Short answer
Pick the district by where you go every day, then check the rent. Daegu has 9 districts: 7 urban districts (구, gu) and 2 counties (군, gun). Rents differ between them, so compare the live tables below before you look at buildings.
- Largest foreign resident communities: Dalseo-gu, Dalseong-gun and Buk-gu.
- Near Kyungpook National University: Buk-gu.
- Few foreign residents: Suseong-gu is Daegu's second most populous district, but it had only 3,417 foreign residents in 2024.
- Close to the airport: Dong-gu.
- Lowest rent: read the first rows of the rent tables below. They list the cheapest district first.
Rent figures in this guide are for August 2026. Each one is the median of contracts reported that month. For the whole city, open the Daegu rent page.
How to choose a district
Budget. Most homes in Korea come with a deposit plus monthly rent (월세, wolse), or a large lump-sum deposit with no rent (전세, jeonse). Work out what you pay on moving day with the move-in cost tool. To compare the two lease types, use the jeonse vs wolse tool. If the terms are new, read How Korean Housing Works.
Commute. Start from your workplace, campus or school, then look at the metro map. Daegu's three metro lines:
- Line 1 runs between Seolhwa-Myeonggok (설화명곡) and Hayang (하양). Dongdaegu and Banwoldang are on it.
- Line 2 runs between Munyang (문양) and Yeungnam Univ. (영남대). Keimyung Univ. (계명대) and Daesil (대실) are on it.
- Line 3 runs between Chilgok KNU Hospital (칠곡경대병원) and Yongji (용지). Suseongmot (수성못) is on it.
The lines meet at three stations: Banwoldang (Lines 1 and 2), Myeongdeok (Lines 1 and 3) and Cheongna Hill (청라언덕, Lines 2 and 3). Living near one of these gives you more routes. We have not measured commute times for this guide. Check the door-to-door time on a map app at the hour you will travel.
Long-distance travel. The Dongdaegu Station Transit Center (동대구역복합환승센터) links KTX Dongdaegu Station, bus departures to other regions and Line 1 Dongdaegu Station in one building. Daegu International Airport is in Dong-gu.
Community. Some districts have far more foreign residents than others, so you find more shops and services in your language. The counts below show where people live. They do not rate a district.
Families. Start with the school. This guide does not list schools by district, because we have no verified list. Ask each school about admission rules before you rent nearby.
Students. Kyungpook National University is in Buk-gu. Keimyung University has its own station on Line 2. Yeungnam University is outside the city, in Gyeongsan. Line 2 ends at Yeungnam Univ. station. Students often compare small rooms with officetels (오피스텔). Read the officetel guide before you choose one.
All 9 districts compared by rent
This table shows the median monthly rent for officetels in every Daegu district, lowest first. An officetel is a studio-style unit with mixed living and office zoning.
| Area | Monthly rent | Deposit | Contracts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gunwi-gun, Daegu | Too few | 0 | |
| Seo-gu, Daegu | Too few | 1 | |
| Dong-gu, Daegu | ₩450,000 | ₩5m | 59 |
| Buk-gu, Daegu | ₩500,000 | ₩5m | 58 |
| Dalseong-gun, Daegu | ₩500,000 | ₩5m | 23 |
| Jung-gu, Daegu | ₩600,000 | ₩5m | 125 |
| Dalseo-gu, Daegu | ₩650,000 | ₩7.5m | 34 |
| Suseong-gu, Daegu | ₩725,000 | ₩10m | 48 |
| Nam-gu, Daegu | ₩770,000 | ₩20m | 90 |
Medians of contracts reported in August 2026. Rent figures are for new leases, the price someone moving in signs; where fewer than 10 new leases were reported, all leases are used. Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport real transaction records (국토교통부 실거래가), processed by Seoulstart. Updated monthly.
Medians come from reported contracts. A district with few contracts can jump from month to month, and Gunwi-gun is rural, so its rows may show "Too few". Open a district's rent page before you decide.
