[Ask Hyojin] Cost of Living in Korea [TalkToMeInKorean]

How much money do you usually spend a month? We've got a lot of questions about prices in Korea, so in this episode of Ask Hyojn, Hyojin is joined by Keith and Hyunwoo to explain what is relatively cheap or expensive in Korea.
Enjoy the video and let us know what the prices are like in your country compared to Korea!
Keith Kim (Seoulistic.com)
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[@theMusicFairy1]

can you please make another video about other stuff like doctor's fees and medicines, going to cinemas and concerts, going to amusement parks...etc pleaaaaaaaaaaaase.

[@Ameiaru]

Looking between kpop concerts between Big Bang and a rookie group, a concert ticket was around 90 to 125 bucks. Doctors fees -- fairllly cheap. lol. Esp in relation to america. I went for a walk in for stomach ulcers and that was about 20, medicine was about 10 more. Cinemas can be expensive but prob still cheaper than the states. (including food.) Amusement parks idk.

[@theMusicFairy1]

Ameiaru 20$ or 20000 won??

[@Ameiaru]

theMusicFairy1 Around 20 USD which when converted is 20,000 KRW.

[@theMusicFairy1]

that's a lot, any way thank you for answering me.

[@madanniroula1861]

Here in Nepal, you can live with only 3$ per day enjoying the cleanest air of the world, at the lap of the himalayas.

[@fatmazehrakatilmis9552]

I think if I try to live in Korea, I become poor and homeless in two weeks as a Turkish. But still I want to go there to study.

[@terichio]

I guess it doesn't blow me away the cost of coffee since it sounds like starbucks prices.

[@AKADriver]

Dunkin Donuts is also everywhere in Korea and costs about the same as it does in the US, coffee was just as decent.

[@va5307]

You could say something about electricity and water, and warm rent too

[@imaginyou4]

Depending on where you go in the U.S coffee is like $6-7...

[@SkyCrown614]

It is normal in Korean to eat meal outside with an amount of 5000 to 7000 won and its cheap for them. Here in our country, you can already eat a meal starting at 3000 won outside. For them, its more expensive if you cook at home. In our country, cooking at home is more cheaper than eating outside. 3-4 people can eat a meal for just 3000 won.

[@NFH1994]

I live in the uk and I really need to move to Korea! Even the stuff that you categorised as expensive is cheaper then in London (except maybe fruit)

[@jimmicrackhead12]

Strawberry is cheap

[@Dipanjan180]

Just for cheaper things will u move to another country!?

[@JustinK0]

@@Dipanjan180 why not?

[@nishal.5007]

This was very informative. I am loving your videos and website. Thank you!

[@SilvieaBradley]

Most people in America (or at least where I live) go without coats and just wear jackets, because if you want a coat that actually is going to keep you warm you'll be paying $300+. You can also go to goodwill and get clothes for $5 ($1 if you go on Sunday).

[@gameshoes]

This was a very informative video, nice work!

[@Coudneverbeme]

u guys are so much fun to listen to

[@RachMaySaranghae]

I love Ask Hyojin videos!

[@PhoPhucLai02]

Cool video. Thanks for being very specific on price rates. Gives me a lot of insight on Korean daily expenses.

[@chibip6]

That was great guys! It's always interesting to learn details like these. I knew about the insanely expensive fruit and the cheap internet and public transportation from an old vid EYK did but everything else was a surprise. I will say that it sounds like gas prices are pretty comparable to where I live (Midwestern U.S.). It's a little over $3 /per gallon right now in Indiana.

[@cpyrotech]

This was really helpful. Thanks guys :).

[@bratzy9123]

Public Transportation fee here in Philippines is like Php 10 which is like 250 won in korea if you base it in day-to-day life and you're traveling from home to work/school.

[@MixMeAdrink]

One way subway ride in Boston cost $2 with subway card and $2.50 without subway card. You guys are lucky!

