How Much Can I Save Teaching English in South Korea?

There’s no hard-and-fast number for this because everyone is different. Some teachers will spend lavishly on cosmetics and travel while others will operate on a tight budget. Teachers can easily save the equivalent of $10,000 USD while traveling and singing the nights away in Korea’s crazy Karaoke booths. Careful spenders can pocket as much as $17,000 USD. And the stingiest souls will save even more.

You can enjoy an amazing lifestyle on very little in South Korea, but if you’re interested in saving or paying off a loan, you might want to make a budget and stick to it. It can be tempting to spend multiple weekends perusing the shopping districts of Seoul or jetting off to nearby Japan. But if you’ve got big plans for your salary, you should be a little careful. There are lots of inexpensive things to do.

Most teachers manage to save or pay off a decent chunk of money while still enjoying all that being in Korea has to offer. If you’re interested in saving a LOT (and who isn’t), try to take most of your excursions in-country: hike the endless Korean mountains and eat mostly Korean food. The only things that are really expensive in Korea are imported goods. If you can get down with the bibimbap – you’ll be all set to make bank.

How much is it actually possible to save per month teaching in South Korea?

A lot of teachers manage to put aside between $700 – 1,000 USD per month. There are teachers that save a lot more and teachers that save considerably less, but teachers can live comfortably and still manage to save that much.

Average cost of living in South Korea (based on Seoul – the most expensive city)

Alright, so we could go blue in the face explaining how cheap Korea is. Rather than that, we’ll just give you a quick glimpse at some of the prices you can expect to find. This is the cost of living in South Korea at its most expensive (and some areas are considerably cheaper – hello rural towns!)

Okay, so how easy is it to get a job teaching English in South Korea?

Qualifying for teaching jobs in South Korea isn’t difficult. All you really need is a TEFL certificate and a bachelor’s degree. It’s possible to shop around for private positions or part-time gigs that won’t need both qualifications, but generally, most teachers will have these minimum requirements.

Travel & Teach Recruiting Inc. has placed 1000’s of university graduates in teaching positions in cities across South Korea. With full visa and in-country support, Travel Teach is a leader in the ESL industry. We have always stayed close to our mission, which is to share our passion for traveling and teaching; as past English teachers in Korea ourselves, we want your experience to be as good – or better – than ours was. Our service has always been free for our teachers and always will be.