Cost of living comparison

Latvia

compared to

South Korea

Seoul vs. Riga Cost of Living Summary

Seoul is 21.7% more expensive than Riga.

Restaurants: pay 33.0% less in Seoul
Groceries: pay 2.0 times more in Seoul
Transportation: pay 4.4% less in Seoul
Housing: pay 31.6% more in Seoul
Childcare: pay 95.7% more in Seoul
Entertainment and Sports: pay 7.9% less in Seoul
Clothing: pay 28.3% less in Seoul

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

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Seoul vs. Riga Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Seoul instead of Riga, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 33.0% less for restaurants

	Riga	Seoul
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$16.80 €15.07	$8.96 ₩12,215	-46.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$9.24 €8.29	$7.46 ₩10,179	-19.2%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.61 €1.45	$1.58 ₩2,158	-1.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.18 €1.06	$0.79 ₩1,072	-33.3%
Average			-33.0%

Riga vs. Seoul - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.0 times more for groceries

	Riga	Seoul
Bread 1 loaf	$1.43 €1.28	$3.10 ₩4,224	+116.8%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.22 €4.68	$8.84 ₩12,055	+69.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.41 €3.95	$7.79 ₩10,629	+76.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.76 €3.37	$3.61 ₩4,917	-4.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.91 €3.51	$4.74 ₩6,466	+21.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.00 €0.89	$3.46 ₩4,724	+248.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.83 €0.74	$1.57 ₩2,136	+89.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.13 €1.01	$2.59 ₩3,537	+129.9%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.40 €1.25	$2.83 ₩3,864	+103.0%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.40 €0.36	$1.66 ₩2,259	+312.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.42 €0.38	$1.16 ₩1,575	+174.8%
Average			+104.7%

Riga vs. Seoul - Cost of groceries

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pay 4.4% less for transportation

	Riga	Seoul
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$7.75 €6.96	$5.53 ₩7,545	-28.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$33.59 €30.14	$46.28 ₩63,112	+37.8%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$27,308.11 €24,499.47	$29,385.60 ₩40M	+7.6%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$11.42 €10.25	$8.51 ₩11,604	-25.5%
Average			-4.4%

Riga vs. Seoul - Cost of transportation

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pay 31.6% more for housing

	Riga	Seoul
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$20.41 €18.31	$20.82 ₩28,392	+2.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$582.45 €522.54	$886.39 ₩1M	+52.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$385.02 €345.42	$620.25 ₩846K	+61.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$286.52 €257.06	$162.69 ₩222K	-43.2%
Average			+31.6%

Riga vs. Seoul - Cost of housing

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pay 95.7% more for childcare

	Riga	Seoul
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$645.25 €578.88	$1,927.59 ₩3M	+198.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$17,635.84 €15,821.99	$22,602.27 ₩31M	+28.2%
Average			+95.7%

Riga vs. Seoul - Cost of childcare

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pay 7.9% less for entertainment and sports

	Riga	Seoul
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$5.60 €5.02	$3.73 ₩5,090	-33.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.72 €3.34	$4.10 ₩5,593	+10.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$6.72 €6.03	$3.36 ₩4,581	-50.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$49.91 €44.77	$58.22 ₩79,399	+16.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$10.75 €9.64	$11.20 ₩15,269	+4.2%
Average			-7.9%

Riga vs. Seoul - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 28.3% less for clothing

	Riga	Seoul
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$69.42 €62.28	$57.88 ₩78,937	-16.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$50.39 €45.21	$32.77 ₩44,695	-35.0%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$85.85 €77.02	$69.99 ₩95,451	-18.5%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$138.10 €123.90	$82.45 ₩112K	-40.3%
Average			-28.3%

Riga vs. Seoul - 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

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Size Comparison · See true size

Riga is about 2 times smaller than Seoul.

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