Panama City vs Rio de Janeiro - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Panama City	Rio de Janeiro
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1560	$940
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3547	$2347
🏠 One person rent	$943	$458
🏘️ Family rent	$1558	$770
🍽️ Food expenses	$429	$258
🚐 Transport expenses	$78.4	$137
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$982	$442
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	43	95
😀 Quality of life	71	67
🏙️ Population	410K	6.21M

The cost of living in Panama City is 66% more expensive than in Rio de Janeiro. Cities ranked 3737th and 6006th ($1560 vs $940) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Panama and Brazil, respectively. Check Panama vs Brazil comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Panama City compared to 0.5 months in Rio de Janeiro. Panama City ranked 1st best city to live in Panama vs Rio de Janeiro ranked 2nd in Brazil, while ranked 3765th and 4818th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Panama City vs Rio de Janeiro infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/panama-city/rio-de-janeiro.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Panama City vs Rio de Janeiro infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/panama-city/rio-de-janeiro" target="_blank">Panama City vs Rio de Janeiro - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Panama City vs Rio de Janeiro

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

	Panama City	Rio de Janeiro
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.6	$6.45
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$45.7	$31.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.08	$6.48
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.93	$1.85
☕ Cappuccino	$4.03	$2.36
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.69	$1.31
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1015	$501
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$759	$324
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1675	$881
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1306	$563
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$86.4	$79.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$133	$125
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$45.5	$18.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.41%	11.58%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2662	$1966
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1618	$1150
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$1.25
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$23.2	$41.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$20.5	$7.88
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.97	$1.09
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.79	$1.06
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.25	$1.48
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$1.24
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.17	$2.09
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.7	$8.65
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.81	$3.96
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.86	$8.22
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.27	$2.38
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$1.56
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.27	$1.56
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.05	$1.47
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.34	$1.22
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.26	$1.13
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.05	$0.39
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.44	$1.69
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.2	$7.11
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.38	$1.17
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.92	$1.99
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.17	$3.4
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$8.06	$3.18
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.98	$1.06
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.05	$0.98
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.6	$25.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.32	$6.37
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$58.4	$51.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.3	$8.04
👖 Brand Jeans	$54	$45.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.3	$74.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$477	$531
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15637	$12076

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	$1400
16 km or 9.9 mi	Tocumen	$1377
26 km or 16 mi	Pacora	$1371
34 km or 21 mi	La Chorrera	$981
59 km or 37 mi	Colon	$1188
108 km or 67 mi	Penonome	$1150
154 km or 96 mi	Chitre	$1150
190 km or 118 mi	Santiago de Veraguas	$1122
321 km or 199 mi	Turbo	$721
329 km or 204 mi	David	$925
398 km or 247 mi	Monteria	$663
403 km or 250 mi	Limon	$1288
406 km or 252 mi	Santa Cruz de Lorica	$715
452 km or 281 mi	Sincelejo	$547
463 km or 288 mi	Cartagena	$1105
483 km or 300 mi	Quibdo	$708
494 km or 307 mi	Cartago	$1241
513 km or 319 mi	San Jose	$1398
518 km or 322 mi	Heredia	$1335
521 km or 324 mi	Magangue	$667
526 km or 327 mi	Bello	$881
529 km or 329 mi	Alajuela	$1303
530 km or 329 mi	Medellin	$1030
534 km or 332 mi	Envigado	$950
558 km or 347 mi	Soledad	$883
559 km or 348 mi	Barranquilla	$843
595 km or 370 mi	Puntarenas	$821
617 km or 383 mi	Cartago	$679
617 km or 383 mi	Cienaga	$831
623 km or 387 mi	Manizales	$678
627 km or 390 mi	Santa Teresa	$1236
627 km or 390 mi	Pereira	$730
631 km or 392 mi	Santa Marta	$929
632 km or 393 mi	Buenaventura	$782
636 km or 395 mi	Minca	$847
651 km or 404 mi	Salento	$655
652 km or 405 mi	Armenia	$667
657 km or 408 mi	Tulua	$511
658 km or 409 mi	Barrancabermeja	$1082
675 km or 419 mi	Liberia	$953

Cities near Rio de Janeiro

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.9 km or 6.2 mi	Niteroi	$739
18 km or 11 mi	Duque de Caxias	$653
21 km or 13 mi	Sao Joao de Meriti	$648
26 km or 16 mi	Belford Roxo	$810
31 km or 19 mi	Nova Iguacu	$590
45 km or 28 mi	Petropolis	$706
60 km or 37 mi	Teresopolis	$498
70 km or 44 mi	Saquarema	$564
98 km or 61 mi	Nova Friburgo	$445
102 km or 64 mi	Volta Redonda	$539
108 km or 67 mi	Barra Mansa	$557
112 km or 70 mi	Sao Pedro da Aldeia	$530
115 km or 72 mi	Angra dos Reis	$683
121 km or 75 mi	Cabo Frio	$525
130 km or 81 mi	Juiz de Fora	$550
135 km or 84 mi	Rio das Ostras	$506
137 km or 85 mi	Resende	$603
157 km or 97 mi	Macae	$625
184 km or 115 mi	Cruzeiro	$631
196 km or 122 mi	Barbacena	$540
199 km or 123 mi	Lorena	$673
200 km or 124 mi	Ubatuba	$632
201 km or 125 mi	Uba	$597
208 km or 129 mi	Guaratingueta	$643
215 km or 134 mi	Muriae	$613
226 km or 140 mi	Sao Joao del-Rei	$541
231 km or 144 mi	Campos dos Goytacazes	$518
232 km or 144 mi	Pindamonhangaba	$620
238 km or 148 mi	Itajuba	$536
240 km or 149 mi	Caraguatatuba	$625
241 km or 150 mi	Taubate	$611
242 km or 150 mi	Vicosa	$618
245 km or 152 mi	Sao Sebastiao	$633
251 km or 156 mi	Tres Coracoes	$559
257 km or 160 mi	Conselheiro Lafaiete	$644
258 km or 160 mi	Cacapava	$657
264 km or 164 mi	Lavras	$530
275 km or 171 mi	Varginha	$492
277 km or 172 mi	Sao Jose dos Campos	$819
279 km or 173 mi	Ponte Nova	$586