Cost of living comparison

Romania

compared to

South Korea

South Korea vs. Romania Cost of Living Summary

South Korea is 48.3% more expensive than Romania overall.

Restaurants: pay 24.5% less in South Korea
Groceries: pay 2.7 times more in South Korea
Transportation: pay 12.3% more in South Korea
Housing: pay 49.2% more in South Korea
Childcare: pay 79.1% more in South Korea
Entertainment and Sports: pay 38.1% more in South Korea
Clothing: pay 18.9% more in South Korea

The cost of groceries, childcare, housing, entertainment and sports, clothing, and transportation in South Korea are more expensive than in Romania. Notably, groceries and childcare are significantly more expensive in South Korea.

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South Korea vs. Romania Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 24.5% less for restaurants

	Romania	South Korea
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$9.82 RON46.44	$7.06 ₩9,422	-28.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.22 RON34.13	$6.17 ₩8,230	-14.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.87 RON8.86	$1.53 ₩2,039	-18.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.57 RON7.43	$0.88 ₩1,181	-43.7%
Average			-24.5%

Romania vs. South Korea - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.7 times more for groceries

	Romania	South Korea
Bread 1 loaf	$1.10 RON5.19	$3.04 ₩4,055	+176.8%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.76 RON17.78	$6.12 ₩8,174	+62.9%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.36 RON25.36	$8.23 ₩10,982	+53.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.91 RON13.77	$2.94 ₩3,923	+1.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.69 RON12.72	$4.11 ₩5,484	+52.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.51 RON2.42	$4.00 ₩5,342	+683.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.67 RON3.18	$1.55 ₩2,069	+130.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.65 RON3.08	$3.00 ₩4,000	+360.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.89 RON4.19	$2.63 ₩3,513	+197.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.35 RON1.66	$2.03 ₩2,715	+478.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.36 RON1.70	$1.26 ₩1,685	+250.9%
Average			+169.1%

Romania vs. South Korea - Cost of groceries

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pay 12.3% more for transportation

	Romania	South Korea
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.55 RON30.98	$5.01 ₩6,685	-23.5%
Monthly public transit pass	$23.38 RON110.58	$46.10 ₩61,538	+97.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$27,083.66 RON128K	$28,394.53 ₩38M	+4.8%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$6.64 RON31.43	$8.59 ₩11,470	+29.3%
Average			+12.3%

Romania vs. South Korea - Cost of transportation

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pay 49.2% more for housing

	Romania	South Korea
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$8.56 RON40.50	$24.34 ₩32,490	+184.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$371.73 RON1,758.50	$561.73 ₩750K	+51.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$281.26 RON1,330.53	$387.83 ₩518K	+37.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$107.14 RON506.84	$153.72 ₩205K	+43.5%
Average			+49.2%

Romania vs. South Korea - Cost of housing

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pay 79.1% more for childcare

	Romania	South Korea
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$482.75 RON2,283.68	$545.93 ₩729K	+13.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$7,125.14 RON33,706.19	$20,214.53 ₩27M	+183.7%
Average			+79.1%

Romania vs. South Korea - Cost of childcare

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pay 38.1% more for entertainment and sports

	Romania	South Korea
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.18 RON10.31	$3.30 ₩4,403	+51.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.45 RON11.57	$3.66 ₩4,888	+49.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$5.71 RON27.03	$3.35 ₩4,467	-41.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$38.73 RON183.19	$57.32 ₩76,507	+48.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$7.13 RON33.75	$11.28 ₩15,062	+58.2%
Average			+38.1%

Romania vs. South Korea - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 18.9% more for clothing

	Romania	South Korea
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$62.00 RON293.30	$67.53 ₩90,139	+8.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$35.53 RON168.09	$53.43 ₩71,316	+50.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$77.18 RON365.11	$78.10 ₩104K	+1.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$85.19 RON402.98	$102.84 ₩137K	+20.7%
Average			+18.9%

Romania 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: Romania vs. South Korea

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Quality of Life Comparison · 21 statistics

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Size Comparison · See true size

Romania is about 2.4 times bigger than South Korea.

Moving from Romania to South Korea · OECD 2023

76 people moved from Romania to South Korea.

City Size Comparison · See true size

Compare the size of Bucharest vs Seoul

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