Korea Take-Home Pay Table 2026: Salaries ₩30M to ₩200M

The salary written in a Korean employment contract is a gross figure. Every month, six items come off it before anything reaches your bank account: the National Pension (국민연금, Korea’s public retirement pension), National Health Insurance (건강보험), Long-Term Care Insurance (장기요양보험, which funds elderly care), Employment Insurance (고용보험, which covers unemployment benefits), income tax (소득세) and local income tax (지방소득세). This article works out exactly how much each of those six takes at every salary band from ₩30 million to ₩200 million, down to the won, and lays it all out in one table. How the Korean payroll tax system works, and how it compares with other countries, is covered separately in our guide to taxes for Korean employees, so here we stick to the numbers themselves.

How much social insurance comes out of each paycheck, by salary?

On a ₩50 million salary, about ₩385,000 a month goes to the four social insurances. The National Pension is the biggest slice, followed by health insurance. The table below shows monthly amounts at the 2026 employee rates: National Pension 4.75%, health insurance 3.595%, long-term care insurance at 13.14% of the health insurance premium, and employment insurance 0.9%.

🧾 Employee social insurance contributions by salary, 2026 (per month, in won)

Gross annual salary	Gross monthly pay	National Pension	Health insurance	Long-term care	Employment insurance	Social insurance total
₩30 million	2,500,000	109,250	82,680	10,860	20,700	223,490
₩35 million	2,916,667	129,040	97,660	12,830	24,440	263,970
₩40 million	3,333,333	148,830	112,640	14,800	28,200	304,470
₩50 million	4,166,667	188,410	142,600	18,730	35,690	385,430
₩60 million	5,000,000	228,000	172,560	22,670	43,200	466,430
₩70 million	5,833,333	267,580	202,510	26,600	50,690	547,380
₩80 million	6,666,667	307,160	232,470	30,540	58,200	628,370
₩90 million	7,500,000	313,020	262,430	34,480	65,700	675,630
₩100 million	8,333,333	313,020	292,390	38,420	73,190	717,020
₩120 million	10,000,000	313,020	352,310	46,290	88,200	799,820
₩150 million	12,500,000	313,020	442,180	58,100	110,690	923,990
₩180 million	15,000,000	313,020	532,060	69,910	133,200	1,048,190
₩200 million	16,666,667	313,020	591,970	77,780	148,190	1,130,960

Premiums were calculated by subtracting the ₩200,000 tax-free meal allowance (비과세 식대) from gross monthly pay, multiplying by each rate, and dropping anything under 10 won. Here is what each of the four insurances actually is.

Why does the National Pension stop rising at an ₩80 million salary?

Because the monthly income used to calculate the contribution, known as the standard monthly income (기준소득월액), has a ceiling. From July 2026 to June 2027 that ceiling is ₩6.59 million a month. Whether you earn ₩10 million or ₩20 million a month, the pension treats it as ₩6.59 million and applies 4.75%, so the employee contribution tops out at ₩313,020. Anyone whose pay minus the tax-free meal allowance exceeds ₩6.59 million, which starts at a salary of roughly ₩81.5 million, pays the same amount.

The ceiling is adjusted every July in line with changes in members’ average income. Until June 2026 it was ₩6.37 million, which made the maximum contribution ₩302,570. There’s a floor as well: monthly income below ₩410,000 is treated as ₩410,000.

Health insurance and employment insurance, on the other hand, keep growing in direct proportion to pay across every salary band in this table. Health insurance does have a premium cap for employees, but it only kicks in at monthly pay in the hundreds of millions of won, so no salary of ₩200 million or less hits it.

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After tax, how much actually reaches your bank account?

On a ₩100 million salary, about ₩6.59 million a month stays in your pocket, or about ₩79.05 million a year. Income tax in the table below is the final annual tax divided by 12, and local income tax is 10% of income tax. The dollar conversion uses ₩1,350, the Seoul foreign exchange market’s closing rate on September 30, 2026 (₩1,352.8 per dollar), rounded.

