My Cost Of Living In A Small Town In Panama
Panama is one of the prime destinations in which fellow first-world anarchists/voluntaryists are attracted to due to the ease of immigration, low-to-no taxes, and relatively cheap cost of living. There is a lot of conflicting information on how much the cost of living is in Panama, so I will share my own expenses while living in Penonome, Cocle, Panama. My expenses will probably be much lower than somebody y living in the center of Panama City.
Housing
In one of the outer barrios of Penonome, I found a house for only $200 per month. I feel pretty lucky to find a house so cheap with more room than I actually need. It has 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a decently-sized backyard. It is only me, my wife, and our new puppy living here so we just use the other bedrooms as storage or for guests. It may take some negotiation and networking to find a decently priced house in comparison to what you see in online classifieds.
Garbage
I live within the municipal trash service and I pay $3 per month. I know other cities in Panama can be more expensive and rural areas rely on private trash trucks (or they just burn it). The truck comes by twice a week.
Water
Some landlords will combine water with the rent, but mine didn’t. I pay $11 per month with IDAAN and I take plenty of long showers. There are the occasional outages of water that happens in most of Panama so it is a good idea to get a water storage tank or at least fill up some 5-gallon jugs for emergencies.
Electricity
I don’t have a high electric bill since I don’t use AC at the moment, but it can add up if you can’t tolerate the tropical heat. $0.16 per kWh with little variance seems like the typical rate that I have been paying. There are occasional outages so having a backup battery for your electronics is a good idea.
Internet
I used to use Cable Onda’s fastest speed of 30mbps combined with cable TV, but I decided that I don’t really need the extra expense since I don’t even watch TV these days nor do I download large files often. I now use Cable & Wireless’s most basic ADSL line at 4mb down and 1 MB upload at $20 per month. It has been pretty stable with the very rare outage. I cannot complain since it is just as good as the Internet I had in the USA at a fraction of the price.
Cellphone
It costs $1 to buy a prepaid SIM card and $0.99 for 1 day’s worth of data. Here is a post I made about cellphone usage in Panama.. If you only need to use your cellphone sparingly, you may only end up using a few bucks per month.
Food
I’m not going to give a monthly estimate on food since I know that everybody’s diet is different. I eat mostly vegetarian so I don’t pay too much for food. You need to keep in mind that aside from local fruits, vegetables, meat, and grains, imported food will be quite expensive. Brand name pre-packaged cereals, peanut butter, or snacks may cost up to twice as much as supermarkets in the United States. You can save a bit of money by buying fruit & veggies from street vendors or farmers’ markets. Renting a house with fruit trees and plenty of room for a garden is also a great idea.
Examples:
Grains:
White Rice - $1.89 for a 5lb bag
Spaghetti - $0.59 for 1lb packs
Bread - $1~ for 1lb of price controlled bread
Legumes:
Dry Split Peas - $0.49 for a 1lb bag
Dry Black Beans - $1 for a 1lb bag
Dry Kidney Beans - $0.89/lb
Dry Lentils - $0.60/lb
Fruit:
Banana - $0.40/lb ($0.10-$0.15 ea from street vendors)
Cooking Plantains - $0.44/lb ($0.25-$0.35 ea from street vendors)
Pineapple - $0.50 for a small one. Up to $2 for giant ones.
Apples- $0.25 ea small $0.50+ large
Grapes - $1.90~/lb
Oranges - $0.10 ea from street vendors
There are lots of other fruits to discover from farmers’ markets, street vendors, or just picking something from a tree. One of my favorites is piba, a little fruit that has a salty/cheesy flavor.
Veggies:
Carrots $0.63/lb
Brocolli - $0.95/lb
Potato - $0.60/lb
Squash (Zapallo) - $0.40/lb
Taro Root - $0.35/lb
Yucca - $0.28/lb
Lettuce - $0.50~ for a decently sized bunch -
Culantro - $0.38 for a small bundle
Tomato - $0.65/lb
Animal Products:
Lean Ground Beef - $2~/lb.
Chicken Breast bone-in - $1.60~/lb
Hot Dogs - $1 to $1.50 per 1lb pack
Eggs - $1.89 for 12
Milk - $1.50~ for 1 litre
Restaurants
Here in Penonome, there are some OK restaurants but it is not the same variety that you can find in large cities. There is a Mcdonalds, Subway, Dominoes, KFC, Pio Pio (local KFC-like restaurant), and lots of small Chinese, Italian, and Panamanian food places. Fast food in Panama is just as much or slightly more expensive than the United States. For example, I had purchased a 6-inch sandwich from Subway the other day for $2.
Transportation
I don’t drive in Panama and I really have no desire to since the traffic can get really crazy. Unlike in the United States, there are small privately-owned buses everywhere. I can literally stand in front of my house during the day and multiple buses will pass by every 30 minutes. I pay $0.30 per trip to drop me off at most parts of town and $0.30 back home. A short taxi ride is only $1.50. A bus ride from Penonome to Panama City is only $5 and $4 to Santiago.
Medical Insurance
Both public and private insurance plans are affordable in comparison to the United States. If you have proper employment, you will pay a small portion of your salary to the medical system. You may also voluntarily sign up to pay into the system so that you can receive treatment from public clinics and hospitals. Rates for public insurance may vary between $20-50 depending on your situation. Private insurance will depend on your age and current health, but it is not uncommon to find plans well under $100 per month.
Medication is widely available at pharmacies but you will be paying at or slightly above retail prices. If you have residency and contribute to the Social Security system, you may receive many of your medications at no additional cost.
Shopping
Electronics, clothing, and other goods are imported so it will come at an additional cost. You may save money by shopping on eBay or Amazon and having it imported through a package forwarding service like Aeropost. Additional shipping fees and import taxes will apply.
You may also save money by purchasing used items from locals using Encuentra24.com or Olx.com.pa.
The combined cost of living for me and my wife is a bit under $500 per month, but I am a frugal person in general. I know of many expats that spend $1,000 to $1,500 and live happily on that amount of money. If you are used to dining out frequently, buying brand new clothes every money, and living in a gated community, then the cost of living in Panama may be just as high as a first world country.
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