Panama City vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Panama City	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1560	$1052
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3547	$2682
🏠 One person rent	$943	$496
🏘️ Family rent	$1558	$872
🍽️ Food expenses	$429	$302
🚐 Transport expenses	$78.4	$143
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$982	$701
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	43	95
😀 Quality of life	71	69
🏙️ Population	410K	11.5M

The cost of living in Panama City is 48% more expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 3737th and 5192nd ($1560 vs $1052) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st 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 0.7 months in Sao Paulo. Panama City ranked 1st best city to live in Panama vs Sao Paulo ranked 1st in Brazil, while ranked 3765th and 4142nd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Panama City vs Sao Paulo infographic

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

Prices in Panama City vs Sao Paulo

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

	Panama City	Sao Paulo
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.6	$7.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$45.7	$34
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.08	$7.12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.93	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$4.03	$2.55
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.69	$1.19
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1015	$622
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$759	$380
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1675	$1124
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1306	$691
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$86.4	$48.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$133	$75
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$45.5	$18.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.41%	12.27%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2662	$2855
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1618	$1938
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$0.96
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$23.2	$48.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$20.5	$7.53
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.97	$1.11
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.79	$1.04
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.25	$1.56
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$1.19
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.17	$2.66
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.7	$11.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.81	$4.68
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.86	$9.54
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.27	$2.7
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$1.84
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.27	$1.61
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.05	$1.82
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.34	$1.39
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.26	$1.26
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.05	$0.48
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.44	$1.98
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.2	$8.72
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.38	$1.3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.92	$2.55
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.17	$6.16
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$8.06	$4.2
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.98	$1.52
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.05	$1.39
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.6	$27.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.32	$7.81
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$58.4	$65.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.3	$12.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$54	$55.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.3	$92.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$477	$475
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15637	$15428

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 Sao Paulo

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.3 mi	Sao Caetano do Sul	$737
13 km or 8.3 mi	Taboao da Serra	$701
14 km or 8.6 mi	Guarulhos	$697
15 km or 9.4 mi	Diadema	$698
16 km or 9.7 mi	Santo Andre	$690
16 km or 10 mi	Osasco	$712
17 km or 11 mi	Sao Bernardo do Campo	$656
21 km or 13 mi	Carapicuiba	$605
22 km or 14 mi	Maua	$691
23 km or 15 mi	Caieiras	$687
25 km or 15 mi	Embu das Artes	$704
25 km or 16 mi	Barueri	$830
26 km or 16 mi	Mairipora	$671
26 km or 16 mi	Franco da Rocha	$699
27 km or 17 mi	Ferraz de Vasconcelos	$643
28 km or 17 mi	Jandira	$699
29 km or 18 mi	Ribeirao Pires	$665
29 km or 18 mi	Itapecerica da Serra	$706
30 km or 18 mi	Poa	$639
30 km or 18 mi	Cotia	$780
30 km or 19 mi	Itaquaquecetuba	$671
31 km or 19 mi	Itapevi	$654
31 km or 19 mi	Santana de Parnaiba	$689
32 km or 20 mi	Francisco Morato	$702
33 km or 20 mi	Itanhaem	$666
33 km or 20 mi	Cajamar	$693
36 km or 22 mi	Embu-Guacu	$678
36 km or 22 mi	Aruja	$664
41 km or 26 mi	Campo Limpo Paulista	$685
43 km or 26 mi	Varzea Paulista	$687
44 km or 27 mi	Cubatao	$657
45 km or 28 mi	Mogi das Cruzes	$741
48 km or 30 mi	Jundiai	$737
49 km or 30 mi	Atibaia	$618
51 km or 32 mi	Sao Roque	$673
52 km or 32 mi	Sao Vicente	$648
55 km or 34 mi	Santos	$816
56 km or 35 mi	Praia Grande	$638
61 km or 38 mi	Bertioga	$659
61 km or 38 mi	Ibiuna	$666