Panama City vs Raleigh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: June 21, 2026

	Panama City	Raleigh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1590	$2265
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3556	$5273
🏠 One person rent	$946	$1374
🏘️ Family rent	$1545	$2201
🍽️ Food expenses	$439	$624
🚐 Transport expenses	$100	$89.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$973	$4362
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	42	82
😀 Quality of life	71	89
🏙️ Population	1.54M	468K

The cost of living in Panama City is 30% less expensive than in Raleigh. Cities ranked 3634th and 1363rd ($1590 vs $2265) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1143rd in Panama and the United States, respectively. Check Panama vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Panama City compared to 1.9 months in Raleigh. Panama City ranked 1st best city to live in Panama vs Raleigh ranked 54th in the United States, while ranked 3213th and 219th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Panama City vs Raleigh

Prices for goods and services in Panama City and Raleigh are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Panama City	Raleigh
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$9.69	$18.3
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$45.4	$69.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.03	$10.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.93	$5.64
☕ Cappuccino	$4.3	$6.08
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.82	$2.82
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1068	$1531
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$747	$1084
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1913	$2619
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1223	$1754
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$90.4	$138
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$140	$211
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$44.6	$63.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.27%	6.17%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3111	$3898
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1732	$2197
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$1.42
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$22.5	$47.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.7	$16.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.98	$0.81
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.83	$0.94
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.17	$3.23
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.34	$2.67
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.11	$4.61
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.1	$14.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.11	$10.3
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.6	$17.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.56	$5.38
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.54	$1.25
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.7	$4.7
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.36	$5.76
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.62	$3.01
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.19	$3.55
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.24	$1.53
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.37	$2.65
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.1	$15.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.35	$2.96
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.95	$9.18
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.08	$12.2
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.95	$4.45
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.92	$3.97
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.05	$2.95
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.9	$42.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.52	$15
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$42.9	$127
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.5	$28.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.4	$52.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$90.7	$101
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$505	$1475
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$11486	$24243

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Panama City

Distance	City	Cost of living
8.1 km or 5 mi	Balboa	$1396
16 km or 9.9 mi	Tocumen	$1373
26 km or 16 mi	Pacora	$1361
34 km or 21 mi	La Chorrera	$982
59 km or 37 mi	Colon	$1185
108 km or 67 mi	Penonome	$1147
154 km or 96 mi	Chitre	$1144
190 km or 118 mi	Santiago de Veraguas	$1112
321 km or 199 mi	Turbo	$797
329 km or 204 mi	David	$909
398 km or 247 mi	Monteria	$733
403 km or 250 mi	Limon	$1228
406 km or 252 mi	Santa Cruz de Lorica	$789
452 km or 281 mi	Sincelejo	$586
463 km or 288 mi	Cartagena	$1186
483 km or 300 mi	Quibdo	$802
494 km or 307 mi	Cartago	$1361
513 km or 319 mi	San Jose	$1574
518 km or 322 mi	Heredia	$1471
521 km or 324 mi	Magangue	$727
526 km or 327 mi	Bello	$1012
529 km or 329 mi	Alajuela	$1362
530 km or 329 mi	Medellin	$1162
534 km or 332 mi	Envigado	$1041
558 km or 347 mi	Soledad	$967
559 km or 348 mi	Barranquilla	$931
595 km or 370 mi	Puntarenas	$872
617 km or 383 mi	Cartago	$769
617 km or 383 mi	Cienaga	$882
623 km or 387 mi	Manizales	$737
627 km or 390 mi	Santa Teresa	$1325
627 km or 390 mi	Pereira	$862
631 km or 392 mi	Santa Marta	$973
632 km or 393 mi	Buenaventura	$856
636 km or 395 mi	Minca	$891
651 km or 404 mi	Salento	$749
652 km or 405 mi	Armenia	$749
657 km or 408 mi	Tulua	$563
658 km or 409 mi	Barrancabermeja	$1001
675 km or 419 mi	Liberia	$1024

Cities near Raleigh

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.6 mi	Garner	$2229
15 km or 9.1 mi	Cary	$2483
17 km or 10 mi	Morrisville	$1850
21 km or 13 mi	Wake Forest	$2169
21 km or 13 mi	Apex	$2280
25 km or 16 mi	Holly Springs	$2300
28 km or 18 mi	Fuquay-Varina	$2241
30 km or 19 mi	Durham	$2063
38 km or 23 mi	Chapel Hill	$2133
60 km or 37 mi	Henderson	$2116
61 km or 38 mi	Sanford	$1842
65 km or 41 mi	Wilson	$2016
77 km or 48 mi	Rocky Mount	$1803
77 km or 48 mi	Goldsboro	$1766
78 km or 49 mi	Burlington	$2089
87 km or 54 mi	Fayetteville	$2212
106 km or 66 mi	Asheboro	$2059
109 km or 68 mi	Danville	$1775
110 km or 68 mi	Greensboro	$2027
114 km or 71 mi	Roanoke Rapids	$2055
114 km or 71 mi	Kinston	$2073
117 km or 73 mi	Greenville	$2045
123 km or 76 mi	High Point	$1909
129 km or 80 mi	Thomasville	$2007
133 km or 83 mi	Kernersville	$2200
137 km or 85 mi	Lumberton	$1863
141 km or 87 mi	Rockingham	$2070
149 km or 92 mi	Winston-Salem	$2105
163 km or 101 mi	Jacksonville	$2007
165 km or 103 mi	New Bern	$1849
166 km or 103 mi	Salisbury	$2075
182 km or 113 mi	Kannapolis	$2031
182 km or 113 mi	Lynchburg	$1851
183 km or 114 mi	Concord	$1904
189 km or 117 mi	Havelock	$2003
190 km or 118 mi	Wilmington	$2295
191 km or 119 mi	Petersburg	$2375
196 km or 122 mi	Monroe	$2129
196 km or 122 mi	Mint Hill	$2204
198 km or 123 mi	Roanoke	$1729