2.95/5
293 reviews
Photo by Thomas Roger Lux via Unsplash

Cost of Living in Busan

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nice

fish

seoul

gimhae

beach

great

bit

fresh

enjoy

transportation

coworking

work

general

art

airport

rail

line

Gimhae and Busan offer a blend of nature, culture, and convenience for remote workers and travelers. Gimhae is a smaller city with quick access to Busan and the airport, featuring nature spots, quirky street art, and essential amenities like Costco and supermarkets. The light rail connects you easily to Busan, though a transfer is needed to access other metro lines.

Busan stands out for its modern infrastructure, great cafes with reliable Wi-Fi, excellent public transit, and diverse environments—from beaches to mountains. It's a walkable city with plenty of gyms, making it easy to maintain a routine. While the city lacks coworking spaces targeted specifically at digital nomads, cafés are generally suitable for remote work.

The main downsides are the relatively higher cost of living compared to Southeast Asia—about double that of cities in Thailand or Vietnam—and the limited coworking community feel. However, the convenience, safety, and variety of activities make it a compelling place for those who prefer an urban lifestyle but want access to nature as well.

AI-generated summary of reviews

Busan is a hidden gem for summer runaways from the SE Asia heat. It's a great city for cafe-hopping. There are nice cafes almost everywhere in the city. You normally don't have to worry about the internet as almost every cafe I've visited has strong WIFI. The city is very walkable. You can enjoy mountains beaches and many city scenes. There's even a surf town in the city. Public transportation is very advanced and convenient so you won't need a motorbike or a car. So many gyms around the city so its easy to keep your exercise routine. The only missing piece is some good community vibe coworking space as there are a few coworking places in the city but they are intended for startups rather than nomads. But a quick solution is to just work in cafés. In general, the living cost is about twice of Thai and Vietnamese cities. Probably a bit more than Canggu Bali; but you get the extra values of a modern city with all the things to do and convenience.

11 months ago

Gimhae is a nice area to stay if you enjoy nature, art galleries, shops, and a smaller city feel near the airport. You will have access to Busan as well. The light rail is a handy automated above ground rail to use. The line goes into Gimhae, to the Gimhae International Airport, and slightly into Busan before having to shift to another metro or transportation line. Gimhae also has a Costco and major supermarkets. The street art is also quirky.

2 years ago

Great place if you like Korean cuisine and fresh fish in general. Haedong Yonggungsa seaside temple is the absolute highlight. Locals are helpful, too bad 8/10 won't speak english. Young people included!
Remember: Uber, Grab, Google Maps won't work in Korea, in favour of Kakao app which is pure garbage and all in Korean.
And by the way pornography is illegal.

6 years ago

Korea's second biggest city after Seoul. Busan is a nice place to go if you want to see another part of Korea that's still pretty comfortable. It's in the south of South Korea, on the ocean, and that makes it a great place to eat fish. In fact that's where all the fish in Seoul comes from, so you can eat it fresh in Busan! In many ways Busan feels like Seoul but 10 or 20 years ago. It's a bit more grimy and broken down and less futuristic than Seoul, but still very nice. I'd suggest staying in Seomyeon, which is kinda like Seoul's Hongdae. It's a student area with some hipster vibes to it. But take hipster vibes with a grain of salt, this is Busan after all. People are very friendly, even more friendly than Seoul. Where in Seoul as a foreigner they don't really care anymore, in Busan you're still hailed as a curiosity which can be fun! If you want to see the beach, take a taxi to Haeundae Beach. It's especially nice in the evening if you'd like to party. Korean beach culture is a bit different than in the West, so you'll probably see less swimming and sunbathing that you're used to. More like people walking on the beach boulevard. Also nice is to see the Jagalchi fish market, pick some fish you like in the big building and you can ask them to prepare it for you upstairs and cook it. Fish as fresh as you can get in Korea.

6 years ago

✅ Fast internet

✅ Good public transportation

✅ Walkable city

✅ Access to nature and beaches

✅ Good cafe scene

✅ Very safe

✅ Lots of fun stuff to do

✅ Warm now

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Nomads.com members liked going here

✅ Many Nomads.com members have been

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Very easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Great hospitals

✅ Roads are pretty safe

✅ Freedom of speech

✅ Democratic

✅ Very safe for women

✅ Family friendly

❌ High cost of living

❌ Few coworking spaces for nomads

❌ Gets cold in the winter

❌ Not many Nomads.com members right now

❌ Very difficult to make friends

❌ People don't speak English well

❌ Hostile towards LGBTQ+

❌ People smoking tobacco a lot

❌ High alcohol consumption

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

4°C / 39°F cold

9°C / 48°F cold

12°C / 54°F cool

14°C / 57°F cool

18°C / 64°F cool

21°C / 70°F mild

30°C / 86°F warm

32°C / 90°F hot

24°C / 75°F warm

21°C / 70°F mild

15°C / 59°F cool

7°C / 45°F cold

Real (median)

