Cost of living comparison

Ecuador

compared to

South Korea

South Korea vs. Ecuador Cost of Living Summary

South Korea is 81.1% more expensive than Ecuador overall.

Restaurants: pay 38.9% more in South Korea
Groceries: pay 2.9 times more in South Korea
Transportation: pay 57.5% more in South Korea
Housing: pay 76.5% more in South Korea
Childcare: pay 2.6 times more in South Korea
Entertainment and Sports: pay 45.9% more in South Korea
Clothing: pay 9.2% more in South Korea

The cost of groceries, childcare, housing, transportation, entertainment and sports, and restaurants in South Korea are more expensive than in Ecuador. Notably, groceries, childcare, and housing are significantly more expensive in South Korea.

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South Korea vs. Ecuador Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 38.9% more for restaurants

	Ecuador	South Korea
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.65	$7.06 ₩9,422	+93.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.99	$6.17 ₩8,230	-11.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.91	$1.53 ₩2,039	+67.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.70	$0.88 ₩1,181	+27.2%
Average			+38.9%

Ecuador vs. South Korea - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.9 times more for groceries

	Ecuador	South Korea
Bread 1 loaf	$1.78	$3.04 ₩4,055	+71.0%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.06	$6.12 ₩8,174	+100.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.06	$8.23 ₩10,982	+102.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.09	$2.94 ₩3,923	+40.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.26	$4.11 ₩5,484	+81.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.82	$4.00 ₩5,342	+388.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.49	$1.55 ₩2,069	+218.0%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.54	$3.00 ₩4,000	+451.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.46	$2.63 ₩3,513	+472.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.50	$2.03 ₩2,715	+306.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.43	$1.26 ₩1,685	+190.8%
Average			+185.5%

Ecuador vs. South Korea - Cost of groceries

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pay 57.5% more for transportation

	Ecuador	South Korea
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$2.94	$5.01 ₩6,685	+70.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$19.33	$46.10 ₩61,538	+138.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$21,347.00	$28,394.53 ₩38M	+33.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$12.14	$8.59 ₩11,470	-29.2%
Average			+57.5%

Ecuador vs. South Korea - Cost of transportation

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pay 76.5% more for housing

	Ecuador	South Korea
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$27.65	$24.34 ₩32,490	-12.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$337.73	$561.73 ₩750K	+66.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$242.44	$387.83 ₩518K	+60.0%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$45.32	$153.72 ₩205K	+239.2%
Average			+76.5%

Ecuador vs. South Korea - Cost of housing

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pay 2.6 times more for childcare

	Ecuador	South Korea
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$310.25	$545.93 ₩729K	+76.0%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$5,243.49	$20,214.53 ₩27M	+285.5%
Average			+160.5%

Ecuador vs. South Korea - Cost of childcare

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pay 45.9% more for entertainment and sports

	Ecuador	South Korea
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.38	$3.30 ₩4,403	+38.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.68	$3.66 ₩4,888	+36.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$5.40	$3.35 ₩4,467	-38.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$31.41	$57.32 ₩76,507	+82.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.28	$11.28 ₩15,062	+79.8%
Average			+45.9%

Ecuador vs. South Korea - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 9.2% more for clothing

	Ecuador	South Korea
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$61.22	$67.53 ₩90,139	+10.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$41.01	$53.43 ₩71,316	+30.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$106.39	$78.10 ₩104K	-26.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$76.17	$102.84 ₩137K	+35.0%
Average			+9.2%

Ecuador 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 October 2026). How we calculate this

Compare further: Ecuador vs. South Korea

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in South Korea?

Quality of Life Comparison · 21 statistics

Make 5.1 times more money in South Korea

Size Comparison · See true size

Ecuador is about 2.8 times bigger than South Korea.

Moving from Ecuador to South Korea · OECD 2023

86 people moved from Ecuador to South Korea.

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