Seoul
Cost of living, housing, groceries, transportation and more.
What the numbers suggest
The model midpoint for one person in Seoul is ₩2,260,000. At the modeled component midpoint, rent represents roughly 47% of the six-category basket, food about 34%, and public transit about 3%.
This page shows a planning range rather than one “correct” household cost. Actual spending changes with neighbourhood, lease terms, consumption and lifestyle.
What is included
The headline includes rent, utilities/connectivity, groceries, eating out, public transit and household/personal essentials. Healthcare, childcare, car ownership, taxes, savings and discretionary lifestyle spending are separate.
Core monthly cost breakdown
1 of six core planning components for Seoul have captured numeric calibration evidence: 1 direct component observation and 0 broad calibrations. Broad calibration can come from household or per-person spending evidence and is not the same as a direct category measurement. The displayed midpoint remains a normalized planning estimate, not a quote or guaranteed household spend.
Direct component evidence measures the category itself or a closely matched subcomponent. Broad calibration evidence uses a wider household/per-person benchmark. Source-linked model anchors have identified sources but no captured numeric observation yet.
- Rent · 1BR non-prime: direct component evidence — NewsPim / Dabang · 2026-07 — example average_monthly_rent: 690,000 KRW/month
- Utilities + connectivity: model anchor — Statistics Korea · 2025
- Groceries: model anchor — Statistics Korea · 2025; Seoul Data Hub / KOSIS · annual series current at 2026-09
- Eating out: model anchor — Statistics Korea · 2025
- Public transit: model anchor — Seoul Metropolitan Government · 2026
- Household + personal: model anchor — Statistics Korea · 2025
Planning range for Seoul
For the published one-adult renter persona, the modeled monthly band runs from ₩1,990,000 to ₩2,540,000, with a midpoint of ₩2,260,000. The full band is about 24% of the midpoint, so it should be read as a planning envelope rather than a quote or minimum/maximum market price.
Low, midpoint and high by category
These are the six inputs used in the headline model. Showing all three anchors makes the uncertainty visible instead of hiding it behind one total.
| Category | Low | Planning midpoint | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent · 1BR non-prime | ₩735,000 | ₩1,050,000 | ₩1,360,000 |
| Utilities + connectivity | ₩154,000 | ₩220,000 | ₩300,000 |
| Groceries | ₩315,000 | ₩450,000 | ₩600,000 |
| Eating out | ₩220,000 | ₩300,000 | ₩420,000 |
| Public transit | ₩50,000 | ₩62,000 | ₩80,000 |
| Household + personal essentials | ₩100,000 | ₩150,000 | ₩220,000 |
What drives Seoul's estimate
Rent is the largest single component, but it is less dominant than in many covered cities at about 47% of the six-category component midpoint. Groceries plus the modeled eating-out allowance account for about 34%, while public transit is about 3%. The non-rent component modes add up to roughly ₩1,182,000 per month.
The widest proportional component range is household + personal essentials, modeled from ₩100,000 to ₩220,000 (a span equal to roughly 80% of that component's midpoint). That is where this page signals the most model uncertainty among the six published categories. As a simple sensitivity check, a 10% change in the rent midpoint alone would move the six-category component sum by about 4.7% if the other component modes stayed unchanged.
The current confidence label is Medium. The six core inputs are linked to 6 source records across 5 evidence families; named publishers include NewsPim / Dabang, KoreaHomeGuide / MOLIT, Statistics Korea. More detailed categories stay unpublished until they meet the site's separate evidence gate.
Source and dates
- NewsPim / Dabang — Dabang July 2026 Seoul one-room rent analysis using MOLIT transaction data · 2026-07 · Seoul
- KoreaHomeGuide / MOLIT — Sillim-dong officetel rents by floor area — official reported rental transactions · through 2026-08 · Sillim-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul
- Statistics Korea — Household income and expenditure trends · 2025 · South Korea / one-person household evidence
- Seoul Data Hub / KOSIS — Seoul per-capita regional income and expenditure statistics · annual series current at 2026-09 · Seoul
- Seoul Data Hub / KCB — Average income, consumption and loans of Seoul residents · 2026 monthly series · Seoul and 25 districts
- Seoul Metropolitan Government — Climate Card / monthly transit pass · 2026 · Seoul
Data model CLC-v5.9-global-detail-1 · site V7.1 · evidence granularity reviewed 2026-09-29 · core evidence mix 1 direct / 0 broad / 5 model. Missing fields are omitted; modeled anchors are labeled and may differ by neighbourhood and lifestyle.