[@idgon09]

Oh, also in korea starbucks is probably the cheaper cafe compared to the 1000s of others in korea. They are relatively around the USA prices, if not a bit higher, and while Starbucks is expensive for USA people in Korea you normally can't get a medium size coffee at a cafe for less than 8000₩, unless it's americano. Cafe iceberry though, awesome desserts and okay coffee for like 2000-5000₩.

[@trieudeptrai]

good show.thank you guys very much.

[@desmondmoonbear5996]

In Germany a normal rent for a apartment takes 800€ or nearly 1.000.000 won, but everything included (electricity, gas, water, wifi, etc.) Car takes nearly 500€ per month or 600k won. Food takes 250€ or 325k won per month for a single. And if you want a mobile device with internet you have to pay 25-50€ per month or 32k to 65k won if you want good conditions.

[@TheProductivePath]

Found this amusing when I heard what was cheap and what was expensive. I live in UK and the only things that turned out more expensive in Korea was the land, fruit and clothing. Fuel for cars is about the same (though a tiny bit more over here) but as for everything is it was a lot more expensive over here in UK

[@piadenton4855]

after watching this video living on the small island of jamaica in the caribbean is like paradise. seriously!

[@ayuinu]

On Keith's channel seoulstic he did a video if you want to watch while you wait.

[@NoMusicNoLife10x]

Thank u! This was great :3

[@cy24]

I live near the Los Angeles area and the cheapest gas prices in my city is about $3.55 US dollars. I'm so glad that I can take the train into work and it only cost $1.50 one way, so round trip is $3.00. My work offers monthly metro passes for $65.00 per month and on top of that we get a reimbursement for about $50.00 back. So roughly I pay $15.00 for taking the train every month.

[@Bandgeeeeeek78]

this is some great information but what is Hyunwoo's skin care routine? homie is GLOWING

[@aracely8482]

Gas prices where I live (florida) is mostly around $2.60 a gallon but internet we usually pay around $96 per month. I really enjoyed this vide, very informative (:

[@dhedhede]

thank you for the info

[@zahraaali9566]

This is really interesting! I dont know about public transportation (here in Qatar), but the gas cost is really cheap, around 1 QAR for 1 Liter (0.27 USD). Earlier this week, we filled the the tank for about 73 QAR (17.79 USD). Of course the car price differs depending on the brand, quality, condition of the car and whether it's brand new or used.

[@JekaEstrela]

I'm from Brazil, and lately people are going crazy because the inflationary princes, but wow, seeing this made me think things here is very cheap. Brazil's Gas are costing abt $1,5 dollars, fruits here are really cheap, mangoes are abt 2~4 dollars per kg, and per example, you can buy a 10kg pack of oranges for 10~20bucks, i think it's because Brazil can produces almost everything full-year, so thats become cheap. Abt rant, the less expensive rant you can find here for 150~400 dollars, and it's all houses, generally bigger than 6x6. But here, the base salary(minimum wage) is 300 dollars more less, so yeah, it becomes really hard to manage somethings if you only receive 1~3 salaries. And WOW, I'm envying your internet cost, here we pay more than 50 dollars to have a 10mb speed internet, it's sad. Very good video

[@nomadicvibesofelle]

I saw an apartment in Busan for 3,000,000 won. That's amazing!

[@amaphis]

Yes Soju here in the US is between $6 - $10 a bottle depending on brand in my experience.

[@TobysKpopTop50]

Gas is about $3.60 in michigan, but gas prices change depending on the state and also location in the city. Closer to highways are more expensive than farther into the city.

[@dino648]

That's per gallon. One litre is like 1/4 of a gallon.

[@jenniferlindsayfleury7810]

transportation is cheaper in Boston. The monthly T pass costs $75 and it is unlimited ride for buses and subway. If you take only bus and no train the monthly bus pass is $50/month (unlimited). 1 ride in the bus is $1.60 with charlie card and you have 1 free transfer. 1 train ride is $2.10 and you can transfer train free as long the line are connected and 1 free bus transfer

[@tak178]

Some examples in Seattle: $3.00 (each way) for Buses $5.50 (round trip) for Light Rail (One line...practically useless) $3.50 per gallon for gas (average as of today) Average cost for lunch - $7.00-$10.00 Average cost for dinner - $9.00-$15.00

[@KatiePigtie]

I'm a Norwegian moving to Korea soon, and the prices sound like HEAVEN to me! Coffee in Norway is EXTREMELY expensive (and so is everything else), more like 8,700 won and above! Recently, I found out I had to pay 11,679 won for a 30-minute train ride!

