Seoul monthly cost of living — sample report

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V.Cost of living, month to month

Personalized for your household — dining out weekly and getting around by car. Includes a 10% planning buffer for the unexpected.

GroceriesBenchmark for an average household of your size and make-up; it is not based on your own shopping.

₩524,929/moRecent

Dining OutCovers approximately 1.5 casual weekly restaurant meals and takeaway per adult plus accompanying child meals.

₩580,000/moEstimated

TransportResidual subway, bus, and occasional taxi travel; excludes vehicle fuel, maintenance, insurance, and tolls covered by employer.

₩160,000/moEstimated

Children's ActivitiesExtracurricular sports, creative classes, and community programs for children aged 9 and 3.

₩750,000/moEstimated

Mobile and SubscriptionsTwo adult mobile phone packages with local mobile data alongside household digital streaming subscriptions.

₩150,000/moEstimated

Clothing and Personal CareEveryday apparel purchases, haircuts, personal hygiene items, and family toiletries.

₩420,000/moEstimated

Household and MiscStandard domestic cleaning supplies, paper products, and general routine home maintenance necessities.

₩220,000/moEstimated

Leisure and OtherWeekend family museum visits, parks, modest entertainment, gifts, and miscellaneous recreation.

₩350,000/moEstimated

Planning buffer (10%)Covers unexpected costs in the first months — remove if budgeting conservatively.

₩315,493/mo

Total estimate₩3,470,422/mo

How these figures are built

Groceries are a calculated benchmark, not a model estimate. They start from the World Bank International Comparison Program's 2021 food and non-alcoholic-beverage spending per person in South Korea, moved to 2025 prices with the World Bank consumer price index, scaled to your household, and multiplied by one calibration factor (0.615) fitted to household surveys in four other high-income economies (US Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey, Singapore Household Expenditure Survey, UK Office for National Statistics Family Spending and Netherlands CBS Budgetonderzoek). In tests against official household surveys in Germany and South Korea, which were not used to fit it, it landed within 25% of the survey average for households of one, two and four people. The standard equivalence scale it uses tends to overstate one-person households: in the fitting surveys that report one-person households, a one-person household came out up to 70% high. Treat it as an average-household figure, not a quote for your own shopping. Every other line on this page (dining out, transport, children's activities, mobile & subscriptions, clothing & personal care, household & misc, leisure & other) is a model estimate that has not been checked against a published source.

These estimates are personalized to your household — the 10% planning buffer above already covers day-to-day variance.

Relocation Lens reports are AI-generated estimates for planning purposes only and do not constitute tax, legal, financial, or immigration advice. Tax laws change and AI-generated figures can be wrong. Always confirm with a licensed professional before making relocation, compensation, or visa decisions.

Seoul, for your family