Young Adults from Hometown to Capital Area See Income Rise but Decline in 'Quality of Life'

Youths who moved to the Seoul metropolitan area have better economic conditions such as wages compared to youths remaining in non-metropolitan areas, but their sense of life happiness is lower and they experience burnout more frequently, according to an analysis.

On the 26th, Statistics Korea published the "Statistics Plus Autumn Issue," which featured this research conducted by Shim Chae-yeon, team leader at the Ulsan office of the Southeast Regional Statistics Office, and Jeong Jun-ho, an official. They classified youths as those aged 19 to 34 and compared youths who moved from non-metropolitan areas to the metropolitan area with those who stayed in non-metropolitan areas.

At the mid-sized enterprise job fair held at COEX, Seoul, last May, job seekers are looking at the job posting board. Photo by Heo Younghan younghan@

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Among the 9.2 million youths aged 19 to 34 analyzed, 54% currently reside in the metropolitan area, exceeding half. As of 2022, the annual total income of youths who moved from non-metropolitan areas to the metropolitan area was 27.43 million KRW. This is 7.09 million KRW (34.9%) higher than the 20.34 million KRW earned by youths remaining in non-metropolitan areas.

Additionally, the annual total income of youths who moved from the metropolitan area to non-metropolitan areas was 25.75 million KRW.

The employment rate of youths who moved to the metropolitan area was also higher than that of youths who stayed in non-metropolitan areas. The employment rate of youths who chose to move to the metropolitan area was 72.5%, which is 6.1 percentage points (P) higher than the 66.4% employment rate of youths remaining in non-metropolitan areas. In contrast, the employment rates of youths remaining in the metropolitan area (70.7%) and those who moved from the metropolitan area to non-metropolitan areas (70.6%) showed little difference.

However, in terms of quality of life factors such as commuting time and burnout, youths remaining in non-metropolitan areas fared better than those who moved to the metropolitan area. The proportion of respondents who answered that they felt exhausted due to work, study, or job preparation in the past year was 42.0% among youths who moved to the metropolitan area, which is 12.3 percentage points higher than the 29.7% of youths remaining in non-metropolitan areas. The proportion reporting poor health was also higher among youths who moved to the metropolitan area (10.9%) compared to those remaining in non-metropolitan areas (6.1%).

Regarding commuting time, 40.7% of youths who moved from non-metropolitan areas to the metropolitan area had a commute of 30 to 50 minutes, the highest proportion, and 21.5% had a commute of 60 minutes or more. Among youths remaining in non-metropolitan areas, the most common commuting time was under 30 minutes at 58.2%, followed by 30 to under 60 minutes at 34.6%. Furthermore, the average residential area per person for youths who moved to the metropolitan area was 32.4㎡, which is 3.8㎡ smaller than the 36.2㎡ for youths remaining in non-metropolitan areas.

In front of a university in Heukseok-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, flyers advertising one-room apartments and boarding rooms are densely posted. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

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Regarding marriage plans, the proportion of youths who responded that they have plans was 79.2% among those who moved to the metropolitan area, 3.2 percentage points higher than the 76.0% of youths remaining in non-metropolitan areas. The proportion who expressed an intention to have children in the future was 62.0% among youths who moved to the metropolitan area, 4.2 percentage points lower than the 66.2% of youths remaining in non-metropolitan areas.

As of 2020, the average age at first marriage was 27.5 years for youths who moved to the metropolitan area, 0.7 years higher than the 26.8 years for youths remaining in non-metropolitan areas. Among those with children, the average total number of births was 0.84 for youths who moved to the metropolitan area, fewer than the 1.02 for youths remaining in non-metropolitan areas. The lowest total number of births was among youths remaining in the metropolitan area at 0.82. The sense of life happiness was 6.76 points for youths who moved to the metropolitan area, lower than the 6.92 points for youths remaining in non-metropolitan areas.

Regarding these results, the research team explained, "Youths from non-metropolitan areas moved to the metropolitan area for various jobs and higher income, but long working hours, smaller residential areas, and long commuting times have resulted in a lower sense of life happiness." They added, "this leads to delayed marriage and avoidance of childbirth, confirming that the actual lives of youths who moved to the metropolitan area are not necessarily happy."

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