Panama City vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Panama City	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1560	$3469
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3547	$7890
🏠 One person rent	$943	$2370
🏘️ Family rent	$1558	$4148
🍽️ Food expenses	$429	$726
🚐 Transport expenses	$78.4	$179
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$982	$5254
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	43	86
😀 Quality of life	71	93
🏙️ Population	410K	1.39M

The cost of living in Panama City is 55% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 3737th and 43rd ($1560 vs $3469) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 33rd 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 1.5 months in San Diego. Panama City ranked 1st best city to live in Panama vs San Diego ranked 26th in the United States, while ranked 3765th and 97th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Panama City vs San Diego infographic

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Prices in Panama City vs San Diego

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

	Panama City	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.6	$21.5
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$45.7	$85.1
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.08	$15.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.93	$8.63
☕ Cappuccino	$4.03	$6.32
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.69	$3.03
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1015	$2499
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$759	$2053
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1675	$4569
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1306	$3654
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$86.4	$156
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$133	$240
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$45.5	$71
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.41%	6.43%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2662	$9580
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1618	$7151
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$2.49
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$23.2	$71
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$20.5	$19.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.97	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.79	$1.26
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.25	$3.92
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$3.92
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.17	$6.16
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.7	$15.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.81	$13.1
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.86	$20.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.27	$4.5
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$1.74
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.27	$4.03
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.05	$4.81
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.34	$2.56
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.26	$2.37
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.05	$1.58
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.44	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.2	$16.6
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.38	$2.91
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.92	$12.3
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.17	$14.9
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$8.06	$9.97
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.98	$5.53
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.05	$2.47
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.6	$63.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.32	$17.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$58.4	$131
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.3	$30.4
👖 Brand Jeans	$54	$60.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.3	$108
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$477	$1745
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15637	$28967

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 San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3195
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$3013
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2932
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$2972
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2943
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2909
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$2996
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$2988
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1210
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2887
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2922
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3066
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1063
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1055
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3215
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2931
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3252
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2930
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3274
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2873
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2681
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2967
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3049
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$2994
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2715
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3057
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2776
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3490
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3075
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2626
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$903
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2671
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3585
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3037
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$3014
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3450
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2539
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2742
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2691
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2782