Today's Korean Minimum Wage in US Dollars

Today's Korean Minimum Wage
한국어

About this site

This site converts Korea's minimum wage to US dollars at live exchange rates. Explore year-by-year trends since 1988, Big Mac & grocery purchasing power comparisons, and USD wage rankings through interactive charts.

Data sources

  • •Minimum wage — Ministry of Employment & Labor / Minimum Wage Commission
  • •Daily FX (current year) — Frankfurter API (ECB reference rates)
  • •Monthly FX (historical) — FRED EXKOUS (St. Louis Fed)
  • •Annual avg FX — World Bank / IRS (cross-check)
  • •Purchasing power prices — Korea Consumer Agency (Seoul avg)
  • •Big Mac Index — The Economist / McDonald's Korea actual prices

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Sources

Frankfurter (ECB) — this year's daily FXFRED EXKOUS — historical monthly FXMin. of Employment & Labor / Min. Wage CommissionWorld Bank / IRS — annual avg FX (verification)Korea Consumer Agency — naengmyeon, jajangmyeon, gimbap, pork belly, kalguksu, bibimbap, samgyetangThe Economist Big Mac IndexKyochon Chicken / Yupdduk brand prices (bonus)
Methodology (expand)
  • Mixed FX resolution — historical (1988–2025) uses monthly FRED EXKOUS, current year (2026) uses daily Frankfurter/ECB. The two periods have different base FX granularity.
  • Minimum wage is annual — flat within each year, steps up every January. Line fluctuations come from FX rate changes.
  • ECB quote date — today's value uses the latest ECB quote; weekends/holidays use the most recent available quote.
  • USD wage = KRW wage / FX rate — the numerator is fixed, only the denominator (FX rate) moves.
  • Year-over-year comparison — all change metrics (hero cards, body) are vs. the previous year.
  • 1988 representative value — that year had two industry-group rates (Group 1 ₩462.5 / Group 2 ₩487.5); the lower floor (Group 1) is used.
  • 2025 FX source — 1988–2024 use World Bank annual avg; 2025 (₩1,421.78) uses IRS annual avg as World Bank has not published yet.
  • 2026 FX is provisional — the 2026 annual average FX rate is not yet finalized, so YTD average is used. The 2026 annual USD wage in the hero and main chart is provisional.
  • Purchasing power — core tabs: naengmyeon ₩12,538 (Mar 2026), jajangmyeon ₩7,692 (Feb 2026), gimbap ₩3,800 (Apr 2026), pork belly 200g ₩21,218 (Mar 2026) from Korea Consumer Agency (Seoul avg); kalguksu, bibimbap, samgyetang from Korea Consumer Agency (Seoul avg, Mar 2026); Big Mac from McDonald's Korea actual price (Feb 2026 ₩5,700) / The Economist Big Mac Index.
  • Purchasing power — bonus tabs (disclaimer): chicken is Kyochon Honey Combo Seoul delivery app ₩26,000 (2026, delivery fee extra), tteokbokki is Yupdduk basic (~3-person serving, frozen at ₩14,000 since 2012). These are reference/fun values.
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License: Big Mac data CC-BY 4.0, Korean public data Attribution Type 1.