Panama City vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Panama City	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1479	$1097
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3609	$3454
🏠 One person rent	$846	$577
🏘️ Family rent	$1592	$1404
🍽️ Food expenses	$440	$287
🚐 Transport expenses	$83	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$967	$1644
😷 Air quality	Good	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	42	100
😀 Quality of life	67	78
🏙️ Population	881K	24.9M

The cost of living in Panama City is 35% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 3517th and 4858th ($1479 vs $1097) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 6th in Panama and China, respectively. Check Panama vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Panama City compared to 1.5 months in Shanghai. Panama City ranked 1st best city to live in Panama vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 3734th and 675th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Panama City vs Shanghai infographic

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Prices in Panama City vs Shanghai

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

	Panama City	Shanghai
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$10.4	$4.55
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$48.5	$39.8
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.06	$5.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.97	$1.45
☕ Cappuccino	$3.99	$3.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.66	$0.52
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$891	$823
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$681	$455
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1749	$2226
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1344	$1115
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$78	$33.5
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$121	$51.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$45.4	$14.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.28%	3.83%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2551	$14361
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1632	$8086
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.42	$0.55
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$23.2	$34.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.3	$5.85
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.96	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.8	$2.2
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.19	$1.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.33	$1.35
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.77	$1.84
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$15.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.09	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.99	$10.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.44	$2.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.58	$1.64
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.89	$1.81
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.94	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.23	$0.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.8	$1.12
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.07	$0.37
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.31	$1.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$10	$12.2
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.29	$0.84
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.98	$3.39
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$11.7	$6.38
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$7.94	$6.95
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.37	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.71	$2.27
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$45.3	$55.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.22	$8.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$54.5	$87.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.9	$11.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$56.8	$60.7
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.2	$75.8
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$477	$1181
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$13616	$30174

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

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 Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$984
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$665
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$700
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$701
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$868
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$573
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$631
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$645
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$602
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$640
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$670
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$670
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$657
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$590
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$708
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$643
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$716
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$695
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$702
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$644
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$805
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$636
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$643
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$654
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$603
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$650
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$607
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$644
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$665
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$522
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$620
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$621
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$642
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$677
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$665
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$592
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$661
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$672
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$621
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$746