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Best Places to Live in South Korea (2026)

29 best-measured cities in South Korea, ranked on 29 livability metrics — cost, safety, healthcare, transport, and more. Institutional data, not crowdsourced.

As of the 2026-09-09 snapshot, Seoul is the highest-scoring well-measured city in South Korea at 82/100. Updated 2026-09-09.

Highest overall livability

  1. Seoul SeoulA82
  2. Busan BusanB80
  3. Incheon IncheonB79
  4. Daegu DaeguB79
  5. Daejeon DaejeonB78
  6. Gwangju GwangjuC78
  7. Ulsan UlsanC75
  8. Cheongju-si North ChungcheongC74
  9. Goyang-si Gyeonggi-doC74
  10. Changwon Gyeongsangnam-doC74
  11. Bucheon-si Gyeonggi-doC74
  12. Seongnam-si Gyeonggi-doC74

Most affordable

  1. Ulsan UlsanC79
  2. Daejeon DaejeonB79
  3. Gwangju GwangjuC79
  4. Daegu DaeguB75
  5. Busan BusanB72
  6. Incheon IncheonB70
  7. Seoul SeoulA67
  8. Guri-si Gyeonggi-doC65

Safest

  1. Daejeon DaejeonB93
  2. Gwangju GwangjuC93
  3. Daegu DaeguB90
  4. Busan BusanB90
  5. Incheon IncheonB90
  6. Seoul SeoulA89
  7. Andong Gyeongsangbuk-doC82
  8. Siheungdong SeoulC82