Cost of living comparison

North Dakota, USA

compared to

South Korea

South Korea vs. North Dakota Cost of Living Summary

South Korea is 25.2% cheaper than North Dakota.

Restaurants: pay 59.6% less in South Korea
Groceries: pay 17.8% more in South Korea
Transportation: pay 12.0% more in South Korea
Housing: pay 43.9% less in South Korea
Childcare: pay 47.1% less in South Korea
Entertainment and Sports: pay 31.3% less in South Korea
Clothing: pay 21.6% more in South Korea

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

South Korea vs. North Dakota Cost Breakdown

If you lived in South Korea instead of North Dakota, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 59.6% less for restaurants

	North Dakota	South Korea
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$19.30	$7.06 ₩9,422	-63.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$12.96	$6.17 ₩8,230	-52.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$3.78	$1.53 ₩2,039	-59.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.46	$0.88 ₩1,181	-64.0%
Average			-59.6%

North Dakota vs. South Korea - Cost of restaurants

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pay 17.8% more for groceries

	North Dakota	South Korea
Bread 1 loaf	$2.97	$3.04 ₩4,055	+2.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$8.16	$6.12 ₩8,174	-24.9%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.12	$8.23 ₩10,982	+99.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.74	$2.94 ₩3,923	-21.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$6.51	$4.11 ₩5,484	-36.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.54	$4.00 ₩5,342	+57.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.91	$1.55 ₩2,069	+70.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.75	$3.00 ₩4,000	+71.0%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.18	$2.63 ₩3,513	+20.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.25	$2.03 ₩2,715	+62.2%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.43	$1.26 ₩1,685	-11.7%
Average			+17.8%

North Dakota vs. South Korea - Cost of groceries

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pay 12.0% more for transportation

	North Dakota	South Korea
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.52	$5.01 ₩6,685	+42.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$42.00	$46.10 ₩61,538	+9.8%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$32,921.00	$28,394.53 ₩38M	-13.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$8.59 ₩11,470
Average			+12.0%

North Dakota vs. South Korea - Cost of transportation

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pay 43.9% less for housing

	North Dakota	South Korea
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$72.92	$24.34 ₩32,490	-66.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,004.65	$561.73 ₩750K	-44.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$815.11	$387.83 ₩518K	-52.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$146.48	$153.72 ₩205K	+4.9%
Average			-43.9%

North Dakota vs. South Korea - Cost of housing

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pay 47.1% less for childcare

	North Dakota	South Korea
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,032.40	$545.93 ₩729K	-47.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$20,214.53 ₩27M
Average			-47.1%

North Dakota vs. South Korea - Cost of childcare

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pay 31.3% less for entertainment and sports

	North Dakota	South Korea
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$5.38	$3.30 ₩4,403	-38.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$7.01	$3.66 ₩4,888	-47.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$10.46	$3.35 ₩4,467	-68.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$54.00	$57.32 ₩76,507	+6.1%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$13.69	$11.28 ₩15,062	-17.6%
Average			-31.3%

North Dakota vs. South Korea - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 21.6% more for clothing

	North Dakota	South Korea
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$40.20	$67.53 ₩90,139	+68.0%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$39.61	$53.43 ₩71,316	+34.9%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$97.17	$78.10 ₩104K	-19.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$85.56	$102.84 ₩137K	+20.2%
Average			+21.6%

North Dakota 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: North Dakota vs. South Korea

Salary Calculator · Free tool

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Quality of Life Comparison · 3 statistics

Make 54.3% less money in South Korea

Size Comparison · See true size

North Dakota is about 1.8 times bigger than South Korea.

City Size Comparison · See true size

Compare the size of Fargo vs Seoul

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