Cost of living comparison

compared to

Seoul vs. Riyadh Cost of Living Summary

Seoul is 28.3% more expensive than Riyadh.

Restaurants: pay 67.5% more in Seoul
Groceries: pay 2.2 times more in Seoul
Transportation: pay 11.9% more in Seoul
Housing: pay 19.7% less in Seoul
Childcare: pay 49.5% more in Seoul
Entertainment and Sports: pay 10.8% less in Seoul
Clothing: pay 21.4% less in Seoul

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

Seoul vs. Riyadh Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 67.5% more for restaurants

	Riyadh	Seoul
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.00 SAR30.00	$8.49 ₩12,461	+6.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.00 SAR30.00	$6.30 ₩9,242	-21.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.75 SAR2.82	$1.64 ₩2,405	+118.1%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.29 SAR1.10	$0.78 ₩1,146	+167.3%
Average			+67.5%

Riyadh vs. Seoul - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.2 times more for groceries

	Riyadh	Seoul
Bread 1 loaf	$1.31 SAR4.91	$3.24 ₩4,752	+147.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.27 SAR16.00	$6.79 ₩9,969	+59.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.23 SAR23.37	$7.85 ₩11,517	+25.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.81 SAR10.53	$2.93 ₩4,303	+4.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.67 SAR17.52	$4.67 ₩6,851	-0.1%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.03 SAR3.85	$3.45 ₩5,057	+235.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.76 SAR2.87	$1.52 ₩2,237	+99.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.82 SAR3.07	$2.35 ₩3,451	+187.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.70 SAR2.63	$2.77 ₩4,069	+295.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.58 SAR2.17	$1.62 ₩2,376	+179.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.66 SAR2.48	$1.30 ₩1,904	+96.0%
Average			+121.0%

Riyadh vs. Seoul - Cost of groceries

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pay 11.9% more for transportation

	Riyadh	Seoul
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$2.31 SAR8.65	$4.43 ₩6,502	+92.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$37.33 SAR140.01	$45.99 ₩67,498	+23.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$33,328.67 SAR125,009.97	$25,072.36 ₩36,796,951	-24.8%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$18.40 SAR69.01	$10.50 ₩15,410	-42.9%
Average			+11.9%

Riyadh vs. Seoul - Cost of transportation

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pay 19.7% less for housing

	Riyadh	Seoul
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$74.49 SAR279.42	$20.56 ₩30,169	-72.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,119.84 SAR4,200.33	$925.55 ₩1,358,372	-17.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$846.11 SAR3,173.60	$559.33 ₩820,889	-33.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$82.07 SAR307.85	$118.88 ₩174,474	+44.8%
Average			-19.7%

Riyadh vs. Seoul - Cost of housing

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pay 49.5% more for childcare

	Riyadh	Seoul
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$461.83 SAR1,732.23	$360.15 ₩528,564	-22.0%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$9,810.75 SAR36,798.39	$21,667.04 ₩31,799,193	+120.9%
Average			+49.5%

Riyadh vs. Seoul - Cost of childcare

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pay 10.8% less for entertainment and sports

	Riyadh	Seoul
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.87 SAR7.00	$3.54 ₩5,192	+89.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$4.10 SAR15.39	$3.70 ₩5,427	-9.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$7.33 SAR27.50	$3.18 ₩4,673	-56.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$104.43 SAR391.70	$56.34 ₩82,680	-46.1%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$15.33 SAR57.50	$10.61 ₩15,577	-30.8%
Average			-10.8%

Riyadh vs. Seoul - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 21.4% less for clothing

	Riyadh	Seoul
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$59.01 SAR221.34	$49.77 ₩73,037	-15.7%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$64.27 SAR241.07	$39.49 ₩57,958	-38.6%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$110.52 SAR414.53	$74.94 ₩109,988	-32.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$98.25 SAR368.53	$99.06 ₩145,381	+0.8%
Average			-21.4%

Riyadh vs. Seoul - Cost of clothing

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: December 2025

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