Cost of living comparison

Australia

compared to

South Korea

South Korea vs. Australia Cost of Living Summary

South Korea is 33.5% cheaper than Australia overall.

Restaurants: pay 53.6% less in South Korea
Groceries: pay 31.4% more in South Korea
Transportation: pay 20.1% less in South Korea
Housing: pay 54.2% less in South Korea
Childcare: pay 44.6% less in South Korea
Entertainment and Sports: pay 37.3% less in South Korea
Clothing: pay 15.0% less in South Korea

Expenses including housing, restaurants, childcare, entertainment and sports, transportation, and clothing are lower in South Korea.

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South Korea vs. Australia Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 53.6% less for restaurants

	Australia	South Korea
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$18.42 A$27.21	$7.06 ₩9,426	-61.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.19 A$15.05	$6.17 ₩8,234	-39.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.88 A$4.25	$1.53 ₩2,040	-46.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.33 A$3.44	$0.88 ₩1,182	-62.0%
Average			-53.6%

Australia vs. South Korea - Cost of restaurants

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pay 31.4% more for groceries

	Australia	South Korea
Bread 1 loaf	$2.64 A$3.90	$3.04 ₩4,057	+15.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.67 A$6.90	$6.12 ₩8,178	+31.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.28 A$9.27	$8.23 ₩10,987	+31.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.79 A$7.08	$2.94 ₩3,925	-38.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.19 A$6.19	$4.11 ₩5,487	-1.9%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.62 A$2.39	$4.00 ₩5,344	+147.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.32 A$1.95	$1.55 ₩2,070	+17.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.35 A$2.00	$3.00 ₩4,001	+121.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.06 A$3.04	$2.63 ₩3,515	+27.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.19 A$1.76	$2.03 ₩2,716	+70.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.05 A$1.55	$1.26 ₩1,686	+20.4%
Average			+31.4%

Australia vs. South Korea - Cost of groceries

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pay 20.1% less for transportation

	Australia	South Korea
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.98 A$7.36	$5.01 ₩6,687	+0.5%
Monthly public transit pass	$91.09 A$134.53	$46.10 ₩61,565	-49.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$27,191.77 A$40,159.17	$28,394.53 ₩38M	+4.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$17.22 A$25.44	$8.59 ₩11,475	-50.1%
Average			-20.1%

Australia vs. South Korea - Cost of transportation

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pay 54.2% less for housing

	Australia	South Korea
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$57.16 A$84.41	$24.34 ₩32,505	-57.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,309.09 A$1,933.38	$561.73 ₩750K	-57.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,073.97 A$1,586.13	$387.83 ₩518K	-63.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$146.37 A$216.18	$153.72 ₩205K	+5.0%
Average			-54.2%

Australia vs. South Korea - Cost of housing

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pay 44.6% less for childcare

	Australia	South Korea
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,957.92 A$2,891.63	$545.93 ₩729K	-72.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$18,377.12 A$27,140.92	$20,214.53 ₩27M	+10.0%
Average			-44.6%

Australia vs. South Korea - Cost of childcare

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pay 37.3% less for entertainment and sports

	Australia	South Korea
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$7.20 A$10.63	$3.30 ₩4,405	-54.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.95 A$5.83	$3.66 ₩4,891	-7.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$36.89 A$54.49	$3.35 ₩4,469	-90.9%
Monthly membership at local gym	$56.05 A$82.79	$57.32 ₩76,541	+2.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$14.44 A$21.32	$11.28 ₩15,069	-21.8%
Average			-37.3%

Australia vs. South Korea - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 15.0% less for clothing

	Australia	South Korea
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$77.86 A$114.99	$67.53 ₩90,178	-13.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$53.33 A$78.77	$53.43 ₩71,347	+0.2%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$112.59 A$166.29	$78.10 ₩104K	-30.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$118.82 A$175.48	$102.84 ₩137K	-13.4%
Average			-15.0%

Australia vs. South Korea - Cost of clothing

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We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated November 2026). How we calculate this

Compare further: Australia vs. South Korea

Salary Calculator · Free tool

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Quality of Life Comparison · 18 statistics

Make 44.4% less money in South Korea

Size Comparison · See true size

Australia is about 78 times bigger than South Korea.

Moving from Australia to South Korea · OECD 2023

1,861 people moved from Australia to South Korea.

City Size Comparison · See true size

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