6°C / 43°F
very cold

11°C / 51°F
cool

14°C / 56°F
cool

15°C / 59°F
cool

18°C / 64°F
cool

21°C / 70°F
mild

26°C / 79°F
warm

27°C / 81°F
warm

24°C / 75°F
warm

20°C / 68°F
mild

15°C / 59°F
cool

9°C / 48°F
cold

Humidity

nice
48%

nice
51%

nice
64%

nice
61%

nice
71%

nice
78%

nice
89%

sweaty
86%

nice
80%

nice
73%

nice
56%

nice
51%

Most common

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

Rain

dry
34mm

dry
46mm

rainy
90mm

rainy
87mm

rainy
138mm

rainy
150mm

rainy
212mm

rainy
185mm

rainy
161mm

dry
47mm

rainy
53mm

dry
3mm

Cloud

pockets
16%

pockets
21%

pockets
37%

pockets
38%

pockets
46%

pockets
44%

cloudy
53%

cloudy
52%

cloudy
54%

pockets
27%

pockets
23%

pockets
15%

Air quality

okay
74 US AQI

okay
98 US AQI

okay
78 US AQI

okay
69 US AQI

okay
83 US AQI

okay
54 US AQI

okay
52 US AQI

okay
64 US AQI

okay
53 US AQI

clean
46 US AQI

okay
60 US AQI

okay
65 US AQI

Sun

seek shade
3 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

Remote workers

400 people

371 people

686 people

720 people

1,060 people

700 people

400 people

775 people

1,143 people

500 people

600 people

440 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Busan's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

	Lead Data Engineer @ Open Architects
	Software Engineer II @ Everbridge
	Senior React Native SDK Engineer @ Nami ML
	Tech Cofounder CTO @ Founders Factory
	Senior Backend Engineer @ HockeyStack
	Senior Full stack Developer @ Lemon.io
	Senior Account Lead @ Sanctuary Computer
	Developer Productivity Engineer @ Narwhal Technologies Inc.
	Spanish Speaking Software Support E... @ Payara
	Full Stack .NET Developer @ Smart Working Solutions
	Typescript Engineer @ wander.com

Help pick the best photos for Busan and improve this page's look by tappingclicking on them and the site saves your feedback Vote photos

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✈️26min

$2,589 / mo

32 Mbps

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	2.95/5 (Rank #48) 293 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍6 liked it 👎1 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Okay
💵 Cost	😙 Affordable: $2,121 / mo
📡 Internet	🙂 Good: 35Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Great
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🌞 Perfect: 20°C68°F (feels 21°C70°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 74%
💨 Air quality (now)	🌱 Good: 61 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Good: 59 US AQI
👌 Safety	Great
🤮 Food safety*	Good
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Great
🤝 Lack of racism*	Okay
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	High: $2,315 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Bad
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Good
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
🏥 Hospitals	Good
😄 Happiness*	Okay
🍸 Nightlife	Okay
📶 Free WiFi in city	Great
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Great
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Good
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
👩 Female friendly	Good
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Bad
🎅 Startup Score	Okay

🌍 Continent	Asia
🚩 Country	South Korea
🗓️ Average trip length	5 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	35 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌤 20°C 68°F + 😊 Comfy (74%) = feels 21°C 70°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👍 61 US AQI 🍃 OK
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👎😷 59 US AQI
🔌 Power	230V 60Hz
🚕 Best taxi app*	Kakao T
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 10,000 KRW in USD	USD 7.35
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	KRW 100,000 = USD 73
💸 Tipping	No
💳 Cashless	💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere
💻 Best coworking space	Regus
🏪 Best 24/7 coffee place	Tom N Toms
🚰 Tap water	👌 Yes, safe to drink
♻️ Return rate	8% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	3,400,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$27,785 / year
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 48% 👱‍♀️ 52%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 56% 👱‍♀️ 44%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 84% 👱‍♀️ 16%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Ambiguous
💻 Online electronics shop	Gmarket
🏠 Apartment listings	Stayes
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	Jeju Air
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Korean Air

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$2,121 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$1,437 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$2,520 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$720 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$858 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$2,553 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$435 / month
🏠 Median home price	$294,354
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$40 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$84 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$175 / month
🍛 Dinner	$6
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$1
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$3
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$3
👩‍🏫 International school	$22,038 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$9 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$3 / trip