Panama City vs San Jose, United States - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 10, 2024

	Panama City	San Jose
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1384	$3674
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3435	$8354
🏠 One person rent	$751	$2553
🏘️ Family rent	$1474	$4614
🍽️ Food expenses	$444	$756
🚐 Transport expenses	$84.4	$175
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$914	$6972
😷 Air quality	Good	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	42	87
😀 Quality of life	66	93
🏙️ Population	881K	1.01M

The cost of living in Panama City is 62% less expensive than in San Jose, United States. Cities ranked 4139th and 13th ($1384 vs $3674) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 11th 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 0.7 months in Panama City compared to 1.9 months in San Jose, United States. Panama City ranked 1st best city to live in Panama vs San Jose, United States ranked 9th in the United States, while ranked 3919th and 57th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Panama City vs San Jose, United States infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/panama-city/san-jose-us.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Panama City vs San Jose, United States infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/panama-city/san-jose-us" target="_blank">Panama City vs San Jose, United States - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Panama City vs San Jose, United States

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

	Panama City	San Jose
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$12.3	$25.2
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$55.2	$99.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$7.6	$12.1
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.94	$9.02
☕ Cappuccino	$4.25	$6.07
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.9	$3.37
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$827	$2518
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$577	$2244
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1757	$4974
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1198	$4085
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$76.7	$178
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$118	$275
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$47.4	$76.3
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.12%	6.65%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2406	$11099
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1535	$11117
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$2.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$26.2	$90.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$13.9	$18.5
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.02	$1.28
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.78	$1.34
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.12	$4.64
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.08	$3.84
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.67	$4.98
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$15.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.23	$14.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.4	$21.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.11	$5.87
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.54	$1.76
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.09	$3.56
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.94	$6.75
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.19	$3.84
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.5	$3.28
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1	$1.73
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.51	$2.55
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$9.03	$15
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.14	$2.11
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.89	$11.5
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.5	$9.28
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$6.97	$7.04
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.12	$4.62
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.06	$2.28
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$43.8	$113
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.71	$15.9
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$49.1	$151
💇 Haircut, simple	$13.7	$20.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$54.3	$48.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$90.2	$83.3
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$437	$1894
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$9531	$23974

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	$1249
16 km or 9.9 mi	Tocumen	$1231
26 km or 16 mi	Pacora	$1249
34 km or 21 mi	La Chorrera	$953
59 km or 37 mi	Colon	$1182
108 km or 67 mi	Penonome	$1098
154 km or 96 mi	Chitre	$1091
190 km or 118 mi	Santiago de Veraguas	$1056
321 km or 199 mi	Turbo	$634
329 km or 204 mi	David	$833
398 km or 247 mi	Monteria	$620
403 km or 250 mi	Limon	$1201
406 km or 252 mi	Santa Cruz de Lorica	$638
452 km or 281 mi	Sincelejo	$506
463 km or 288 mi	Cartagena	$748
483 km or 300 mi	Quibdo	$661
494 km or 307 mi	Cartago	$961
513 km or 319 mi	San Jose	$1239
518 km or 322 mi	Heredia	$1246
521 km or 324 mi	Magangue	$582
526 km or 327 mi	Bello	$789
529 km or 329 mi	Alajuela	$1233
530 km or 329 mi	Medellin	$873
534 km or 332 mi	Envigado	$871
558 km or 347 mi	Soledad	$840
559 km or 348 mi	Barranquilla	$789
595 km or 370 mi	Puntarenas	$1277
617 km or 383 mi	Cartago	$619
617 km or 383 mi	Cienaga	$831
623 km or 387 mi	Manizales	$653
627 km or 390 mi	Santa Teresa	$1310
627 km or 390 mi	Pereira	$641
631 km or 392 mi	Santa Marta	$979
632 km or 393 mi	Buenaventura	$718
636 km or 395 mi	Minca	$863
651 km or 404 mi	Salento	$562
652 km or 405 mi	Armenia	$541
657 km or 408 mi	Tulua	$477
658 km or 409 mi	Barrancabermeja	$573
675 km or 419 mi	Liberia	$898

Cities near San Jose, United States

Distance	City	Cost of living
7.6 km or 4.7 mi	Campbell	$3322
9.7 km or 6.1 mi	Santa Clara	$3417
11 km or 6.8 mi	Los Gatos	$4181
13 km or 8.4 mi	Saratoga	$3147
15 km or 9.1 mi	Milpitas	$3083
15 km or 9.3 mi	Cupertino	$2799
16 km or 10 mi	Sunnyvale	$3305
18 km or 11 mi	Mountain View	$3220
21 km or 13 mi	Los Altos	$3085
27 km or 17 mi	Palo Alto	$3610
27 km or 17 mi	Morgan Hill	$3094
28 km or 18 mi	Fremont	$3159
29 km or 18 mi	Newark	$3010
29 km or 18 mi	East Palo Alto	$3228
32 km or 20 mi	Menlo Park	$3288
36 km or 22 mi	Union	$2986
38 km or 23 mi	Redwood	$3584
39 km or 24 mi	Santa Cruz	$3433
41 km or 25 mi	San Carlos	$3442
41 km or 25 mi	Pleasanton	$3578
42 km or 26 mi	Gilroy	$3118
43 km or 27 mi	Livermore	$3085
44 km or 27 mi	Watsonville	$3527
44 km or 27 mi	Belmont	$3804
44 km or 28 mi	Foster	$3473
45 km or 28 mi	Hayward	$2981
46 km or 28 mi	Dublin	$3091
47 km or 29 mi	San Lorenzo	$2802
48 km or 30 mi	San Mateo	$3672
48 km or 30 mi	Castro Valley	$2931
53 km or 33 mi	San Leandro	$3023
53 km or 33 mi	Burlingame	$3293
54 km or 33 mi	San Ramon	$2851
57 km or 36 mi	Millbrae	$3224
59 km or 36 mi	Danville	$2922
60 km or 38 mi	San Bruno	$3196
61 km or 38 mi	Alameda	$3274
62 km or 38 mi	Tracy	$2250
63 km or 39 mi	South San Francisco	$3170
64 km or 40 mi	Oakland	$3146