Seoul, Gyeonggi, or a smaller city? Choosing where to take your first job
For a first contract in Korea, the honest trade-off is this: Seoul gives you the most to do and the most competition for jobs, Gyeonggi gives you Seoul on a train with lower costs and more openings, and a smaller city gives you the fastest Korean and the least English-speaking company. None of the three is a mistake — but picking without knowing the trade-off usually is.
Park English · Published 2026-08-07 · 2 min read
Almost every teacher arrives wanting Seoul. About half of them, a year later, say the location mattered less than the school did.
Still, it matters. Here is the trade-off, stated plainly.
Seoul
What you get. Everything is there — food, music, other foreigners, a flight out of Incheon whenever you want one, and enough going on that a bad week at work does not become a bad week.
What it costs. More competition for the good positions, especially for a first contract with no Korea experience. Higher everyday costs. And if your school is in one district and your apartment in another, your commute eats the thing you moved for.
Who it suits. People who want a wide social life, and people who already know they want to stay more than a year.
Gyeonggi — the ring around Seoul
What you get. Goyang, Bundang, Suwon, Paju, Gimpo, Anyang. Seoul is a train ride, not a plane ride. Housing tends to be newer and larger for the same money, and there are simply more openings — which for a first contract means more schools competing for you rather than the other way around.
What it costs. You are commuting for the Seoul night out, not walking to it.
Who it suits. Most first contracts, honestly. It is the quietest way to get a good school without paying the Seoul premium in rent or in competition.
A smaller city
What you get. Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Daejeon, Jeonju and the rest. Lower costs, a school that is genuinely glad you came, and — the part people underestimate — much faster Korean, because you will actually need it.
What it costs. A smaller English-speaking circle. If your plan depends on having twenty foreign friends by month two, this is harder.
Who it suits. People who came to be in Korea rather than to be in a city, and people who want to save money.
The thing that actually decides your year
The school. A great school in Suwon beats a mediocre one in Gangnam every single time, and it is not close. Location is the thing you can see from the outside, so it is the thing people optimise. The schedule, the director, and the turnover rate are what you will actually live in.
So use location as a filter, not as the decision. Narrow to two or three regions you would be happy in, then judge the schools inside them on their own merits.
How to see what is actually open
Our job board filters by region, and every posting shows pay, age range and start date before you apply. Filter to the two regions you would say yes to and look at what is really there this month — the answer changes with the season.
If you tell us your two regions and your earliest start date, we will tell you honestly which of them has more of what you want right now.