[@BatteredSav100]

Agreed

[@jazzminb]

In the late 80s/early 90s the subway fare in NYC was $1 - I miss those days... Now it $2.50 per ride but you can buy a pass which makes the ride cheaper only if you travel more then 5 days a week.

[@prisma328]

In Melbourne, soju costs aud10.00 in chinese grocery stores. Korean all-you-can-eat bbq- aud30. But Sydney normal buffet- aud10.00 (so cheap)

[@borneo3011]

Visited Seoul last year, and generally most things are expensive compared to Malaysia...from public transportation (a subway ride KRW1,150 is equivalent to about RM3.00 ---> pricey) to food (KRW10,000 per meal is equivalent to RM30 which can get 2 meals instead of 1)...but it's ok for a holiday! :D

[@fideldm]

I think the right way to know when the cost of living in a country is expensive or not is comparing the basic salary vs the cost of basic things (electricity, water, gas, rent, food), the percentage that represent tells you how much of the money that you recibe in work can cover all your needs.

[@Hamidmahdi]

Depends on whether you get a smart phone or just a regular flip phone (as well as your company). For unlimited 3g on a smart phone you can sometimes get a 2yr plan for about 60,000 a month--I believe the minimum price is around 30,000 for a limited data plan, though. A flip phone could sometimes get 2g and cost around 30,000 as well

[@sweetgirl011]

As someone living in London, prices in Korea sound like heaven..

[@chandaluchchin9294]

Here in Cambodia. The prize of gasoline is cheaper.. it's about 1500 won but the cars are all imported and sooo expensive and still many people drive because there is not much public transportation.. like each family has a car, and it's normal to see the lastest expensive car driven around in the city..ppl really really love buying cars and motors.. i hope we have subway here to decrease the pollution

[@shahinshaz4pv]

most of the things mentioned here that were expensive were a lot cheaper than in England, for example the gas prices here are like £1.29 which is like 10p more expensive ...but the fruit is a lot cheaper here

[@Xx1SAGE]

In London, if you are british citizen and the age between I think 11 - 16 bus is free except trains and taxi

[@lcelosia3552]

My rent for my 2 bed 1st floor flat is £700, which is approx. ₩1,246,000. Also, if you want to buy a 2 bed house in my town, it will set you back about £250,000 and that's around ₩445,000,000. It costs a pretty penny to live in the south of the UK, and not even anywhere near London.

[@logosfabula]

I live in Venice, Italy. Here a trip on a boat, which is the equivalent of a bus, costs 7 euros for non-residents. For residents it costs 2 euros.

[@starcrafter13terran]

I like this channel. I plan to visit South korea in future.

[@mami809klk]

driving is expensive because you have to pay insurance, and to fill up tank in Florida is about 30 to 40 dollars depending on the car, also i'm originally from the Dominican Republic and the prices of food and housing is very similar in korea well a 3 bedroom house is about 600 dollars, food is also expensive to buy the basic raw foods to cook you will need about 200 to 350 dollars a month for a family of 4 and clothes is expensive many people from my country buys clothes in the US when they travel. what i hate is the wage in order to make good money you'll need to work for a company. minimum wage is about 200 a month.

