Panama City vs Shanghai - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Panama City	Shanghai
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1560	$1128
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3547	$3104
🏠 One person rent	$943	$605
🏘️ Family rent	$1558	$1067
🍽️ Food expenses	$429	$289
🚐 Transport expenses	$78.4	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$982	$931
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	43	100
😀 Quality of life	71	77
🏙️ Population	410K	24.9M

The cost of living in Panama City is 38% more expensive than in Shanghai. Cities ranked 3737th and 4879th ($1560 vs $1128) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 5th in Panama and China, respectively. Check Panama vs China comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.6 months in Panama City compared to 0.8 months in Shanghai. Panama City ranked 1st best city to live in Panama vs Shanghai ranked 4th in China, while ranked 3765th and 1383rd 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	$10.6	$4.7
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$45.7	$40
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.08	$5.69
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.93	$1.47
☕ Cappuccino	$4.03	$3.79
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.69	$0.51
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1015	$848
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$759	$485
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1675	$1510
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1306	$875
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$86.4	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$133	$52
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$45.5	$12.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.41%	3.36%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2662	$14877
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1618	$7318
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.35	$0.56
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$23.2	$31.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$20.5	$6.41
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.97	$1.13
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.79	$2.11
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.25	$1.88
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$1.34
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.17	$1.88
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.7	$15.7
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.81	$3.52
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.86	$10.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.27	$2.26
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.52	$1.78
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.27	$1.8
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.05	$1.54
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.34	$0.81
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.26	$1.07
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.05	$0.44
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.44	$1.27
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.2	$11.9
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.38	$0.86
🚬 Cigarette pack	$5.92	$3.02
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.17	$6.07
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$8.06	$6
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.98	$2.02
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.05	$2.12
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.6	$59.6
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.32	$8.24
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$58.4	$92.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$14.3	$12.1
👖 Brand Jeans	$54	$52.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$91.3	$75.1
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$477	$1172
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$15637	$27624

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 Shanghai

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.4 km or 5.8 mi	Pudong	$1003
47 km or 29 mi	Taicang	$673
53 km or 33 mi	Kunshan	$696
74 km or 46 mi	Qidong	$696
82 km or 51 mi	Suzhou	$771
82 km or 51 mi	Jiaxing	$597
85 km or 53 mi	Haimen	$612
88 km or 55 mi	Changshu	$632
106 km or 66 mi	Nantong	$547
117 km or 73 mi	Zhangjiagang	$648
121 km or 75 mi	Wuxi	$679
135 km or 84 mi	Huzhou	$631
141 km or 87 mi	Jiangyin	$634
142 km or 88 mi	Zhoushan	$576
144 km or 89 mi	Ningbo	$713
148 km or 92 mi	Jingjiang	$621
155 km or 96 mi	Shaoxing	$740
158 km or 98 mi	Yixing	$674
159 km or 99 mi	Changzhou	$601
160 km or 100 mi	Rugao	$630
161 km or 100 mi	Hangzhou	$826
177 km or 110 mi	Taixing	$622
179 km or 111 mi	Hai'an	$634
191 km or 119 mi	Liyang	$639
197 km or 122 mi	Yangzhong	$597
198 km or 123 mi	Guangde	$642
201 km or 125 mi	Danyang	$597
208 km or 129 mi	Taizhou	$651
217 km or 135 mi	Dongtai	$664
223 km or 139 mi	Zhenjiang	$531
235 km or 146 mi	Yangzhou	$602
236 km or 146 mi	Jurong	$618
244 km or 152 mi	Ningguo	$637
246 km or 153 mi	Yiwu	$672
250 km or 155 mi	Xinghua	$663
250 km or 156 mi	Yizheng	$590
259 km or 161 mi	Linhai	$666
260 km or 161 mi	Xuancheng	$659
262 km or 163 mi	Gaoyou	$617
274 km or 170 mi	Nanjing	$753