Last updated: August 19, 2026
Most English-language pages about Korean prices are wrong in the same two ways: the numbers are years old, and they are quoted as a range so wide it helps nobody decide anything. This page sets out what we do instead, so you can judge whether to trust a figure on this site.
The rules
- Every figure carries its source, its unit and the date it was checked. If it cannot be traced, it does not go on the site.
- The unit is stated and converted openly. Korean restaurants are required to price meat per 100g, so that is the unit we compare in, and any conversion is done from the published figure rather than estimated.
- Where a figure is older than the day we checked it, we say so rather than presenting it as today’s price.
- Where we say a price is too high, the line is arithmetic, not opinion: it is a stated multiple of the official average, and it moves when the survey does.
Where the numbers come from
Our advantage is straightforward: the best price data about Korea is published in Korean, and almost no English-language site reads it.
- Korea Consumer Agency price survey (Chamgagyeok) – the government’s own regular survey of everyday goods prices. This is primary data, published by the body that collected it.
- Statistics Korea – the consumer price index, used for inflation trends and for sanity-checking year-on-year movement.
- Delivery apps (Baemin, Yogiyo) – real menu prices, which can be compared district by district.
- Naver Map and Kakao Map – store listings and photographed menus, useful for prices in a specific neighbourhood.
- Danawa and Naver Shopping – manufactured goods and electronics.
- Official tariffs – taxi, subway, bus and utility rates taken from the operator’s own published schedule, never from a secondary write-up.
- On-site checks – menus and shelf prices photographed in person.
How a price becomes a number in a table
- Start from the official figure. Where a government survey covers the item, that is the baseline, quoted in the unit the survey uses.
- Read individual prices from the menu itself. A price and the weight it applies to are taken from the same photograph of the same menu, never assembled from two different sources.
- Convert, do not estimate. Per-100g and dollar figures are calculated from the published number. Nothing is rounded into existence.
- Check it is still current. Where a menu photograph is older than the day we looked, we confirm the price is still listed before using it, and say which date is which.
- Date it. Each table states the survey month or the date the menu was checked, and names the body that collected the data.
What we do not claim
We used to promise that every figure would be confirmed in at least three independent sources, and that tables would separate what locals pay from what tourist districts charge. Neither survived contact with the data.
Three independent sources for the same restaurant’s menu do not exist. What exists is the menu, and the honest thing is to show it with a date on it.
The tourist split turned out to be the wrong axis. Measured against the official city average, the gap between two restaurants a few minutes apart in the same tourist district was larger than any gap we could find between districts. Presenting the price as a property of the neighbourhood would have been tidy and wrong.
- Overpriced. Above a stated multiple of the official average for that item, in the same unit the menu is required to print. The multiple is published with the table, so you can disagree with it and still use the number.
How often we update
Every price table is reviewed at least once a quarter, and sooner when something changes that we know moves prices: a fare revision, a large minimum-wage change, a sharp move in the consumer price index. Updated pages have their check date changed. We do not quietly edit a number and leave an old date in place.
Corrections
If a price here is wrong, we want to know, and a correction is more useful to us than a compliment.
Email kaphwans@gmail.com with the item, the price you were actually charged, the district, and the date. A photograph of the menu, price tag or receipt is ideal. We re-check reports against our own sources and update the page, changing the check date when we do.
How AI is used
We are open about this because it matters for whether you trust the numbers.
- AI is used to gather candidate prices from the published sources listed above, to draft and edit the English, to format tables and to suggest internal links.
- Every figure that reaches a table is logged with the source it came from, the date it was retrieved and the wording of the original listing.
- A person reviews that log before anything is published.
- No price is ever produced from a model’s recollection, from an estimate, or from another blog’s summary of a price. If a figure cannot be traced to a dated source, the cell is marked as not yet surveyed rather than filled in.
The rule is not who typed the number, it is whether the number can be traced. A price with a source and a date can be checked by you; a price without one cannot be checked by anybody, no matter who wrote it down. That is why every table on this site names the body that collected the figure and the date it was checked.
Independence
This site will be funded by advertising, and may earn commission from affiliate links to travel services. Neither affects the price data, and neither is running yet.
- Advertisers have no input into our content and cannot see it before publication.
- No business pays to be listed, recommended or left out.
- Affiliate relationships are disclosed on the pages where they appear.
- If a commercial partner’s product is expensive relative to the alternatives, we say so.
Who writes this
How Much Korea is written and researched by one person based in Korea. That is why the source material is read in Korean, and why the update schedule is a promise about a routine rather than a claim about a large team.