Where to teach
City and region profiles for teachers deciding where to work in Korea — cost of living, commute, what the teaching scene is like, and who each place suits.
14 articles — newest first
Sejong City for English teachers: a planned capital with few hagwons and what the pay looks like
Sejong is Korea's government-built administrative capital, home to civil servants rather than a dense school district, so hagwon postings are harder to find and the ones that exist lean toward adults and younger kids, not exam-prep teens.
10-31Gwangju for English teachers: what the southwest's art-and-university city pays and costs
Gwangju runs lower hagwon salaries than Seoul but much lower rent too, with a slower pace, strong university energy, and a 90-minute KTX ride home for the weekend.
10-25Ansan for English teachers: Seoul-adjacent rent in a port-and-factory city
Ansan sits on Line 4 with rent well under Seoul prices and a hagwon market built around its Danwon-gu factory and port district, smaller than Suwon's but real enough to build a year on.
10-19Yongin for English teachers: Gyeonggi's commuter belt and what the rent buys
Yongin sits between Seoul and Samsung's Pyeongtaek chip campus, and the rent shows it: officetels cost less than Seoul, but your commute depends entirely on which subway line reaches your building.
10-13Gumi for English teachers: Samsung's satellite city and what it pays
Gumi is the Nakdong River city built around Samsung's Galaxy plant, with hagwon pay that trails Ulsan but a short, cheap rail hop to Daegu and a foreign teacher community that's easy to find once you land.
10-07Daegu for English teachers: lower rent, and Seoul 100 minutes away
Daegu pays hagwon salaries close to Seoul's smaller offers, but everyday costs run noticeably lower, the subway is simple to learn in a weekend, and a KTX from Dongdaegu gets you back to Seoul Station in under two hours.
09-30Jeonju trades Seoul-sized pay for rent you'll actually notice
Jeonju, the hanok-village city in Jeonbuk State, pays close to national-average hagwon wages while rent runs well below Seoul, which means teachers there often keep more of each paycheck than the number on the contract suggests.
09-24What teaching English on Jeju Island costs, and who it suits
Jeju pays roughly the same as a mainland hagwon, but flights home, ferry freight for anything heavy, and a smaller pool of openings change the math. It suits teachers who want the island lifestyle more than career options.
09-18Cheonan for English teachers: what the KTX city an hour from Seoul costs
Cheonan is a mid-sized Chungcheongnam-do city about 40 minutes from Seoul by KTX, with lower rent than the capital, a steady mix of hagwon and public school jobs, and a subway line if you want to skip the train fare entirely.
09-12Suwon has Gyeonggi's biggest teaching market, and Samsung money to match
Suwon's population passed 1.23 million in 2025, ahead of metropolitan Ulsan, and its Samsung-anchored economy feeds a dense private academy market reachable from Gangnam by direct rail.
09-06Incheon for English teachers: airport city wages, Seoul commute math, and who it suits
Incheon splits into an older downtown and new international districts, and neither its hagwon pay nor its Seoul commute times are set by any government body, so here's what we could actually verify, and where to check the rest yourself.
08-25Busan for English teachers: what the second city actually costs and who it suits
Busan runs cheaper than Seoul on paper, but the wage math and the visa paperwork don't work the way most guides claim. Here's what we can actually verify, and where the real numbers live if you want to check them yourself.
08-23Daegu, Daejeon and Gwangju: what teaching in Korea's other big cities looks like
Korea has several cities of a million or more people that most incoming teachers never consider. Postings there are less competitive, living costs are lower, and the trade-off is a smaller foreign community and a shorter list of schools.
07-24Seoul, Gyeonggi, or a smaller city? Picking your first teaching home in Korea
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.
07-08