Panama City vs Raleigh - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Panama City	Raleigh
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1583	$2317
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3567	$5372
🏠 One person rent	$976	$1430
🏘️ Family rent	$1633	$2327
🍽️ Food expenses	$432	$612
🚐 Transport expenses	$69.1	$90.3
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$936	$4411
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	14 km
🎓 Higher education	42	82
😀 Quality of life	69	89
🏙️ Population	410K	468K

The cost of living in Panama City is 32% less expensive than in Raleigh. Cities ranked 3744th and 1246th ($1583 vs $2317) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1054th 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 64th in the United States, while ranked 4400th and 245th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
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	$10.6	$18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$45.3	$72.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.39	$9.6
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.97	$5.67
☕ Cappuccino	$3.94	$6.02
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.71	$2.48
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1062	$1562
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$794	$1149
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1911	$2603
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1347	$1919
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$82.5	$133
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$128	$207
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$45.4	$65.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.26%	6.42%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3048	$3603
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1725	$2208
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$1.68
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$22.2	$48.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$17.4	$16.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.93	$0.79
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.84	$0.97
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.23	$3.39
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.33	$2.78
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.26	$4.45
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.2	$14.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.57	$10.4
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.64	$16.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.53	$5.47
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1.26
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.29	$4.98
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.03	$5.45
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.46	$2.68
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.74	$3.36
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.16	$1.46
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.41	$2.63
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.6	$15
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.44	$2.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.04	$8.71
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.16	$10.6
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$8.03	$4.44
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.96	$3.97
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.04	$2.73
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.8	$44.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.3	$15
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$50.2	$137
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.5	$28.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$53.6	$54.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.3	$108
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$503	$1374
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13402	$24650

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	$1425
16 km or 9.9 mi	Tocumen	$1403
26 km or 16 mi	Pacora	$1395
34 km or 21 mi	La Chorrera	$977
59 km or 37 mi	Colon	$1179
108 km or 67 mi	Penonome	$1153
154 km or 96 mi	Chitre	$1154
190 km or 118 mi	Santiago de Veraguas	$1122
321 km or 199 mi	Turbo	$764
329 km or 204 mi	David	$922
398 km or 247 mi	Monteria	$703
403 km or 250 mi	Limon	$1332
406 km or 252 mi	Santa Cruz de Lorica	$764
452 km or 281 mi	Sincelejo	$572
463 km or 288 mi	Cartagena	$1155
483 km or 300 mi	Quibdo	$757
494 km or 307 mi	Cartago	$1290
513 km or 319 mi	San Jose	$1454
518 km or 322 mi	Heredia	$1378
521 km or 324 mi	Magangue	$707
526 km or 327 mi	Bello	$915
529 km or 329 mi	Alajuela	$1323
530 km or 329 mi	Medellin	$1071
534 km or 332 mi	Envigado	$992
558 km or 347 mi	Soledad	$950
559 km or 348 mi	Barranquilla	$909
595 km or 370 mi	Puntarenas	$825
617 km or 383 mi	Cartago	$738
617 km or 383 mi	Cienaga	$874
623 km or 387 mi	Manizales	$717
627 km or 390 mi	Santa Teresa	$1273
627 km or 390 mi	Pereira	$789
631 km or 392 mi	Santa Marta	$971
632 km or 393 mi	Buenaventura	$825
636 km or 395 mi	Minca	$887
651 km or 404 mi	Salento	$709
652 km or 405 mi	Armenia	$719
657 km or 408 mi	Tulua	$537
658 km or 409 mi	Barrancabermeja	$1040
675 km or 419 mi	Liberia	$957

Cities near Raleigh

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.6 mi	Garner	$2246
15 km or 9.1 mi	Cary	$2470
17 km or 10 mi	Morrisville	$1831
21 km or 13 mi	Wake Forest	$2194
21 km or 13 mi	Apex	$2278
25 km or 16 mi	Holly Springs	$2313
28 km or 18 mi	Fuquay-Varina	$2242
30 km or 19 mi	Durham	$2109
38 km or 23 mi	Chapel Hill	$2308
60 km or 37 mi	Henderson	$2111
61 km or 38 mi	Sanford	$1943
65 km or 41 mi	Wilson	$2003
77 km or 48 mi	Rocky Mount	$1780
77 km or 48 mi	Goldsboro	$1773
78 km or 49 mi	Burlington	$2123
87 km or 54 mi	Fayetteville	$2159
106 km or 66 mi	Asheboro	$2081
109 km or 68 mi	Danville	$1750
110 km or 68 mi	Greensboro	$2036
114 km or 71 mi	Roanoke Rapids	$2056
114 km or 71 mi	Kinston	$2088
117 km or 73 mi	Greenville	$2057
123 km or 76 mi	High Point	$1917
129 km or 80 mi	Thomasville	$2030
133 km or 83 mi	Kernersville	$2202
137 km or 85 mi	Lumberton	$1987
141 km or 87 mi	Rockingham	$2079
149 km or 92 mi	Winston-Salem	$2122
163 km or 101 mi	Jacksonville	$2001
165 km or 103 mi	New Bern	$1847
166 km or 103 mi	Salisbury	$2080
182 km or 113 mi	Kannapolis	$2027
182 km or 113 mi	Lynchburg	$1814
183 km or 114 mi	Concord	$1963
189 km or 117 mi	Havelock	$1969
190 km or 118 mi	Wilmington	$2211
191 km or 119 mi	Petersburg	$2378
196 km or 122 mi	Monroe	$2126
196 km or 122 mi	Mint Hill	$2174
198 km or 123 mi	Roanoke	$1736