Cost of living comparison

Estonia

compared to

South Korea

South Korea vs. Estonia Cost of Living Summary

South Korea is 9.3% more expensive than Estonia overall.

Restaurants: pay 48.0% less in South Korea
Groceries: pay 2.2 times more in South Korea
Transportation: pay 2.4% less in South Korea
Housing: pay 3.0% less in South Korea
Childcare: pay 80.8% more in South Korea
Entertainment and Sports: pay 9.1% less in South Korea
Clothing: pay 14.5% less in South Korea

The cost of groceries and childcare in South Korea are more expensive than in Estonia. Expenses including restaurants, clothing, entertainment and sports, housing, and transportation are lower in South Korea. Notably, groceries and childcare are significantly more expensive in South Korea.

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South Korea vs. Estonia Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 48.0% less for restaurants

	Estonia	South Korea
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$14.56 €12.96	$7.06 ₩9,422	-51.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.34 €9.20	$6.17 ₩8,230	-40.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.57 €2.29	$1.53 ₩2,039	-40.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.32 €2.06	$0.88 ₩1,181	-61.8%
Average			-48.0%

Estonia vs. South Korea - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.2 times more for groceries

	Estonia	South Korea
Bread 1 loaf	$1.41 €1.25	$3.04 ₩4,055	+116.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.39 €4.80	$6.12 ₩8,174	+13.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.14 €3.69	$8.23 ₩10,982	+98.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.81 €2.50	$2.94 ₩3,923	+4.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.93 €3.50	$4.11 ₩5,484	+4.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.91 €0.81	$4.00 ₩5,342	+338.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.65 €0.58	$1.55 ₩2,069	+137.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.08 €0.96	$3.00 ₩4,000	+176.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.24 €1.10	$2.63 ₩3,513	+112.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.37 €0.33	$2.03 ₩2,715	+449.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.39 €0.35	$1.26 ₩1,685	+224.4%
Average			+119.9%

Estonia vs. South Korea - Cost of groceries

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pay 2.4% less for transportation

	Estonia	South Korea
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$7.27 €6.47	$5.01 ₩6,685	-31.1%
Monthly public transit pass	$26.37 €23.47	$46.10 ₩61,538	+74.8%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$27,988.91 €24,911.14	$28,394.53 ₩38M	+1.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$12.52 €11.14	$8.59 ₩11,470	-31.4%
Average			-2.4%

Estonia vs. South Korea - Cost of transportation

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pay 3.0% less for housing

	Estonia	South Korea
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$31.76 €28.27	$24.34 ₩32,490	-23.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$512.18 €455.86	$561.73 ₩750K	+9.7%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$387.48 €344.88	$387.83 ₩518K	+0.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$221.29 €196.96	$153.72 ₩205K	-30.5%
Average			-3.0%

Estonia vs. South Korea - Cost of housing

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pay 80.8% more for childcare

	Estonia	South Korea
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$324.72 €289.02	$545.93 ₩729K	+68.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$10,400.01 €9,256.38	$20,214.53 ₩27M	+94.4%
Average			+80.8%

Estonia vs. South Korea - Cost of childcare

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pay 9.1% less for entertainment and sports

	Estonia	South Korea
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$5.67 €5.04	$3.30 ₩4,403	-41.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$4.06 €3.61	$3.66 ₩4,888	-9.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$6.56 €5.84	$3.35 ₩4,467	-49.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$45.01 €40.06	$57.32 ₩76,507	+27.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$9.62 €8.56	$11.28 ₩15,062	+17.3%
Average			-9.1%

Estonia vs. South Korea - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 14.5% less for clothing

	Estonia	South Korea
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$97.14 €86.46	$67.53 ₩90,139	-30.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$49.85 €44.37	$53.43 ₩71,316	+7.2%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$94.67 €84.26	$78.10 ₩104K	-17.5%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$118.18 €105.19	$102.84 ₩137K	-13.0%
Average			-14.5%

Estonia 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: Estonia vs. South Korea

Salary Calculator · Free tool

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Quality of Life Comparison · 20 statistics

Be 67.7% less likely to be unemployed in South Korea

Size Comparison · See true size

Estonia is about 2.2 times smaller than South Korea.

Moving from Estonia to South Korea · OECD 2023

22 people moved from Estonia to South Korea.

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