Busan for English teachers: what the second city actually costs and who it suits
Busan offers lower rent and a beach commute, but fewer jobs and tighter foreigner circles than Seoul. Here's what teaching in Korea's port city looks like in 2025, including real monthly costs and the visa quirk that trips people up.
Park English · 2026-08-23 · 3 min read
We've placed teachers in Busan since we started, and the same question comes up every time: is it actually cheaper than Seoul, and does that matter if the job options are thinner?
Short answer: yes to the first, sometimes to the second.
Rent and deposits
A studio in Haeundae or Gwangalli — the two districts teachers ask about — runs ₩500,000 to ₩700,000 a month if you're paying it yourself. That's ₩200,000 less than equivalent Seoul neighbourhoods. Most hagwons still provide housing, but if you take a housing allowance instead, that gap matters.
Key money deposits sit lower too. Where Seoul landlords want ₩5–10 million up front, Busan averages ₩3–5 million. If your contract includes housing, the hagwon fronts this and deducts ₩300,000–₩400,000 from your final pay when you leave, same as anywhere else.
What you'll actually spend
Month-to-month costs in Busan, assuming you cook twice a week and eat out the rest:
| Expense | Monthly cost (₩) |
|---|---|
| Groceries | 250,000 |
| Eating out | 350,000 |
| Metro/bus | 60,000 |
| Phone | 55,000 |
| Gym | 60,000 |
| Drinking (moderate) | 180,000 |
| Total | 955,000 |
In Seoul that same budget breaks ₩1.2 million because restaurant meals and bar tabs cost more. Coffee in Busan is still ₩4,500; in Gangnam it's ₩6,500.
The teaching market
Here's the part nobody writes plainly: Busan has fewer hagwons, so fewer postings. In any given week we see thirty Seoul jobs for every eight in Busan. If you are picky about start date or working hours, you will wait longer.
The jobs themselves pay the same — ₩2.2–2.4 million for a first contract — and the split between kindergarten, elementary afterschool, and middle/high school academies mirrors Seoul. What differs is how often those jobs turn over. Busan teachers stay longer, which means openings come up less often.
Public school positions through EPIK are easier to land here than in Seoul, because fewer people apply. If you are open to either hagwon or public school, Busan is a better bet than the capital.
Commute and location
The city is long and coastal. If you work in Haeundae and live in Sasang, that's 40 minutes on Line 2. But most teachers live within three stops of their school, and the subway is clean, cheap, and runs until midnight.
The beach matters more than we expected when we started placing people here. Teachers who pick Busan for the ocean stay an average of eight months longer than those who picked it because a job came up. If you do not care about being near water, that's fine, but don't pretend you do — you'll bail after one contract.
Visa processing quirk
Busan has one immigration office for the whole city, in Yeonje-gu. It is not near the beach. When you arrive, you'll go there twice: once to register your address within 90 days, and again to collect your ARC. The office is walkable from Yeonsan station on Line 1, but it gets crowded on Monday mornings and the first week of each month. Go Tuesday afternoon if you can choose.
Who it suits
Busan works if you want a coastal city, slightly lower costs, and you are not in a hurry to pick between fifteen job offers. It does not work if you need a huge expat scene or if you want nightlife past 1am outside of weekends.
We've also seen teachers assume Busan is "easier" because it's smaller. It isn't easier. The students are the same, the workload is the same, and your director is just as likely to be annoying or great.
One thing we do not know for certain: whether the current build-out of housing near Centum City will push rents higher by the end of 2025. The local forums say yes, but we have not seen it in contracts yet.