Here are apartment rents for the same districts:
| Area | Monthly rent | Deposit | Contracts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gunwi-gun, Daegu | Too few | 2 | |
| Seo-gu, Daegu | ₩210,000 | ₩43.9m | 93 |
| Buk-gu, Daegu | ₩450,000 | ₩19m | 201 |
| Dalseong-gun, Daegu | ₩600,000 | ₩19.4m | 140 |
| Dong-gu, Daegu | ₩690,000 | ₩20m | 191 |
| Dalseo-gu, Daegu | ₩700,000 | ₩20m | 194 |
| Suseong-gu, Daegu | ₩900,000 | ₩30m | 235 |
| Nam-gu, Daegu | ₩1,000,000 | ₩20m | 94 |
| Jung-gu, Daegu | ₩1,200,000 | ₩20m | 78 |
Medians of contracts reported in August 2026. Rent figures are for new leases, the price someone moving in signs; where fewer than 10 new leases were reported, all leases are used. Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport real transaction records (국토교통부 실거래가), processed by Seoulstart. Updated monthly.
Rent also depends on the type of home. Here are the medians for Daegu as a whole:
| Home type | Monthly rent | Deposit | Jeonse deposit | Typical size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment | ₩700,000 | ₩20m | ₩260m | 75 m² |
| Officetel | ₩600,000 | ₩10m | ₩200m | 37.2 m² |
| Villa or row house | ₩400,000 | ₩10m | ₩90m | 55 m² |
Medians of contracts reported in August 2026. Rent figures are for new leases, the price someone moving in signs; where fewer than 10 new leases were reported, all leases are used. Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport real transaction records (국토교통부 실거래가), processed by Seoulstart. Updated monthly.
If you plan to buy, or want a sense of price levels, here are apartment sale medians by district:
| Area | Median sale price | Typical size | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jung-gu, Daegu | ₩545m | 84.6 m² | 117 |
| Suseong-gu, Daegu | ₩486.5m | 84.9 m² | 268 |
| Nam-gu, Daegu | ₩428m | 84.8 m² | 44 |
| Seo-gu, Daegu | ₩362m | 69.7 m² | 45 |
| Dong-gu, Daegu | ₩311.5m | 84.7 m² | 208 |
| Dalseo-gu, Daegu | ₩280m | 84.5 m² | 309 |
| Buk-gu, Daegu | ₩256.5m | 81.2 m² | 250 |
| Dalseong-gun, Daegu | ₩242m | 77.8 m² | 165 |
| Gunwi-gun, Daegu | Too few | 0 |
Medians of contracts reported in August 2026. Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport real transaction records (국토교통부 실거래가), processed by Seoulstart. Updated monthly.
The price explorer shows reported contracts month by month, so you can see the range behind each median. To compare areas side by side, use the compare view.
Central Daegu
Jung-gu (중구)
Jung-gu is the smallest district by area (7.06 km²). Daegu City Hall's Dongin building is here. It had 1,363 foreign residents in 2024. Median officetel rent: ₩600,000. See the Jung-gu rent page.
Nam-gu (남구)
Nam-gu has 141,344 residents (June 2026) and had 2,929 foreign residents in 2024. Yeungnam University Medical Center is here, on Hyeonchung-ro. Median officetel rent: ₩770,000. See the Nam-gu rent page.
Seo-gu (서구)
Seo-gu had 5,417 foreign residents in 2024. Daegu Medical Center (대구의료원) is here, at Pyeongni-ro 157. It runs a Ministry of Health free-care program for some foreign residents who have no health coverage. Median officetel rent: Too few. See the Seo-gu rent page.
East Daegu
Dong-gu (동구)
Dong-gu covers 182.11 km² and has 338,476 residents (June 2026). Daegu International Airport is here, at Gonghang-ro 221. It had 4,680 foreign residents in 2024. Median officetel rent: ₩450,000. See the Dong-gu rent page.
Suseong-gu (수성구)
Suseong-gu has 408,147 residents (June 2026), the second most in Daegu. It had only 3,417 foreign residents in 2024. If you want a Korean neighborhood more than an international one, start here. Median apartment rent: ₩900,000. Median officetel rent: ₩725,000. See the Suseong-gu rent page.
North Daegu
Buk-gu (북구)
Buk-gu had 10,584 foreign residents in 2024, the third most in Daegu. Kyungpook National University's Daegu campus is here, at Daehak-ro 80. Daegu City Hall's Sangyeok building is also here. Median officetel rent: ₩500,000. See the Buk-gu rent page.