[@Starlightean]

Wow. High quality notebook for 1 dollar. In Finland it's like $15 if you're lucky. And I love stationery. And gas is a bit cheaper but not a lot and the price goes higher constantly. Now it's at about 1,65€/l (over $2). I am very sad about the fruit there though :(

[@puccapuccaakai]

here in Indonesia for 5 apples will cost Rp 85.000 (6.538KW) and rent a house for 1 year in the city is Rp 20.000.000 (1.538.461KW) the cup of coffee might varian, of course starbucks around Rp 50.000 - Rp 68.000 (5.230KW) but you can find cheap coffee corner for just Rp 14.000 (1.076KW) taxi is expensive in Indonesia, so we use grab car or gocar. for food you could eat full with just Rp 12.000 (923KW). 1KW = Rp 13

[@nataliel5168]

It costs over 100$ for a monthly public transportation pass in nyc

[@2350lala]

Coffee is around the same prices in Australia, but food is heaps more expensive, i would expect to pay at the very least $10 for a meal. Rent costs around $300 per week for an apartment, and internet generally costs around $100 per month but it often also includes the phone line. Also alcohol is really expensive because of alcohol tax, soju costs around $13 and beer will cost around $4-$5 per bottle, or $15-$20 for a six pack

[@jellybean6830]

yeah specially Sydney the rent is so expensive , it's one of the most expensive city to live in

[@tvtoms]

I live in the US and just ordered a hardcover book that was just released and the price was $25.00. I pay about $50 a month for my internet, which is nowhere near as high quality as what you have in Korea. Korea is well known for it's really great internet service. I make my own beer and fermented alcohol with the beer costing about $35 per 5 gallons (it lasts a LONG time as I don't drink too much.) It's a fun hobby.

[@youngheadh.5933]

This video was useful. Unlike a majority of the comments that are posted.

[@Wild_Embers]

Woah that watermelon price is insane! I had to convert using Google so it may not be accurate but in the UK you can get a whole watermelon from big chain supermarkets for around 5000 Won (£3 ish) and even less in the open market.

[@MadiDara]

Hey, guys. Thank you for your review. It was quite helpful since I am considering studying in South Korea. I live in Romania where the equivalent of 1 national currency (romanian leu) is 300 won. In general, things are much cheaper here. For example, 1 bus ticket is 400 won, 600 - 4000 won for a cup of coffee (depends where you buy it from, 4000 won being in the fancy places), prepared food (at a restaurant) can be expensive too, but there are also places similar to cafeterias where you can eat at a decent price (around 3000 - 4000 won). Also, here fruits and vegetables have reasonable prices (since you brought up the watermelon issue, here for a 7 kg you can pay aroud 4500 won. Also, the rent is expensive, around 200 000 won in the capital and this in the best case. I gave some example just in case there are some people wondering. ^^

[@jumpdumppyy]

hyojin is so cute!!

[@legalfetus8808]

i took taxi once in Norway (i am from norway btw, but we almost never take taxi), i took 5 minute taxi ride because i was so tired, and taxi was faster, the taxi fare came up to 27 475 won, and that was cheap in norway. I always take the bus in norway, and 1 month bus transportation (with the card) is 116 768 won.

[@joybrown6854]

i think in my country the prices are very similar to those in korea but you have to pay way more rent( a one room appartement costs 900-1000 per month) and also meals are totally overpriced. Coffee sadly is expensive too. If I buy the smallest starbucks cup I have to pay 9 CHF (~9$) and there are even some drinks that cost 13 CHF so you can easily spend 20 CHF for the biggest size...

[@stephenelliott5737]

I was at a Korean restaurant in my hometown of Pittsburgh Pa in the U.S. And they were charging almost $20.00 for a bottle of makoli! I really miss honey makoli! Especially how cheap it is in Korea.

[@AGirlInHoody]

1 litre of gasoline is 2.5$ in Istanbul, Turkey. For cheapest and, obviously, not very fast internet we pay 30$ per month, and public transportation is 1-2$ for one trip. The price depends on what type of transport you take, so for short ride buses, metro, tram and ferryboats it's 1$, and for mertobus (kind of a hybrid of metro and bus) and long ride buses it's 2$, but some categories of people, like students, teachers and old people, have 50% discount for transportation. Fruits are quite cheap, especially in its season. So when it's the season for oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, apples, quinces, cherries, plums, peaches and so on, you can usually buy them for 1-2$ per kilogram, but bananas are more expensive though, (because they are imported) and it's about 3$ per kilo.

