New York monthly cost of living vs Seoul, South Korea

[Wisconsin.pikachu]

That $2-5k a month in New York is for JUST rent not all utilities, food, insurance, transportation

[Jesus]

I started crying the moment I realized.... I'm working very hard just to be poor.

[mammonsimp]

Its really bizarre that these kind of comparisons actually existed. In south korea, my mom literally have to spend most of her salary for paying bills and rent (not to include my school fee, etc.), its hard to actually buy something for herself

Its probably easier for you if you worked in usa, and saves some money to live in korea since us dollars value is kinda high.

[colindabbs]

I lived in South Korea for 12 years. My wife is from South Korea. The cost of living in SK is very high, especially Seoul, especially food, it is cheaper to eat out than cook at home. Also you never mentioned Key Money. The more key money you put down the less rent you pay.

[james]

I’m a married American that’s been in Seoul, South Korea for 5 years. This video is so wrong. It’s not that cheap. Especially for a 3 bedroom apartment. She forgot to tell you guys about the key deposit money you have to have in order to even get a place like that for rent. It varies but can be around 40-50, 000usd just to get your foot in the door. Also the salary is lower in Korea than America. So just do your research.

[dheerajmathur]

But how much is the average household income in SK .. that make everything more relevant ..

[howardwest]

What she is saying is rather misleading. This comes from someone who has lived in Korea for 6 years and not in the more expensive Seoul area. My rent for a 54 pyeong apartment or 1921 Sq ft is 1800 USD a month. My electricity is on average about 350, 000 krw or 291 USD throughout the year. It all depends where you live and if you have a Korean in the home.

They swashbuckle foreigners who are not in any shape or form associated with or connected to local nationals. And I know for a fact a different foreigner who lives in the same location with the exact same apartment was paying 3, 300 USD per month. So take what they say with a grain of salt. Facts are not what they state nor does she highlight that in most places you have a 10K USD or more to even enter to a rental contract. Some can be more and they keep a percentage of the funds but return the rest when you exit the contract if you are lucky. We had an incident where the 200, 000 krw that's supposed to go towards our apartment fees was being pocketed by the local who deals with those funds and is supposed to pay the main contractor. They bailed with years of balled up cash and disappeared. They tried making the renters pay again but were shot down as it was their employee that stole the money.

[kkelseym]

I had to pause the video at "We rent a 3 bedroom apartment for $611." I'm paying close to $2k for a 2 bedroom in the South 😭

[Sakurasakura-ybkb]

I’m Korean, and I wanna tell that most of the rents are also expensive. There’s bubble in every city. Most Koreans aged 20-30 live hard, and cannot buy their own house. Public servants get about 2million won, and they need about a billion won or more to buy house. They should work for about 40 years without spending money to own their house. Other apartments in Seoul, even old ones are over 2 billion won. To add, most parents should pay for education. Average education cost until child’s graduation is about 100million won.

[Gimpenn]

Can people stop saying “in Europe” and comparing things to Europe. Europe isn’t one country! There is a big difference between Iceland and Portugal for example.

[Erabbz]

“It’s easy living in Korea while getting money from USA”

[zpt.denisse]

To anyone new here (to this video or the creator’s channel), I highly recommend reading around in the comments section. I learnt so much more through the various discussions about costs of living and lifestyle, than just relying on a 1-minute short comparison video.

The creator’s videos may often spark debate, be seen as tone deaf, or even cause a bit of controversy due to the lack of information, as it’s styled in such an oversimplified manner of delivery, but it was still very insightful and it did encourage me to look up on it. I don’t see it as spreading misinformation; I see it as her sharing about her own lifestyle and perspective on things, like how I would tell a friend about living in Singapore based on my own experience compared to, say, Australia.

[sivemtshakazana]

This lady is getting exposed in the comments.

[lordfarquaad]

She spends in a month what most Koreans make in a month. You can’t compare two completely different economies and act like the prices should be the same. The average American makes 3 times what the average Korean makes.

[alskarmode]

You also didn’t mention Korea has high key deposits so you have to pay thousands of dollars just to move in. It’s can get up to $10-20k depending on the area and how much monthly rent you’ll pay

[kycheleboone]

Notice how she did not mention her key money amount for both her 3 bedroom apt or her studio space for work. For a 3 bedroom apt, in Seoul, your key money must be AT LEAST 10 million won and that is being conservative. Its most likely 20 million. That is roughly 8, 000USD ~18, 000USD.

[jaibulit]

they forgot to mention the deposit for the 3 bedroom apartment is like a down-payment of a mortgage.

[itzjo]

It absolutely doesn’t matter how much it costs to live anywhere what matters is how much you make.

[jeonghopark]

Well coming from a person who previously lived in Seoul, there are few elements she would want to clarify, just like she mentioned living in NYC would generally cost 2-5k monthly, well living in Seoul can vary widely depending on which district of Seoul you decide to reside in. Just like Manhattan, there are more expensive districts in Seoul, renting a three bedroom condo in one of those would easily double or more of what she is paying. Another issue is in general, security deposit for rent is a lot higher in Korea, usually landlords require about two years worth of rent upfront as a sec deposit whereas in the states usually month and half worth is required.

[SA-ucgb]

I am a Korean guy with 4 members of family living in Seoul and with a paid off house. I would say the cost of living here a month is 3.5k US dollar. Her house rent is extremely cheaper than the average, which means she is just lucky to get a good rent deal.
Furthermore, you have to think about the cost of eductation here when kids grow up. It is extremely expensive but you have to pay if you want your kids to survive the academic competition.