West and south Daegu
Dalseo-gu (달서구)
Dalseo-gu is Daegu's most populous district, with 513,399 residents (June 2026). It also had the most foreign residents in 2024: 19,092. The Seongseo Migrant Workers Free Clinic (성서이주노동자 무료진료소) is here. Median officetel rent: ₩650,000. See the Dalseo-gu rent page.
Dalseong-gun (달성군)
Dalseong-gun is a county with 252,000 residents (June 2026). It had 13,147 foreign residents in 2024. In the 2023 government count, foreign residents were 4.6% of its population. The Daegu Foreign Workers Support Center is in Dasa-eup. Because it is a county, deposit protection limits are lower here (see below). Median officetel rent: ₩500,000. See the Dalseong-gun rent page. If you work in a factory area, read Renting Near Industrial Cities in Korea.
Gunwi-gun (군위군)
Gunwi-gun joined Daegu on July 1, 2023. It is the largest district by area (614.37 km²) and the smallest by population (22,622). It had 925 foreign residents in 2024. If too few contracts were reported, the figure shows "Too few". Median apartment rent: Too few. See the Gunwi-gun rent page.
Deposit protection in Daegu
The Housing Lease Protection Act decree (주택임대차보호법 시행령) gives small-deposit tenants priority repayment (소액임차인 최우선변제). Part of the deposit is paid back first, ahead of other claims on the home. The amount depends on whether you rent in a gu or a gun:
| Area | Deposit limit | Amount paid first |
|---|---|---|
| Jung, Dong, Seo, Nam, Buk, Suseong and Dalseo (gu) | ₩85 million or less | Up to ₩28 million |
| Dalseong-gun and Gunwi-gun (gun) | ₩75 million or less | Up to ₩25 million |
To qualify, you must have moved in and registered your address (전입신고) before the auction was filed. If a lender registered a mortgage on the home before February 21, 2023, older and lower amounts apply against that lender. The total paid this way cannot exceed half of the home's value. If several tenants share one building, the half applies to all of them together. A deposit above the limit gets no priority repayment, so a large jeonse deposit needs other protection. Check how safe your deposit is with the deposit safety tool, and read How to Avoid Deposit Scams.
Regulated areas. The October 15, 2025 designation named only Seoul and 12 Gyeonggi areas as regulated areas (조정대상지역). No Daegu area was on the list.
How to check a building before signing
Picking a district is the first step. Before you pay a deposit on a specific home:
- Open the district's rent page and compare the asking rent with the median for the same home type.
- Look up past contracts for the building in the price explorer. Read How to Check Real Transaction Prices for the steps.
- Ask the agent for the registry record (등기부등본) and check who owns the home and what debts are on it. Use the lease documents checklist.
- Add the deposit, fees and first month with the move-in cost tool.
- Walk from the home to the nearest metro station at the time you will travel.
Read Renting an Apartment in Korea before you sign. For more on daily life in Daegu, see the Daegu neighborhood page.
Where to get help in your language
- Daegu Foreign Workers Support Center (대구외국인근로자지원센터): Dalgubeol-daero 863, floors 8 to 9, Dasa-eup, Dalseong-gun. Call 053-654-9700. Press 1 for Chinese, 2 for Vietnamese, 3 for Indonesian, 4 for Filipino or 5 for Uzbek. It runs a free clinic on Sundays from 15:00 to 17:00 (third Sunday 10:00 to 12:00).
- Seongseo Migrant Workers Free Clinic: Seongseo-ro 72-gil 5, 4th floor, Dalseo-gu. Wednesdays 19:30 to 21:30. Call 053-585-6200.
- Daegu Medical Center: free-care program for eligible foreign residents without health coverage. Call 053-560-7375.
- Daegu City call center: 053-120.
The city notes that clinic schedules can change. Call before you go.
Data note
Population figures are Daegu City's count of Korean nationals as of June 30, 2026. Foreign resident counts are Daegu City's figures as of November 1, 2024, the newest district table we could check. The 4.6% share for Dalseong-gun comes from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) 2023 report. Rent and sale figures come from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (국토교통부) real transaction records, processed monthly by Seoulstart. For the full city picture, open the Daegu rent page.