South Korea income tax rates, 2025
On the South Korean average wage of 56,749,797 KRW, the OECD publishes an average income tax rate of 7.1% and an average employee social security rate of 9.4%, 16.5% between them, leaving net income of 47,366,292 KRW.
This page is a reference, not a calculator
Every figure on it is published by the OECD and cited to the row it came from. This site does not compute South Korea, because its own arithmetic on the South Korean schedule misses the published outcome by 5.81 percentage points against a tolerance of half a point, and a number wrong by that much still looks right.
Written and maintained by Nkosi Ndwandwe, who is not a qualified tax adviser. Every figure here was read from its source on 06 September 2026, which is the date this page reports as its last modification.
What is actually taken, at three incomes
The OECD models a single person with no children and no other income at three multiples of the South Korean average wage, and publishes what that person actually pays. These are outcomes rather than statutory rates: everything taken, divided by everything earned.
| Income level | Gross | Income tax | Employee social security | Combined | Net income | On the next unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 67% of the average wage | 38,022,364 KRW | 3.9% | 9.4% | 13.3% | 32,973,610 KRW | 22.8% |
| the average wage | 56,749,797 KRW | 7.1% | 9.4% | 16.5% | 47,366,292 KRW | 23.5% |
| 167% of the average wage | 94,772,160 KRW | 12.4% | 8.5% | 20.9% | 74,946,646 KRW | 28.7% |
The same three incomes, in money
The rates above are what the OECD publishes. The amounts below are those rates applied to the gross earnings it publishes alongside them, which is arithmetic rather than a further source, and it is separated from the table above so that nothing computed here can be mistaken for something published. Rounding means the parts may miss the total by a unit.
| Income level | Gross | Income tax | Employee social security | Total taken | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 67% of the average wage | 38,022,364 KRW | 1,473,101 KRW | 3,575,653 KRW | 5,048,754 KRW | 32,973,610 KRW |
| the average wage | 56,749,797 KRW | 4,046,709 KRW | 5,336,795 KRW | 9,383,505 KRW | 47,366,292 KRW |
| 167% of the average wage | 94,772,160 KRW | 11,792,014 KRW | 8,033,501 KRW | 19,825,514 KRW | 74,946,646 KRW |
Read the middle row across: someone on the South Korean average wage of 56,749,797 KRW keeps 47,366,292 KRW of it, and 9,383,505 KRW is taken. At 67% of the average wage the amount taken is 5,048,754 KRW and at 167% it is 19,825,514 KRW, so an income two and a half times larger carries a tax bill 3.9 times larger.
The two numbers that decide different things
On the South Korean average wage the average rate is 16.5% and the marginal rate is 23.5%. Those answer different questions and confusing them is the commonest mistake made with a table like this one. The average rate tells you what your year costs. The marginal rate, 7.0 percentage points higher here, tells you what the next unit of income costs, which is the number that decides whether a rise, a bonus or extra hours are worth taking.
Across the range the OECD publishes, the combined rate moves from 13.3% at 67% of the average wage to 20.9% at 167%, a spread of 7.6 percentage points over an income range of two and a half times. That is a moderate profile, and it means a rate quoted at the average wage is a poor guide to what happens well above or below it.
Nothing above includes what your employer pays. In South Korea employer social security contributions run at 11.1% of gross earnings, against 9.4% taken from you. The two sides are close to equal, which is unusual and means the payslip shows roughly half of what the contribution system actually costs.
The statutory schedule, as published
In 2025 South Korea has 8 central government bands, running from 6.00% to 45.00%, with the second rate starting at 14,000,000 KRW. It is shown as a table and nothing more. Set that top figure of 45.00% against the 7.1% actually taken from someone on the average wage, and the distance between a band rate and an average rate is the whole reason the first table exists.
| Band | From | To | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Band 1 | 0 KRW | 14,000,000 KRW | 6.00% |
| Band 2 | 14,000,000 KRW | 50,000,000 KRW | 15.00% |
| Band 3 | 50,000,000 KRW | 88,000,000 KRW | 24.00% |
| Band 4 | 88,000,000 KRW | 150,000,000 KRW | 35.00% |
| Band 5 | 150,000,000 KRW | 300,000,000 KRW | 38.00% |
| Band 6 | 300,000,000 KRW | 500,000,000 KRW | 40.00% |
| Band 7 | 500,000,000 KRW | 1,000,000,000 KRW | 42.00% |
| Band 8 | 1,000,000,000 KRW | and above | 45.00% |
Central government only, and what that leaves out is set out once rather than repeated on each of these pages.
Why South Korea has no calculator here
For South Korea the closest reading we could construct missed by 5.81 percentage points. Several other readings were tried and every one of them was further away. On a salary around the average wage a miss of that size is a real amount of money, and a reader would have no way to see it.
On the South Korean average wage of 56,749,797 KRW that gap is about 3,297,163 KRW a year, which is the amount a reader would have been wrong by without any way to see it. Why half a percentage point is the tolerance, and what a gap of this size usually turns out to be, is set out once rather than on each of these pages.
