Cost of living comparison

Saudi Arabia

compared to

South Korea

South Korea vs. Saudi Arabia Cost of Living Summary

South Korea is 21.3% more expensive than Saudi Arabia overall.

Restaurants: pay 17.7% more in South Korea
Groceries: pay 2.2 times more in South Korea
Transportation: pay 11.0% more in South Korea
Housing: pay 6.1% less in South Korea
Childcare: pay 75.2% more in South Korea
Entertainment and Sports: pay 14.8% less in South Korea
Clothing: pay 15.1% more in South Korea

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

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South Korea vs. Saudi Arabia Cost Breakdown

If you lived in South Korea instead of Saudi Arabia, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 17.7% more for restaurants

	Saudi Arabia	South Korea
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$6.43 SAR24.15	$7.06 ₩9,422	+9.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.60 SAR28.53	$6.17 ₩8,230	-18.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.77 SAR2.90	$1.53 ₩2,039	+97.8%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.25 SAR0.94	$0.88 ₩1,181	+253.3%
Average			+17.7%

Saudi Arabia vs. South Korea - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.2 times more for groceries

	Saudi Arabia	South Korea
Bread 1 loaf	$0.98 SAR3.69	$3.04 ₩4,055	+208.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.80 SAR14.25	$6.12 ₩8,174	+61.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.70 SAR25.16	$8.23 ₩10,982	+22.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.67 SAR10.01	$2.94 ₩3,923	+10.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.42 SAR12.84	$4.11 ₩5,484	+20.1%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.98 SAR3.66	$4.00 ₩5,342	+310.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.78 SAR2.93	$1.55 ₩2,069	+98.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.80 SAR2.99	$3.00 ₩4,000	+275.9%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.75 SAR2.81	$2.63 ₩3,513	+251.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.62 SAR2.32	$2.03 ₩2,715	+229.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.60 SAR2.27	$1.26 ₩1,685	+108.7%
Average			+120.5%

Saudi Arabia vs. South Korea - Cost of groceries

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pay 11.0% more for transportation

	Saudi Arabia	South Korea
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$2.35 SAR8.83	$5.01 ₩6,685	+112.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$35.96 SAR134.94	$46.10 ₩61,538	+28.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$44,549.24 SAR167K	$28,394.53 ₩38M	-36.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$20.52 SAR77.00	$8.59 ₩11,470	-58.1%
Average			+11.0%

Saudi Arabia vs. South Korea - Cost of transportation

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pay 6.1% less for housing

	Saudi Arabia	South Korea
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$68.86 SAR258.41	$24.34 ₩32,490	-64.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$633.54 SAR2,377.57	$561.73 ₩750K	-11.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$465.22 SAR1,745.88	$387.83 ₩518K	-16.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$73.68 SAR276.52	$153.72 ₩205K	+108.6%
Average			-6.1%

Saudi Arabia vs. South Korea - Cost of housing

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pay 75.2% more for childcare

	Saudi Arabia	South Korea
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$419.94 SAR1,575.96	$545.93 ₩729K	+30.0%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$8,565.65 SAR32,145.50	$20,214.53 ₩27M	+136.0%
Average			+75.2%

Saudi Arabia vs. South Korea - Cost of childcare

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pay 14.8% less for entertainment and sports

	Saudi Arabia	South Korea
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.91 SAR7.18	$3.30 ₩4,403	+72.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.43 SAR12.86	$3.66 ₩4,888	+6.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$6.94 SAR26.04	$3.35 ₩4,467	-51.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$98.19 SAR368.47	$57.32 ₩76,507	-41.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$15.24 SAR57.19	$11.28 ₩15,062	-25.9%
Average			-14.8%

Saudi Arabia vs. South Korea - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 15.1% more for clothing

	Saudi Arabia	South Korea
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$44.17 SAR165.75	$67.53 ₩90,139	+52.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$55.80 SAR209.42	$53.43 ₩71,316	-4.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$89.45 SAR335.69	$78.10 ₩104K	-12.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$74.85 SAR280.89	$102.84 ₩137K	+37.4%
Average			+15.1%

Saudi Arabia 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: Saudi Arabia vs. South Korea

Salary Calculator · Free tool

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Quality of Life Comparison · 16 statistics

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Size Comparison · See true size

Saudi Arabia is about 22 times bigger than South Korea.

Moving from Saudi Arabia to South Korea · OECD 2023

428 people moved from Saudi Arabia to South Korea.

City Size Comparison · See true size

Compare the size of Riyadh vs Seoul

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