South Korea→
ItalyRelocate from South Korea to Italy
What it takes to move from South Korea (anchored to Seoul) to Italy (anchored to Rome). Cost delta, salary required, scoring on four axes, and the operator's tooling stack.
South Korean expats relocating to Italy face an 11.7-point quality-of-life decline despite a 66.5% increase in nominal income, suggesting higher costs or lifestyle adjustments outweigh financial gains.
Italy's €46,717 annual gross substantially exceeds Seoul's purchasing power, yet the net quality drop indicates Italy's cost structure or service availability creates offsetting disadvantages.
Before committing to Italy, calculate actual discretionary spending after taxes and housing costs in your target Italian city—the income bump masks real affordability challenges expats encounter.
The decision picture
Moving to Italy, at a glance
Cost delta: Seoul → Rome
Each category is normalized to KRW using a 1 EUR = 1480.0000 KRW reference rate.
| Category | Seoul | Rome | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| housing | ₩1,100,000 | €1,300 | +75% |
| food | ₩450,000 | €400 | +32% |
| transport | ₩65,000 | €35 | -20% |
| utilities | ₩140,000 | €170 | +80% |
| leisure | ₩250,000 | €350 | +107% |
| healthcare | ₩35,000 | €40 | +69% |
Each axis is a weighted aggregate of underlying indicators normalized to a 0–10 scale. Weights are explicit and disclosed per axis. The composite is the unweighted mean of the four axes — axes are not collapsed further because the underlying trade-offs (e.g. low cost vs poor air quality) are user-dependent.
Affordability
- Cost-of-living index (weight 60%)75
- Rent index (weight 40%)52
How this is calculated
Affordability = ((100 − costIndex)/100 × 0.6 + (100 − rentIndex)/100 × 0.4) × 10. For Rome: ((100 − 75)/100 × 0.6 + (100 − 52)/100 × 0.4) × 10 = 3.4.
Rome is among the more expensive cities tracked. Salary expectations should be calibrated to the high cost base before relocating.
Quality of life
- Safety index (weight 40%)55
- Healthcare index (weight 35%)78
- Air quality index (weight 25%)52
How this is calculated
QoL = (safety/100 × 0.4 + healthcare/100 × 0.35 + airQuality/100 × 0.25) × 10. For Rome: (55/100 × 0.4 + 78/100 × 0.35 + 52/100 × 0.25) × 10 = 6.2.
Rome has a mixed quality profile. Safety: good; healthcare: good; air: fair. Weigh the weakest axis against your personal priorities.
Remote-work friendliness
- Internet (median Mbps) (weight 45%)120 Mbps
- Effective income tax (lower = better) (weight 30%)25.0%
- Cost-of-living (lower = better) (weight 25%)75
How this is calculated
RemoteWork = (min(Mbps/300, 1) × 0.45 + (1 − incomeTax) × 0.3 + (100 − costIndex)/100 × 0.25) × 10. For Rome: (min(120/300, 1) × 0.45 + (1 − 0.25) × 0.3 + (100 − 75)/100 × 0.25) × 10 = 4.7.
Rome works for remote work but isn't optimized for it: internet 120 Mbps, income tax 25%, cost index 75.
Healthcare
- Healthcare quality index (weight 70%)78
- Healthcare out-of-pocket / month (lower = better) (weight 30%)40
How this is calculated
Healthcare = (qualityIndex/100 × 0.7 + max(0, 1 − OOP/500) × 0.3) × 10. For Rome: (78/100 × 0.7 + max(0, 1 − 40/500) × 0.3) × 10 = 8.2.
Rome combines good system quality with a manageable out-of-pocket cost (~40 EUR/month). Travel insurance still recommended for non-residents.
Salary required in Italy
Using Rome as the destination anchor and Italy's effective payroll deductions.
Tools you'll need to move to Italy
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How this page is calculated
Data sources
- Mundevo cost-of-living and rent indices. Anchor cities used for the corridor: Seoul for South Korea, Rome for Italy. These are population-weighted defaults that can be overridden by readers via a city-specific salary-needed page.
- FX rate. 1 EUR = 1480.0000 KRW, sourced from Mundevo's exchange-rate provider on 2026-05-28.
- Italy payroll deductions. Effective income tax 25% and social security 9.5%.
- Mundevo quality indices. Safety, healthcare and air-quality composites on a 0–100 scale.
Update cadence
Data as of . Last reviewed .
Calculation
The corridor compares Seoul (anchor for South Korea) with Rome (anchor for Italy). Monthly basket costs are converted to KRW using the live FX rate, then differenced per category. Destination salary requirements use Italy's effective tax rate and the Mundevo lifestyle multipliers.
Limitations
- Corridor uses a single anchor city per country; if your origin or destination is a smaller city, run the dedicated salary-needed page to refine.
- FX is a snapshot. Rates move 1–3% per month — use the live rate on the day of any transfer.
- Tax model is the effective rate for a single salaried filer; visa-specific regimes (e.g. Portugal NHR) can shift the net by 5–10 percentage points but are not modeled here.
- Relocation costs (shipping, deposits, agency fees) are estimated separately by the partners surfaced below and are not included in the monthly cost delta.
Frequently asked questions
Is Italy cheaper than South Korea?
Moving from South Korea (anchored to Seoul) to Italy (anchored to Rome) is roughly 67% more expensive on the monthly basket. Rome has cost index 75 vs Seoul at 75.
What salary do you need in Rome after moving from South Korea?
At a balanced lifestyle, Rome requires €46,718 gross per year (€2,550 take-home monthly). At the current FX rate (1 EUR = 1480.0000 KRW), that's the equivalent of about ₩69,141,985 in KRW.
What about taxes in Italy?
Italy has an effective income tax rate of 25% for a single salaried filer, plus 9.5% employee-side social security and 22% VAT. Combined payroll deduction works out to ~35%. Country-specific regimes (e.g. NHR, Beckham law, expat tax holidays) are not modelled.
What's the best way to actually move from South Korea to Italy?
The corridor report on this page surfaces the tooling stack we recommend: an FX provider for the salary transfer, expat health insurance for the gap before local coverage kicks in, a multi-currency account, and an international shipping comparison for relocating belongings. See the affiliate-vetted shortlist below for current options.