City comparison
Cost of living in Lisbon vs Seoul
One person needs about €1,874 a month in Lisbon and €1,639 in Seoul, rent included — Seoul is 13% cheaper overall.
Salary you'd need to keep the same lifestyle
Enter your current net monthly pay. We scale it by the full cost basket — rent, groceries, transport, utilities, eating out and internet.
To live in Seoul the way you live in Lisbon on €3,000, you need
€2,624/ month net
13% less than today (-€376)
- Lisbon today
- Basket €1,874 · left over €1,126 (38%)
- Seoul at the matched salary
- Basket €1,639 · left over €985 (38%)
Local pay context: average tech net pay covers the basket 207% over in Seoul (strong) vs 128% in Lisbon. Purchasing power index · How we calculate this
🇵🇹 Lisbon
Visa-friendly and well connected, but local salaries lag far behind expat-driven rents.
Monthly budget: €1,874
Sources: Statistics Portugal (INE) + Eurostat, HICP & house-rent statistics (2025) · 331 community reports
🇰🇷 Seoul
Fast everything, plus jeonse deposits that catch foreigners off guard.
Monthly budget: €1,639
Sources: Eurostat, Harmonised price indices (2025) · 0 community reports
Should you move to Lisbon or Seoul?
On salary, Seoul pays more for tech roles (€3,400 versus €2,400 a month), so the money left over after costs is €1,761 in Seoul at the top end.
Rent drives most of the gap: €1,300 in Lisbon against €1,050 in Seoul. Groceries, transport and utilities move far less between the two.
For remote workers, the nomad index scores Lisbon at 83 and Seoul at 71 — see the full nomad index and our data methodology.