Panama City vs San Salvador - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Panama City	San Salvador
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1479	$1204
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3609	$2687
🏠 One person rent	$846	$656
🏘️ Family rent	$1592	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$440	$363
🚐 Transport expenses	$83	$85.4
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$967	$418
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	42	42
😀 Quality of life	67	50
🏙️ Population	881K	316K

The cost of living in Panama City is 23% more expensive than in San Salvador. Cities ranked 3517th and 4469th ($1479 vs $1204) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Panama and El Salvador, respectively. Check Panama vs El Salvador comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Panama City compared to 0.3 months in San Salvador. Panama City ranked 1st best city to live in Panama vs San Salvador ranked 1st in El Salvador, while ranked 3734th and 6219th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Panama City vs San Salvador infographic

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Prices in Panama City vs San Salvador

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

	Panama City	San Salvador
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.4	$9.72
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$48.5	$27.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.06	$7.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.97	$2.12
☕ Cappuccino	$3.99	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.66	$1.16
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$891	$736
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$681	$512
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1749	$1236
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1344	$860
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$78	$62.9
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$121	$95.7
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$45.4	$36
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.28%	9.37%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2551	$2408
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1632	$1341
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.42	$0.35
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$23.2	$22.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.3	$26.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.96	$1.14
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.8	$2.07
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.19	$1.67
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.33	$1.37
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.77	$3.1
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$7.63
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.09	$6.38
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.99	$10.4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.44	$3.12
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$1.68
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.89	$2.57
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.94	$2.52
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$2.18
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.8	$2.16
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.07	$0.69
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.31	$2.23
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10	$15.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.29	$1.56
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.98	$4.03
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.7	$6.95
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.94	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.37	$2.33
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.71	$1.68
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$45.3	$32.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.22	$5.88
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$54.5	$38.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.9	$8.88
👖 Brand Jeans	$56.8	$63
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.2	$115
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$477	$161
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13616	$5642

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	$1328
16 km or 9.9 mi	Tocumen	$1310
26 km or 16 mi	Pacora	$1304
34 km or 21 mi	La Chorrera	$957
59 km or 37 mi	Colon	$1172
108 km or 67 mi	Penonome	$1116
154 km or 96 mi	Chitre	$1117
190 km or 118 mi	Santiago de Veraguas	$1089
321 km or 199 mi	Turbo	$664
329 km or 204 mi	David	$890
398 km or 247 mi	Monteria	$645
403 km or 250 mi	Limon	$1225
406 km or 252 mi	Santa Cruz de Lorica	$669
452 km or 281 mi	Sincelejo	$524
463 km or 288 mi	Cartagena	$760
483 km or 300 mi	Quibdo	$705
494 km or 307 mi	Cartago	$1024
513 km or 319 mi	San Jose	$1324
518 km or 322 mi	Heredia	$1296
521 km or 324 mi	Magangue	$604
526 km or 327 mi	Bello	$839
529 km or 329 mi	Alajuela	$1269
530 km or 329 mi	Medellin	$906
534 km or 332 mi	Envigado	$897
558 km or 347 mi	Soledad	$741
559 km or 348 mi	Barranquilla	$773
595 km or 370 mi	Puntarenas	$801
617 km or 383 mi	Cartago	$649
617 km or 383 mi	Cienaga	$742
623 km or 387 mi	Manizales	$653
627 km or 390 mi	Santa Teresa	$1213
627 km or 390 mi	Pereira	$680
631 km or 392 mi	Santa Marta	$837
632 km or 393 mi	Buenaventura	$742
636 km or 395 mi	Minca	$759
651 km or 404 mi	Salento	$605
652 km or 405 mi	Armenia	$598
657 km or 408 mi	Tulua	$513
658 km or 409 mi	Barrancabermeja	$1031
675 km or 419 mi	Liberia	$932

Cities near San Salvador

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.2 km or 3.2 mi	Mejicanos	$1175
6.1 km or 3.8 mi	Soyapango	$1182
11 km or 6.8 mi	Santa Tecla	$1194
11 km or 7 mi	Apopa	$1160
49 km or 30 mi	Santa Ana	$698
57 km or 35 mi	Sonsonate	$884
75 km or 46 mi	Ahuachapan	$1449
89 km or 55 mi	Usulutan	$1083
112 km or 69 mi	San Miguel	$1088
135 km or 84 mi	Jalapa	$936
172 km or 107 mi	San Miguel Petapa	$941
176 km or 109 mi	Guatemala City	$1070
185 km or 115 mi	Mixco	$653
187 km or 116 mi	Comayagua	$753
219 km or 136 mi	Tegucigalpa	$863
220 km or 137 mi	Villanueva	$897
235 km or 146 mi	Coban	$916
236 km or 147 mi	San Pedro Sula	$1047
237 km or 147 mi	La Lima	$897
241 km or 150 mi	Panajachel	$819
241 km or 150 mi	El Progreso	$903
250 km or 156 mi	Choloma	$719
253 km or 157 mi	Chinandega	$638
266 km or 165 mi	Mazatenango	$886
273 km or 170 mi	Yoro	$755
277 km or 172 mi	Puerto Cortes	$788
281 km or 174 mi	Quetzaltenango	$784
282 km or 175 mi	Momostenango	$881
287 km or 178 mi	Leon	$632
315 km or 196 mi	Esteli	$598
347 km or 216 mi	La Ceiba	$626
352 km or 219 mi	Jinotega	$455
357 km or 222 mi	Tapachula	$632
361 km or 224 mi	Managua	$738
365 km or 227 mi	Matagalpa	$624
367 km or 228 mi	Flores	$878
385 km or 239 mi	San Ignacio	$1034
387 km or 240 mi	Masaya	$710
397 km or 247 mi	Belmopan	$973
402 km or 250 mi	Granada	$701