Where South Korea sits
Of the 38 jurisdictions the OECD publishes this series for, South Korea ranks 34 by the combined rate taken from a single person on the average wage, at 16.5%. Immediately above it: Czechia at 21.3%, New Zealand at 20.8%, Switzerland at 18.1%. Immediately below: Mexico at 13.2%, Costa Rica at 9.8%, Chile at 7.1%.
What this page does not tell you
Everything above describes a single person with no children on 56,749,797 KRW, 47,366,292 KRW of which they keep. It does not describe a couple, a parent, anybody with income other than a salary, or anybody at a South Korean salary between the three published points. The full list of what this kind of page cannot answer, including how regional taxes are handled and what none of it says about being foreign, is on how these figures are published.
Every figure on this page, and where it came from
22 rules for South Korea, each carrying the dataset, the row, the date it was read and an archived copy of that row. Ruleset sha256:7c8a1de9fc6d87cc.
kr.ref_average_combined_rate.aw100.ty2025: Average income tax and employee social security combined at the average wage. DSD_TAX_WAGES@DF_TW_COMP / KOR AV_RITEESSC PT_WG_EARN_G / S_C0 AW100 / 2025. Read 2026-09-06 from OECD Taxing Wages, tax burden on a single person with no children.kr.ref_average_combined_rate.aw167.ty2025: Average income tax and employee social security combined at 167% of the average wage. DSD_TAX_WAGES@DF_TW_COMP / KOR AV_RITEESSC PT_WG_EARN_G / S_C0 AW167 / 2025. Read 2026-09-06 from OECD Taxing Wages, tax burden on a single person with no children.kr.ref_average_combined_rate.aw67.ty2025: Average income tax and employee social security combined at 67% of the average wage. DSD_TAX_WAGES@DF_TW_COMP / KOR AV_RITEESSC PT_WG_EARN_G / S_C0 AW67 / 2025. Read 2026-09-06 from OECD Taxing Wages, tax burden on a single person with no children.kr.ref_average_employee_ssc_rate.aw100.ty2025: Average employee social security rate at the average wage. DSD_TAX_WAGES@DF_TW_COMP / KOR AV_R_EMPEE_SSC PT_WG_EARN_G / S_C0 AW100 / 2025. Read 2026-09-06 from OECD Taxing Wages, tax burden on a single person with no children.kr.ref_average_employee_ssc_rate.aw167.ty2025: Average employee social security rate at 167% of the average wage. DSD_TAX_WAGES@DF_TW_COMP / KOR AV_R_EMPEE_SSC PT_WG_EARN_G / S_C0 AW167 / 2025. Read 2026-09-06 from OECD Taxing Wages, tax burden on a single person with no children.kr.ref_average_employee_ssc_rate.aw67.ty2025: Average employee social security rate at 67% of the average wage. DSD_TAX_WAGES@DF_TW_COMP / KOR AV_R_EMPEE_SSC PT_WG_EARN_G / S_C0 AW67 / 2025. Read 2026-09-06 from OECD Taxing Wages, tax burden on a single person with no children.kr.ref_average_income_tax_rate.aw100.ty2025: Average income tax rate at the average wage. DSD_TAX_WAGES@DF_TW_COMP / KOR AV_ITR PT_WG_EARN_G / S_C0 AW100 / 2025. Read 2026-09-06 from OECD Taxing Wages, tax burden on a single person with no children.kr.ref_average_income_tax_rate.aw167.ty2025: Average income tax rate at 167% of the average wage. DSD_TAX_WAGES@DF_TW_COMP / KOR AV_ITR PT_WG_EARN_G / S_C0 AW167 / 2025. Read 2026-09-06 from OECD Taxing Wages, tax burden on a single person with no children.
The remaining 14 are in the published ruleset, with the same quote and hash on each.
Questions people ask about tax in South Korea
What is the average income tax rate in South Korea?
7.1% of gross earnings for a single person with no children on the average wage of 56,749,797 KRW, according to the OECD's own Taxing Wages series for 2025. That is an average rate rather than a band rate: it is everything taken divided by everything earned, so it is always lower than the highest band the schedule reaches.
How much does someone on the South Korean average wage take home?
47,366,292 KRW a year from gross earnings of 56,749,797 KRW, after income tax and employee social security contributions. That is the OECD's published net figure, not a calculation by this site, which is the point of this page: South Korea is not modelled here and the number therefore comes from somebody who does model it.
Why is there no South Korea take-home pay calculator on this site?
Because our own arithmetic does not reproduce the published outcome closely enough. Computing tax from the South Korean statutory schedule and comparing it with the rates the OECD publishes for the same person, the closest reading we could build missed by 5.81 percentage points against a tolerance of half a point. A calculator that is wrong by that much still looks right, which is the reason for the tolerance and the reason this page exists instead.
Is the marginal rate in South Korea the same as the average rate?
No, and the gap is large. At the average wage the average rate is 16.5% and the net personal marginal rate, which is what is taken from the next unit earned, is 23.5%. The difference is 7.0 percentage points, and it is the marginal figure that decides whether a rise or an extra shift is worth taking.