Cost of living comparison

compared to

California is 2.2 times more expensive than South Korea.

If you lived in California instead of South Korea, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 2.6 times more for restaurants

 
South Korea
California
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant $6.44
₩8,950
$19.89
 
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
$5.49
₩7,619
$11.74
 
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) $1.39
₩1,930
$2.75
 

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pay 9.5% more for groceries

 
South Korea
California
Bread
1 loaf
$2.87
₩3,984
$4.10
 
Local cheese (8 oz) $6.02
₩8,358
$6.78
 
Milk (1 gallon) $7.79
₩10,820
$4.57
 

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pay 46.2% more for transportation

 
South Korea
California
Gasoline (1 gallon) $4.58
₩6,355
$4.84
 
Monthly public transit pass $48.21
₩66,953
$67.11
 
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) $27,876.80
₩38,711,402
$29,950.13
 

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pay 4.1 times more for housing

 
South Korea
California
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
$20.28
₩28,157
$69.38
 
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area $421.68
₩585,569
$2,333.22
 
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center $330.55
₩459,028
$2,022.14
 

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pay 2.9 times more for childcare

 
South Korea
California
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly $386.50
₩536,719
$1,629.83
 
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters $18,893.14
₩26,236,147
$29,739.09
 

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pay 2.0 times more for entertainment and sports

 
South Korea
California
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) $2.93
₩4,062
$7.06
 
Cappuccino in mid-range area $3.45
₩4,794
$5.27
 
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
$3.33
₩4,629
$10.99
 

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pay 3.3% more for clothing

 
South Korea
California
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
$62.63
₩86,978
$52.63
 
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
$43.35
₩60,194
$41.12
 
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
$72.22
₩100,288
$84.49
 

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: October 2024
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Compare countries by overall cost of living

See the cost of living in South Korea vs. United States. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within South Korea and United States.

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