rent and get back that deposit when you move out. These are becoming the norm of getting a dwelling for newer families in Seoul. Also in relation to the rents, while it looks cheaper to rent a place in Korean in comparison to other big NA cities, the minimum wage in Korea, which is not listed here, is still at about 7 USD. If you'd be working a minimum wage job in Korea, you'd be working about the same hours to earn yourself a living as you would in any other big NA cities.
Meanwhile, some stuffs like fast internet, cigarettes, eating out, fashionable clothing and public transports, are much more affordable than where I'm currently living at. If you're dependent on any of those, you'd be enjoying your life there. Great thing about Korea is that there is abundance of cheaply priced eateries which are already so much better in comparison to similarly priced ones in NA (in relation to the different minimum wages). You'd be hanging out with your friends a lot, which is never a bad thing, especially as an immigrant or a foreign worker. Also for the internet, I'd get 10x speed for the half price in Korea in comparison to what I'm paying for my plan in my current city. You'd be spoiled if you frequent video streaming services or downloading games on Steam.
The other things that I didn't mention are quite well addressed in Megustastu's comment down there. I might have dropped out a few things that are also equally important as those stated above... but I'm too drunk right now to go over my rant checking everything. Let me know if there's anything that you'd like to know. I might check back later sometime.
These being said, as a Korean who lived there for 25 years and moved over to somewhere in NA few years back, I really do miss my country. Not a day goes by nowadays without me pondering about the idea of giving up and going back. I miss my friends there, and the ability to speak to people without checking my grammar, pronunciation and intonations in this foreign language I speak. But then, I like being able to drive my convertible breathing clean air (yeah, being able to breath clean air is also a thing in NA) which never would have been possible if I had stayed in Korea. I also like the selection of great domestic craft beer which is priced at about 2.5 USD per 350ml bottle over here. Something I'd never get in Korea.
From Pheonix
Actually im living in morocco , and im thinking to move to korea , but i'm still in need of more information about life there , if someome can mail me to give me more infos ill be thankful
ps: if someone needs infos about living in morocco i'm here this is my mail "akram.slayko@gmail.com
First, I saw Paris page, it is so gloomy.
You can ask anything about seoul.. maybe I can answer it.
Cost of living too high, not a place to live.
If anyone is planning to get a job here you should get paid at least KRW 30,000,000 a year as an entry level position to have a minimum life standard (housing costs not included).
Overtime work is (literally) endless in some jobs, so take that into account, because it could ruin your health and life condition.
* 1000 krw = 1 usd for convenience
(Currently 1 usd = 1058 krw)
Many people ask 'how much money is enough to live on avg in seoul'. For that, I think you need to know 'how much is minimal fee'.
I defined 'minimal' includes 2~3 meals/day, basic cellphone fee, transport fee. In that case, it only costs around 450 usd.
(Cellphone 30 usd, transport 1.25 usd * 20 = 25 usd
6 usd * 2.3 meals/day * 30 = 400 usd)
We also need to consider rental fee. If you live alone, you can get a small room(including small kitchen & toilet - usually 13~19m^2) with 400~600 usd per month. Of course, there is a deposit fee, usually starts from 5000 usd. One of past comment is explained well.
If you need further information about living in Seoul or near, you can mail me. But I only can give you a infos from native Korean's view.
If you want some life information of Korea city, send email to me.
If you're coming from countries like the US, UK, Europe, cost of living should be similar.
Korea is beauty place to have a good life if you have money and education. if not, then it can be very harsh to live there.
The prices here on numbeo are quite accurate but make sure before come to Seoul, to have a enough (or little bit more money) for what you want to do.
But, two things are very various depend on the situation.
1. Monthly Salary : In small, medium companies, office workers' annual salary starts around USD20,000(Highschool degree). But in big companies like Samsung, LG, etc. the salary would start around USD35,000 or more(Bac degree). This is based on new employees.
2. Rent : This is very uneven. Usually we rent flat/studio/apartment with deposit and rent.
Deposit is the money you give the landlord in case of breaking facilities in the house or delayed rent. They will deduct the amount when you move out. This starts from USD4,500 ~ 265,000. Of course there are contracts without deposit but I guess this is hard to find and may apply high rent. Also you can adjust the rent with more or less deposit. With more deposit, less rent you pay.
Here you can check the lists of rents. These are the most famous house rental website. But they only offer Korean language.
https://www.zigbang.com/
https://www.dabangapp.com/
Below are supermarket chains websites. You can order stuff from those websites and they deliver it to your home whenever the time you pick. You can see how much actual stuff cost in Korea.
http://www.homeplus.co.kr/
http://emart.ssg.com/
http://www.lottemart.com/
And Korean people living in big cities kinda speak English. Not much hard to find someone speak English. Most of young people understand what you are saying but they just don't know how to explain. lol
How much is the average earnings of a manager in Seoul?
Fast reply please... thanks.
Can also email to : shirleygan77@yahoo.com
We need a general/average price p/year for housing and study + basic item expenses so we can start saving
if you currently live in korea and can tell me the basic price of housing, ect. p/year for 4 people that would be a great help!!
Email: mathchick48@gmail.com
thankyou!!