Cost of living comparison

Northern Mariana Islands

compared to

South Korea

South Korea vs. Northern Mariana Islands Cost of Living Summary

South Korea is 16.6% cheaper than Northern Mariana Islands overall.

Restaurants: pay 50.8% less in South Korea
Groceries: pay 7.4% less in South Korea
Transportation: pay 16.0% less in South Korea
Housing: pay 24.9% less in South Korea
Entertainment and Sports: pay 27.2% less in South Korea
Clothing: pay 2.6 times more in South Korea

Expenses including restaurants, entertainment and sports, housing, transportation, and groceries are lower in South Korea. Notably, clothing is significantly more expensive in South Korea.

Planning a move to South Korea? Get up to 5 free, no-obligation quotes from vetted international movers. Get free quotes →

South Korea vs. Northern Mariana Islands Cost Breakdown

If you lived in South Korea instead of Northern Mariana Islands, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 50.8% less for restaurants

	Northern Mariana Islands	South Korea
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$15.00	$7.06 ₩9,422	-52.9%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$14.50	$6.17 ₩8,230	-57.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.00	$1.53 ₩2,039	-23.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.38	$0.88 ₩1,181	-35.6%
Average			-50.8%

Northern Mariana Islands vs. South Korea - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 7.4% less for groceries

	Northern Mariana Islands	South Korea
Bread 1 loaf	$5.63	$3.04 ₩4,055	-46.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	??	$6.12 ₩8,174
Milk (1 gallon)	$9.87	$8.23 ₩10,982	-16.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$5.99	$2.94 ₩3,923	-51.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$6.00	$4.11 ₩5,484	-31.5%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.99	$4.00 ₩5,342	+33.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	??	$1.55 ₩2,069
Oranges (1 lb)	$2.99	$3.00 ₩4,000	+0.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	??	$2.63 ₩3,513
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.93	$2.03 ₩2,715	+119.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.03	$1.26 ₩1,685	+22.1%
Average			-7.4%

Northern Mariana Islands vs. South Korea - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 16.0% less for transportation

	Northern Mariana Islands	South Korea
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.52	$5.01 ₩6,685	-9.3%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$46.10 ₩61,538
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$36,999.00	$28,394.53 ₩38M	-23.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$8.59 ₩11,470
Average			-16.0%

Northern Mariana Islands vs. South Korea - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 24.9% less for housing

	Northern Mariana Islands	South Korea
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$90.00	$24.34 ₩32,490	-73.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$800.00	$561.73 ₩750K	-29.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$375.00	$387.83 ₩518K	+3.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$286.76	$153.72 ₩205K	-46.4%
Average			-24.9%

Northern Mariana Islands vs. South Korea - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Northern Mariana Islands	South Korea
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$545.93 ₩729K
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$20,214.53 ₩27M

Northern Mariana Islands vs. South Korea - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 27.2% less for entertainment and sports

	Northern Mariana Islands	South Korea
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$6.00	$3.30 ₩4,403	-45.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$5.33	$3.66 ₩4,888	-31.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	??	$3.35 ₩4,467
Monthly membership at local gym	$60.00	$57.32 ₩76,507	-4.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$11.28 ₩15,062
Average			-27.2%

Northern Mariana Islands vs. South Korea - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 2.6 times more for clothing

	Northern Mariana Islands	South Korea
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$67.53 ₩90,139
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$53.43 ₩71,316
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$78.10 ₩104K
Men's business shoes (leather)	$40.00	$102.84 ₩137K	+157.1%
Average			+157.1%

Northern Mariana Islands vs. South Korea - Cost of clothing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

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: Northern Mariana Islands vs. South Korea

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in South Korea?

Quality of Life Comparison · 6 statistics

Be 3.9 times more likely to have internet access in South Korea

Size Comparison · See true size

Northern Mariana Islands is about 215 times smaller than South Korea.

Moving from Northern Mariana Islands to South Korea · Cost, visas & climate

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

More cost comparisons

Northern Mariana Islands vs.

United States

Northern Mariana Islands vs.

Guam

Northern Mariana Islands vs.

Palau

Northern Mariana Islands vs.

Micronesia, Federated States of

Northern Mariana Islands vs.

Russia

Northern Mariana Islands vs.

South Africa

Northern Mariana Islands vs.

Germany

Northern Mariana Islands vs.

Canada

Share this

Compare by city

For example, try comparing the cost of living in Saipan vs. Seoul

Help us improve these prices

MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative project. Please enter price information for your location to help assist us in making these comparisons more accurate. Learn more

Add prices for Northern Mariana Islands

Add prices for South Korea

Ask the Elsewhere Community

Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about South Korea or Northern Mariana Islands. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.