[@beartipton846]

On average, $50 will fill up my 2009 Honda Accord with 14 gallons of gas, in San Antonio, TX. Compared to that same amount of precious fuel at $132 for 53 L at $2.5 per L. The comparison is both mind opening, & boggling. #NowItIsNotSoPainfulAtThePump cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/4d/19/Gas_Prices.512.512_1.jpg?itok=30bHyTGo

[@sundailove9323]

its keith!

[@efernando93]

Here in Brazil the price of a liter of gas is about R$2,80(something about $1,1 dollar) and it's actually expensive, we could have much cheaper gasoline because we produce all the petroleum we use and we can export some as well, however some fucked up taxes make it more expensive than it could be (:

[@alycndla]

In Mexico you can find watermelon in the supermarket in about 2000 won! wow im going to appreciate watermelon now

[@natalieechai]

In Perth, Australia, a bottle of soju cost ~$10.00AUD. which is crazy expensive..

[@junojuno6726]

Damn really !! Wow !

[@Nana_S_T]

Gas in Finland is quite expensive. 1.54€/litre, that's $2.10/litre.

[@writemeasongbby]

I live in the netherlands and it is so expensive here, the prices in korea are not bad at all! :) but clothing wow

[@chibip6]

As well as cheapness, the AVAILABILITY of public transport in S.K. is a big plus. Unless you live on the coast or in a big city it's either very limited or unavailable here. You HAVE to have a car otherwise, just for transportation to work. I live jn a mid-size city and because of my schedule (work arrival time of 5:00 a.m.) I couldn't take a bus to work if I wanted and cab fair would be like $20 one way. Forget that!

[@tak178]

You can get it about $4.50 here in Seattle, but we have a large Korean community.

[@jazminsosa2665]

The gas price is relatively cheaper than in the US. I pay around 3-4 dollars per liter

[@Roberttang20]

the price of eating out in Sweden is about 13 000 won

[@cinnamorollrabbit]

I bought soooooo much stationery when I was in Korea because it was so cheap! Here in NZ nice things (not plain colours) are so expensive... I saw a nice notebook I wanted the other day and it was $25 (NZD) which I guess is about 25,000 won.

[@laurencespacetraveler]

gas in my country cost about 5Litas in korea is 2270 won for liter

[@juancardenas271187]

In México the bus cost like 500-1000wons, And the subway in the DF just cost 300won. It´s very cheap

[@dhedhede]

효진 언니, I would like to ask and request a video about korean table manners. like what should and shouldn't be done on the table, the unique way to eat something, etc.. since I think no one ever post about it, and for side note, this is useful for my assignment.. hhe.. thank you in advance ^^

[@PaulHenning84]

$7 is about what Soju goes for here. When I go to Korea I'll get some of my friends cheap fruit, and it's even cheaper here as I live in Florida where much of it is picked.

[@sakurakou2009]

hi can I ask what about average salary for person and do people who just graduated 1 to 3 years can find job easily or is it hard to find work

[@CycleBreakerDragon]

This randomly popped up on my auto play and I'm laughing so hard about the postal code stuff. I have to look that up, too.

[@abby4115]

fruit is so expensive it broke my heart when I was in korea, but clothes are pretty unexpensive compared to France and people usually don't care if you have a fake supreme sweater as long as you look good :)

[@yoomihee]

Gee! Korean transportation shocked em a lot! A great way to roam around the city without paying too much!