💰 Tax and monthly take-home pay by salary, 2026 (single-person household, ₩200,000 monthly tax-free meal allowance)

Gross annual salary	Income tax	Local income tax	Total deductions	Deduction rate	Monthly take-home	In US dollars	Annual take-home
₩30 million	28,530	2,850	254,870	10.2%	2,245,130	~$1,663	~₩26.94 million
₩35 million	55,730	5,570	325,270	11.2%	2,591,397	~$1,920	~₩31.10 million
₩40 million	105,850	10,580	420,900	12.6%	2,912,433	~$2,157	~₩34.95 million
₩50 million	206,810	20,680	612,920	14.7%	3,553,747	~$2,632	~₩42.64 million
₩60 million	313,410	31,340	811,180	16.2%	4,188,820	~$3,103	~₩50.27 million
₩70 million	420,010	42,000	1,009,390	17.3%	4,823,943	~$3,573	~₩57.89 million
₩80 million	576,920	57,690	1,262,980	18.9%	5,403,687	~$4,003	~₩64.84 million
₩90 million	755,580	75,550	1,506,760	20.1%	5,993,240	~$4,439	~₩71.92 million
₩100 million	935,640	93,560	1,746,220	21.0%	6,587,113	~$4,879	~₩79.05 million
₩120 million	1,337,500	133,750	2,271,070	22.7%	7,728,930	~$5,725	~₩92.75 million
₩150 million	2,176,540	217,650	3,318,180	26.5%	9,181,820	~$6,801	~₩110.18 million
₩180 million	2,990,570	299,050	4,337,810	28.9%	10,662,190	~$7,898	~₩127.95 million
₩200 million	3,572,830	357,280	5,061,070	30.4%	11,605,597	~$8,597	~₩139.27 million

At ₩30 million you keep about 90% of your gross pay; at ₩100 million, about 79%; at ₩200 million, about 70%. Given that the median Korean wage earner makes somewhere in the ₩34 million range (according to media reports on National Tax Service data for income year 2024), half of all Korean employees sit roughly around the first two rows of this table. For what Koreans actually earn by occupation, see our guide to Korean salaries.

At what salary does income tax really start to bite?

Somewhere around ₩80 million, tax overtakes social insurance for the first time. At ₩80 million, social insurance is ₩628,000 a month and income tax plus local income tax is ₩635,000, almost level; above that, tax grows far faster. When salary doubles from ₩100 million to ₩200 million, social insurance rises 1.6 times, but income tax rises 3.8 times.

The reason is that Korean income tax is progressive, with rates climbing from 6% to 45% across taxable-income brackets. On taxable income (after the earned income deduction and other deductions), the rate is 6% up to ₩14 million, 15% up to ₩50 million, 24% up to ₩88 million, 35% up to ₩150 million and 38% up to ₩300 million. On a ₩200 million salary, taxable income passes ₩150 million, so the top slice is taxed at 38%. The full bracket table is in our guide to taxes for Korean employees.

How much does the employer pay on top of your salary?

For one employee on ₩50 million, the company pays roughly another ₩395,000 a month in social insurance. It matches the employee’s National Pension, health insurance and long-term care amounts, and pays more than the employee for employment insurance (1.15% at workplaces with fewer than 150 employees). On top of that come industrial accident insurance (산재보험), which varies by industry, and, after a year of service, severance pay (퇴직금) of roughly one-twelfth of annual salary, set aside separately.

🏢 Employer social insurance contributions, examples (per month, in won, workplaces under 150 employees, excluding industrial accident insurance)

Gross annual salary	National Pension	Health insurance	Long-term care	Employment insurance	Employer total
₩30 million	109,250	82,680	10,860	26,450	229,240
₩50 million	188,410	142,600	18,730	45,610	395,350
₩100 million	313,020	292,390	38,420	93,530	737,360
₩200 million	313,020	591,970	77,780	189,360	1,172,130

So for someone on a “₩50 million salary” in Korea, the company’s real labor cost, once severance and industrial accident insurance are added in, comes close to ₩60 million a year.

How were these tables calculated?

Every figure was calculated directly using the rates in force as of October 2026, on the following assumptions.

• Single-person household (deduction for yourself only), no dependents or children
• Tax-free meal allowance of ₩200,000 a month; no other tax-free allowances or bonuses (salary split evenly over 12 months)
• National Pension 4.75% (standard monthly income capped at ₩6.59 million), health insurance 3.595%, long-term care at 13.14% of the health premium, employment insurance 0.9%, amounts under 10 won dropped
• Income tax is the final annual tax divided by 12, after the earned income deduction, the ₩1.5 million basic deduction, the National Pension contribution deduction, the special income deduction for health and employment insurance premiums, and the earned income tax credit (using whichever is more favorable compared with the standard tax credit)
• Dollar conversion at ₩1,350 per US dollar

The social insurance figures matched Korean salary calculator tables to the won, while income tax differs from the calculators’ simplified-table values by a few percent depending on the salary band (see the tip box above). Actual amounts vary with your company’s pay structure and your personal deductions, so for an exact figure it’s best to run the mock calculation on the National Tax Service’s Hometax site or ask your payroll team. To get a feel for what these take-home figures mean for living in Seoul, read them alongside our guide to monthly living costs in Korea.