The average income of young people who moved to the metropolitan area increased by more than 20% in just one year. In particular, the impact of moving to the metropolitan area on income was greater for women than for men.

According to the "Analysis of Income Changes Due to Youth Migration" released by the National Data Office on December 3, 2025, among 190,000 people with earned or business income who moved from non-metropolitan areas to the metropolitan area between 2022 and 2023, 130,000 were young people, accounting for 69.6%.

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Including other regions such as the metropolitan area, Chungcheong, Daegu-Gyeongbuk, Gwangju-Jeonnam, and Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam, the proportion of youth among those who moved between regions was 63.9%. In effect, most interregional migration occurred among young people.

There was a clear difference in income depending on whether or not they moved to the metropolitan area. The average per capita income of youth who moved to the metropolitan area in 2022 rose from 24.39 million won to 29.96 million won in 2023, an increase of 22.8%. This increase was much higher than that of youth who moved from the metropolitan area to non-metropolitan areas (7.6%), or those who stayed in the same region, whether metropolitan (11.2%) or non-metropolitan (12.1%). Among those who moved to the metropolitan area, the proportion in the bottom 20% income bracket decreased from 30.7% in 2022 to 21.0% in 2023.

Among the youth who moved to the metropolitan area, the average income growth rate for women (25.5%) was higher than that for men (21.3%).

33.4% of men moved to a higher income bracket, while 18.4% moved to a lower bracket.

For women, upward mobility was 34.9% and downward mobility was 19.8%, indicating greater changes in income brackets compared to men.

The income growth rates for youth who moved to other regions outside the metropolitan area were as follows: Daegu-Gyeongbuk (25.4%), Southeast (23.3%), Southwest (20.5%), Chungcheong (14.4%), and metropolitan area (7.6%). There was also a gender gap. When moving within the same region, the income growth rate for men was 14.8%, while for women it was only 10.7%, and the rate of downward mobility was higher for women.

A National Data Office official stated, "While traditional manufacturing is declining in Daegu-Gyeongbuk, the Chungcheong region, including Cheonan and Asan, has relatively good access to the metropolitan area and is seeing an increase in companies. It appears that young people with relatively lower incomes are moving in search of better quality jobs."

The government plans to actively use the results of this analysis as a reference for monitoring the implementation of the national balanced development strategy, "Five Core Regions and Three Specialized Zones." It has determined that the concentration of youth in the metropolitan area is due to industrial and wage disparities, and concluded that it is necessary to expand high-wage jobs and foster hub cities in non-metropolitan areas.

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The National Data Office pointed out, "The concentration of youth in the metropolitan area is the result of wage and industrial disparities between regions," and emphasized, "The significant income increase among youth who moved to the metropolitan area highlights the need for policies to narrow the youth job gap between regions."