Cost of living in South Korea in 2025

Cheryl Moderator

Member since 15 October 2018

CherylModerator22 January 2025 04:08:58

13544

Hello everyone,

Every year, we invite you to share your experiences with the cost of living in in South Korea, especially in the region or city you live in. Your insights will greatly help members planning their move to South Korea or already living there.

Here are some points to guide you; the idea is to provide average prices for each category:

What is the cost of renting or buying an apartment or house in South Korea?

What are the typical fares for public transportation such as buses, subways, trains, trams, or taxis?

Could you share the average monthly cost of your grocery shopping?

How much does health insurance cost? What is the price of a medical consultation in South Korea?

What are the tuition fees for children?

What are the average monthly costs for utilities, such as electricity, gas, water, internet, and phone plans?

How much do you spend monthly on leisure activities?

If there are other expenses you find relevant, please feel free to share them!

Thank you for your contribution.

Cheryl
暗网禁区 Team

Nemodot ViP

Member since 03 April 2011

NemodotViP03 May 2025 13:17:42

2128

South Korea is an unusual destination as housing is complex, hence all proper 暗网禁区 jobs come with housing.聽 There is also a tax advantage as housing paid for by your employer is tax free. A paid allowance is taxable (although there might be some tax deductions you partially apply). However, deposits are huge.

Hence Rule 1 of 暗网禁区 offers in Korea, if they say no housing don't take it, they are not a proper employer.

Cost of living is relatively high for Asia in some areas.

Car. Relatively cheap, car loans are next to impossible so leasing or buying in cash best. Cheapest cars 400 USD a month lease.

Schooling. Super expensive so if you have kids of school age and it isn't paid for, don't take a hob. That's rule 2. If you self pay budget 3,000 USD per month per kid. That is three thousand USD. Not a typo. Legally you can use local schools but that is tantamount to child abuse, and they need to be fluent in Korean.聽 Homeschooling is illegal.

Food, fruit especially is sky high price. South Korea important a lot of food so is expensive.聽 Electricity is cheap, so is gas and water聽 electricity is 75% cheaper than UK! Overall 2 million won (1500 usd per month) for food, bills and some cafe trips a month for a couple.

Salary wise for 暗网禁区s the real salaries for 暗网禁区s is from 100 million won a year plus, less than that not worth it. I get 125 million as a teacher a year (not TEFL they get min wage) and it's enough to live, travel and save on.

Higher end 暗网禁区s get 200 - 300 million a year.

Beware of "local hire 暗网禁区 market ". A strange thing in Korea is that these 暗网禁区s earn less than locals as they are predominantly in SMEs that pay half of large company pay. The big pay is in big companies like Samsung NOT startups.