[@sepluvr]

pssh gas here in the US (at least where I live) is like $4 a gallon and can get up to $60 to fill up

[@LaboratPigeonSounds]

The Gas is also that expensive here in Ontario :S and the living is crazy expensive but we don't have the Key Money though. Loved your video Thanks a lot :D

[@aglowkeys]

Thanks for this video! It was really interesting guys. :) I'm from Argentina and, honestly, I'm always thinking that EVERYTHING here is so expensive! I thought that other countries were much cheaper. But now I see that there are some things here that are cheaper than in there. A cup of coffee is around 2 dollars, though there are some places charging like 3 or 3,5. One kilo of bananas is around 1 or 2 dollars. 2, generally ^^ Though there are some expensive fruits, like strawberries (~8 dollars)

[@huocihan864]

i live in vienna, austria now the transportation cost is must cheaper here, my 10 months ticket is 150 euro, that includes bus, subway, train, and street car. and coffee are not that cheap here, it usually cost 3 euro for a regular size @ bakery shop and around 5 or 6 euro for Starbucks coffee eating in a restaurant is very expensive, normally cost 20+ euro

[@taedee8654]

Fruits is like the Cheapest things u can get in Egypt ! 1Kilo of a mango can got around $3.4 if its in its season or up to $5 per Kilo if its not in the season :) I

[@DinosourousRexx]

I'll have to stack up on cute stationary when I go to Korea one day!!! It is definitely more expensive in the US, at least $5 for a cute notebook with the same amount of pages as the cheap crappy ones.

[@oumaimabouraqqadi7573]

Public transportation in morocco is about 400₩/ride (and ppl are protesting because it became more expensive than before.. so yeah

[@hemingway8671]

It's already 2 years later, but in Canada, Québec I pay around 9$ for a bottle of soju! I wish it was only 2 or 3$!

[@arisu23c]

I read somewhere that soju is taxed at 75% in the US. At my fav Korean grocery store the sell seju and its about $6 - 9 ).

[@idgon09]

I think relatively eating korean food at a small restaurant in seoul you can spend around 3000-6000₩. For daily food I'd do that, like eat at 마포만두 near my home for my meals. Of course, if you go to a nicer restaurant and eat meat with friends price is almost always around the 10000₩. Now if the USA eating out fast food is the cheapest and about 5-7$ per meal and going out with friends to a nicer restaurant is like paying 15$. Stationary in the USA for a regular 1 subject notebook I can get for about 25cents here in TX and you'll never find that in KR. Lastly, cost for doctors and medicine in Korea is insanely cheap. Even just otc medicine (which includes birth control btw) won't go higher than 7000₩ and is normally cheaper than that. A hospital visit you're looking at about 70000₩ with no insurance at yonsei hospital and english speaking doctor, but if you go to a smaller doctor (I'd go to 1 near my home in 대흥동) with no insurance I'd pay 10000₩ and my prescription medicine from anywhere never really went above 6000₩.

[@dj0ub0x]

if you go to e-mart for a watermelon, you're sure to pay 20000W... but if you go to a regular street market, you'll get one from 5000W. If you buy seasonal and local fruit, they can be quite cheap.

[@thisgirljoanna]

Living here can be pretty cheap as well depending on the area. You can stay in a small apartment for as little as 250 euros (345 US$) but cars and gas are pretty expensive, we're talking almost 2 US$ per liter. It's pretty bad. Clothes can be cheap too but not the expensive brands, there's other stores you can go to that are cheaper. But salaries are really bad nowadays and they don't allow you to do much.

[@aglowkeys]

Clothes are really really expensive in some places. Of course there's always the second-hand alternative. But a good brand t-shirt can be around 50 or 60 dollars, and even 100! Internet isn't really expensive. I don't know exactly the pricing because my company sells internet+cable tv. That combo is around 40 dollars. Sadly, books are kinda expensive. There are ones that cost around 30 dollars or more. And a notebook can be like 8/10 dollars. Anyway, sorry for my English and thanks for the vid!

[@agnieszkatwardosz5106]

A bottle of soju at a restaurant is like 12 dollars here, luckily a friend brought me some from Seoul hehe

[@NotMaria.]

Soju in Peru is expensive too...

[@Lillkalbekdalen]

in Norway, one bus with one stop is 7'000 won... so back and forth to school if it is one stop is 14'000 won in one day. If it's two stops its almost 30'000 for ONE day of public transport.. one cup of coffee is 9'000 ~ 10'000 won.. I think i will have a good time in korea... hahah