State of Dev in South Korea 2026
Compensation, tech stacks, AI, visas, and what it's actually like to work in Korea. Everything 166 developers told us, in aggregate.
Survey conducted June 15 β July 29, 2026 Β· fully anonymous
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166
developers answered
in Korea and abroad
β©60β70M
median total compensation
77 working respondents
70%
of shipped code is AI-written
median across 130 answers
What the data says
- A bilingual survey reached people who are not bilingual English and Korean proficiency by group
- Most of the pay climb happens at year seven Median compensation by years of professional experience
- Who you work for moves pay more than how long you have worked Median compensation by employer type
- The visa that ties you to one employer pays the least Median compensation by residency status
- The best-paid developers are the ones in meetings Median compensation by hours spent in meetings
- One in four at a Korean employer reports discrimination Discrimination reported at work, by employer type
- The pay gap comes with a satisfaction gap, and a language trade Job satisfaction and Korean at work, by employer type
- AI writes most of everyone's code; only the enthusiasm differs AI-written code and belief in AI, by years of experience
- Korean comes slowly, and mostly after year seven Korean proficiency by years lived in Korea (international residents)
- The visa ladder is real, and it takes about five years Residency status by years lived in Korea
- A degree shows up in whether you are working, not in what you earn Work and pay by highest qualification
- The languages that pay best are the ones fewest people use Median compensation by programming language used
- Job hunters write Python, the employed write TypeScript Languages used, by whether people are working
- Korean respondents let AI write far more of their code How much AI writes, by respondent group
- Claude Code everywhere, Copilot mostly among internationals Which AI tools each group reaches for
- Learning Korean trades one hard thing for another What is hardest, by Korean proficiency (international residents)
- Korean helps less with friendship than you would expect Friend groups by Korean proficiency (international residents)
- Korean lowers every barrier, including the visa one Hiring friction by Korean proficiency
- Newcomers feel the closed door, everyone feels the language Hiring friction by years lived in Korea
- The keenest are stopped by visas, the hesitant by pay Barriers by how strongly they want to come
- The closer the move, the more it is about the visa Barriers by how soon people plan to move
- English confidence, not pay, decides who wants a global role Appetite for global work by English proficiency
Read the report
- 01 Who answered Who took the survey: where they live, where they're from, and how long they've been writing software.
- 02 Work & employment Employers, working conditions, and pay. Questions in this section were answered by respondents currently working.
- 03 Tech stack The languages, frameworks, and platforms developers in and around Korea actually use.
- 04 AI How much of the code shipped in Korea is written by AI, which tools people reach for, and how they feel about it.
- 05 Life in Korea Beyond the keyboard: friends, hobbies, and the best and hardest parts of living in Korea.
- 06 Korean developers & global companies 25 Korean developers answered this chapter about English-first and global companies.
- 07 International developers in Korea 106 international developers living in Korea answered this chapter about getting here and getting hired.
- 08 Developers abroad 35 developers living outside Korea answered this chapter about the move they're considering.
- 09 Methodology How the survey was run, how the numbers are counted, and where to get the raw aggregates.
- 10 Conclusion Thank you for reading, and thank you to everyone who answered.
Work with the data
Every number in this report comes from one aggregated, anonymous dataset. Take it and check our work, or ask an assistant to dig through it with you.
Use it, just say where it came from
Quote these figures, chart them, write them up, build a product on them, including commercially. Published under CC BY 4.0, which asks one thing in return: name the survey and link back, so your readers can check the numbers themselves.
State of Dev in South Korea 2026, Dev Korea (2026). https://dev-korea.com/state-of-dev/2026/results