Place profile
Seoul covers 605.2 km² (233.7 sq mi) of land and had a population of 9.3 million in 2024, about 15,425 people per km² (39,952 per sq mi). In more familiar terms, it is about 78% of New York City.
Compare this placeReference date:
Reference date:
Calculated from the population and area above; their reference dates may differ.
The closest rung on the US reference ladder (Census Bureau land area); see the sources below.
The inverse of population density, from the same area and population figures.
Change the yardstick
The multiples on this site default to Taiwan. Pick a place you know and the area, population and density are recalculated against it; your choice is remembered in this browser and carries to other pages.
Seoul Special City, the 25-district city government of 605.2 km². It is not the Seoul Capital Area, the commuter region of Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, which is roughly twenty times larger and holds about 26.3 million people. Population is the 2024 register-based census total: everyone usually resident inside the city boundary on 1 November 2024, including 367,291 foreign residents, which is a different universe from the resident-registration series readers may know. Area is registered cadastral land at 31 December 2024, summed from the ministry's parcel-level file because no single line publishes the city total; the same method reproduces South Korea's national figure exactly. The two reference dates are two months apart.
Average administrative density does not describe population distribution in every neighborhood. Compare population definitions and reference dates alongside the numbers.
Place guide
This page is Seoul Special City, 605.2 km² with 9,335,444 people, and not the wider Seoul Capital Area. Choosing between the two changes the answer by an order of magnitude.
Seoul Special City covers 605.2 km² of cadastral land as at 2024-12-31. The Seoul Capital Area, which adds Incheon and Gyeonggi, is about 11,876 km² with 26,307,956 people, or 50.8% of South Korea.
The population used here is the register-based census of 2024-11-01: 8,968,153 Korean nationals plus 367,291 foreign residents. The resident-registration series is a different universe and should not be blended into it.
No single official line publishes a Seoul city total, so the area was summed from the ministry’s parcel-level cadastral file. The same method reproduces South Korea’s national 100,459.9 km² exactly, which is the check that the summing is being done correctly.
Density works out at about 15,425 people per km², derived from those two figures rather than published as a single number. Their reference dates are two months apart, which matters less than keeping the boundary and the population universe straight.
Questions people ask
Seoul covers 605.2 km², or 233.7 sq mi (reference date 2024-12-31). In US terms: ≈ 78% of New York City.
9.3 million — 9,335,444 as of 2024-11-01. The scope of that count is set out under “Scope and definitions” on this page.
About 15,425.4 people per km² (39,952 per sq mi), derived from the area and population above, whose reference dates may differ. An administrative average does not describe how crowded any particular neighbourhood is.
Seoul Special City, the 25-district city government of 605.2 km². It is not the Seoul Capital Area, the commuter region of Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, which is roughly twenty times larger and holds about 26.3 million people. Population is the 2024 register-based census total: everyone usually resident inside the city boundary on 1 November 2024, including 367,291 foreign residents, which is a different universe from the resident-registration series readers may know. Area is registered cadastral land at 31 December 2024, summed from the ministry's parcel-level file because no single line publishes the city total; the same method reproduces South Korea's national figure exactly. The two reference dates are two months apart.
Outline source: © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL · source feature
Read the methodology and data notes