What's it cost to live in Panama?

How much does it cost to live in Panama?

I am asked this question frequently. Elsewhere on this website, I suggest you need $2,000 a month, and I have been criticized for saying this by people I assume manage for less.

The cost to live in Panama is subjective, I suppose. Many Panamanians earn $500 or less each month, so clearly it is possible to live on that amount. Whether you or I could do so and be happy with our lives is another matter.

Cost depends on lifestyle

It depends on what you are used to. If you are used to a six-figure income, even $4,000 a month may be too constraining. I know roughly my cost to live in Panama, and that's about $2,000 a month. I rarely go out; I have been far too busy with this website,

But the truth of the matter is that, on $2,000, I could not afford to go out too often. So where does the money go?

My home costs me $400 a month. That's not particularly high, though you can spend less in the "interior", which is everywhere outside Panama City. I know of a nice three-bedroom home nearby that rents for $250. My own home sits on 15 acres of fruit and tall pine trees, amid breathtaking views of Panama's highest mountain, tree-covered hills and ruminating cows. How can you add up the cost to live in Panama with such sights outside every window?

City property more expensive

High-end rents in Panama City run into the thousands, and condos in the sky, with the most modern facilities and drop-dead views of the ocean, fetch $400,000 or slightly less. The place will likely come with a 20-year real estate tax holiday, too.

How many millions would such a property cost in Dade Country, Florida, or in California? And how much would the taxes run over 20 years? Cost to live in Panama? You just saved, what, $240,000 in taxes alone?

Three-bedroom apartment: $400

It's also possible to rent a three-bedroom U.S.-style apartment for $400 set in green space in Clayton, 15 minutes from the city center. I lived in one. Next door, a house was offered for rent at $3,500. Quite reasonable housing on new developments on the outskirts of the city can be bought for around $100,000 and up. In parts of El Dorado, 15 minutes from the city, look to spend around $250,000 in a quiet residential area.

No accounting of the cost to live in Panama would be complete without considering food. Food is a lot cheaper where I live in the mountains of Chiriqui province near the Costa Rica border, especially vegetables and fruit. This is where much of the produce is grown for the rest of the country. But even in Panama, prices are a bargain compared with the U.S., unless you insist on eating imported products.

Copy Panamanians

I eat pretty well, and if imported products are clearly better, I don't hesitate to buy them. But much of Panama's produce is just as good as the imported brands. After a while, you get to know what's what, and how to shop to some extent as the Panamanians do. Most have to pay close attention to the cost to live in Panama.

For instance, a place in the tiny village of Volcan attracts shoppers from all over the region. It sells paper products, laundry detergent and a variety of items from a small warehouse at unbelievable prices. I look there before the local supermarkets.

You can also buy shoes for $2 and t-shirts for the same price. The stuff arrives in bulk, much of it with designer labels. Yesterday, I saw Pot of Gold chocolates for $3 for a large box, a price for which you could also get six boxes of Kleenex.

Fresh trout for $1.25

Up the road a few miles, at a fish farm, I can get a fresh one-pound trout for $1.25, filleted.

I have no idea what I spend on food and cleaning materials in a month. Probably about $200, perhaps $250. The cost to live in Panama City is a little higher.

I have a large gas-guzzling car that increases my cost to live in Panama. I now consciously try to use it sparingly. Even so, gas costs around $100 a month. But this is not a new car, and it seems to know when there's money in the bank. In the past 18 months, with repairs, new tires, a battery, sales tax (yes, you pay sales tax on an import, even though you don't pay duty as a pensionado), and registration, it has probably cost me about $2,700, or $150 a month. I still have a chunk to spend on it in the next little while. But so far, with gas, the car costs me about $250 a month.

Turbo diesel SUV, perhaps?

Tip: A turbo diesel might make sense. An SUV rides high, and that could be an advantage in heavy rain. My car has a monster eight-cylinder gas engine, and no one here wants those. I'd have a tough time giving it away.

From my recent credit card statement, satellite TV cost $43, cell phone $58, and Mail Boxes Etc. $71. (Previous bills for Mail Boxes were $51 and $100. There has been some heavy use in recent months. The basic bill runs around $27, plus extra charges from Panama City to Volcan.) Add to that $55 for Internet. Power runs about $60 a month, after the pensionado discount. There is no need for air conditioning in the mountains, but when I lived in Clayton, the power bill was around $145.

A man called Ulysses

With 15 acres, there's a need for someone to do odd jobs occasionally. Besides, I feel that if we live in a country of poorer people, we have a responsibility to at least try to help. It's not much, but I probably pay a part-time man about $70 a month.

Bills take another $160 and medications for diabetes take a further $50.

That lot runs to a little under $1,500. Last month, when I had pneumonia followed by a kidney infection, I went through roughly $400 in hospital tests, doctors, medications, lab tests, and a respirologist who made house calls (as did the doctor).

Flights to Panama City

I find that I need to go to Panama City about once a month (though admittedly that's for business and others may not find they need to go that often, if ever). I usually fly. It's cheaper than driving, given the extra day or two I'd have to stay in hotels, and a lot easier on the body. Cost, with the pensionado discount, around $100. Add hotels and meals for a few days (and I live as frugally as possible).

Notice, there's nothing here for entertainment or meals out. I buy some pocket novels occasionally, and they probably set me back about $50 a month. I spend a little on long distance calls, but not much. I use an Internet plan for that.

Easy to see where $2,000 goes

So it's not a stretch to see how my cost to live in Panama is roughly $2,000 a month. If I'm extravagant, I don't apologize for that. I didn't come here so that I could suffer, although I have done a fair bit of that, too, through my own stupidity.

Will your cost to live in Panama be $2,000 a month? I haven't the faintest idea. It depends on your lifestyle and to what you have been accustomed.

But I can tell you this: The cost to live in Panama is less than at the same standard almost anywhere else.

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