How Panama City and Medellin compare on cost, visas, working hours, weather, internet and safety. Every figure comes from our city guides and tools, checked and dated there.
The short answer
Panama City Pick it for a lower US travel advisory level.
Medellin Pick it for a lower visa income bar and more comfortable months.
Everyday costsEven
What we have checked of rent, a coworking desk, weekday lunches and getting around comes to $914 to $2,230 (£687 to £1,680) a month in Panama City, against $1,080 to $2,110 (£810 to £1,580) in Medellin. We can't call it: Panama City has no checked figure for a desk, so that total leaves it out.
The visaMedellin
Medellin asks for less income. Panama City: Short Stay Visa as a Remote Worker (Visa de Corta Estancia como Trabajador Remoto), about $3,000 a month (PAB 36,000 a year). Medellin: Visa V Nomada Digital, about $1,650 a month (COP 5,252,715 a month).
A London 9 to 5Even
A start in the small hours in both: 03:00 to 11:00 in Panama City, 03:00 to 11:00 in Medellin.
A New York 9 to 5Even
Normal hours in both: 08:00 to 16:00 in Panama City, 08:00 to 16:00 in Medellin.
WeatherMedellin
Medellin has more comfortable months. Comfortable months on our best-time rule: none in Panama City, 6 in Medellin. No month is comfortable in both.
SafetyPanama City
Panama City. The US State Department puts Panama at level 2 and Colombia at level 3.
Side by side
Measure
Panama City
Medellin
Country
Panama
Colombia
Language
Spanish
Spanish
Currency
Balboa (B/.), with US dollars in circulation
Colombian peso (COP)
Plugs
—
Type A and B, 110V
Time zone
UTC−5 today
UTC−5 today
A month's basics
$914 to $2,230 (£687 to £1,680), with a desk missing
$1,080 to $2,110 (£810 to £1,580)
Remote work visa
Short Stay Visa as a Remote Worker (Visa de Corta Estancia como Trabajador Remoto)
Visa V Nomada Digital
Income needed
About $3,000 a month (PAB 36,000 a year)
About $1,650 a month (COP 5,252,715 a month)
Without a visa
British passports: up to 3 months; you may be asked for an onward ticket, particularly arriving by land from Costa Rica, and possibly for proof of USD 1,000 or a credit card. American: under 180 days, with an onward ticket strictly enforced
British and American passports: 90 days, up to 180 in a year
Tax residency
More than 183 days during the year, with physical presence and income generated in Panama
183 days in any 365
Download speed
—
66.5 Mbps
Comfortable months
None on our rule
January, February, June, July, August and September
US travel advice
Level 2: increased caution
Level 3: reconsider travel
Meetups
None we could confirm
3 regular groups still running
Dollars and pounds at today's exchange rate. Download speeds are the typical figure from each guide, which says where it comes from: some are for the city, some for the whole country, so treat a small gap as no gap.
What a month costs
Rent, a coworking desk, a cheap lunch on each of 22 working days, and getting around: the same four costs our budget calculator uses. The rent figures aren't always the same kind of figure (some are furnished one-beds, some are averages across every size of flat), so read the note under each.
Panama City
$914 to $2,230£687 to £1,680 a month
Rent
$800 to $2,100Furnished one-bed asking rent, from El Cangrejo to Casco Viejo listings (listing samples, WEAK). USD 800 to 2,100
A desk
No checked figureNo monthly coworking price on an operator's own site: Regus and Spaces quote USD 29 for a day pass; Regus offers a dedicated desk from USD 7 a day on a 24-month contract
Weekday lunches
$99 to $110Fonda menu del dia, the set lunch, PAB 4.50 to 5 each, 22 working days
Getting around
$15 to $22Metro at B/. 0.35 (Line 1) to B/. 0.50 (Line 2) a trip, two trips each working day (our arithmetic). No monthly pass found. PAB 15.40 to 22
Short Stay Visa as a Remote Worker (Visa de Corta Estancia como Trabajador Remoto)
Income needed
About $3,000 a month (PAB 36,000 a year); in pounds, about £2,250 a month
How long
9 months, extendable once for 9 more: 18 months at most
What it leads to
Nowhere found: it is a non-resident stay. Friendly Nations, a separate route, gives 2 years' provisional residence, then permanent residence, and citizenship after 5 years of that
Without a visa
British passports: up to 3 months; you may be asked for an onward ticket, particularly arriving by land from Costa Rica, and possibly for proof of USD 1,000 or a credit card. American: under 180 days, with an onward ticket strictly enforced
The catch. You apply in person inside Panama, not at a consulate, and through a legal representative, in practice a Panamanian lawyer: the official list starts with a notarised power of attorney. Freelancers need their own company registered abroad; a client list and bank statements are not enough. And the official requirements sheet is undated, so whether the visa is still issued in 2026 is not confirmed.
About $1,650 a month (COP 5,252,715 a month); in pounds, about £1,240 a month
How long
Up to two years
What it leads to
Nowhere: time on it does not count towards residence
Without a visa
British and American passports: 90 days, up to 180 in a year
The catch. The bar is pinned to the minimum wage, so it moves every January. The 2026 wage survived a court challenge in July, though a final ruling is still due.
The average high in °C each month, coloured by the rule on our best-time page: green is a high of 20 to 32°C with under 150mm of rain; red is a high of 38°C or more or under 12°C, 250mm of rain or more, or 33°C or more with 150mm of rain or more. Hover over a month for its rain.
Names six higher-crime areas of Panama City, including El Chorrillo and Santa Ana, and advises mugging precautions in six more, including Casco Viejo and Via Espana.
The US level is for the whole country, as the State Department sets it, and some countries have stricter advice for particular regions.
Who each one suits
From each city guide, word for word.
Panama City
It suits
Employees of a foreign company, or owners of their own foreign-registered business, earning at least B/. 36,000 a year. They should be happy to pay USD 1,000 or more for a furnished flat and to work from a USD 29 serviced desk rather than a cafe. The visa can last up to 18 months on one route. It suits someone who might later want residence through Friendly Nations and can meet its USD 200,000 or local job test.
It doesn't suit
A freelancer without a company registered abroad, who cannot use the remote worker route as written. Anyone on a tight budget: the cheapest furnished one-bed found was USD 800, and most asked over USD 1,100. Anyone who wants to wander freely, since GOV.UK advises mugging precautions in Casco Viejo, the old town most visitors want to live in, and it borders two districts on GOV.UK's higher-crime list. From September to November it rains on most days, with 20 rain days in October. And British passports get only 3 months without a visa, not 6.
You want a city where the weather stops being a variable — 21 to 22 degrees every month, no heating, no air conditioning, no seasonal reckoning — and where a genuinely good metro means you never need a car. It suits asynchronous or US-facing work, because UTC-5 with no clock changes is the cleanest overlap with North America you will find down here. And it suits anyone who will actually learn Spanish, because the reward curve is steep: the difference between the Poblado bubble at 3.3 million pesos a month and real Medellin at 2.3 is mostly linguistic.
It doesn't suit
You are expecting the Instagram version. This is a Spanish-speaking city with the English proficiency of a country ranked 76th in the world, and every interaction that matters happens at a counter with a queue. It rains on twenty-five days in October. The nomad visa is a two-year cul-de-sac that leads nowhere near residency, the income bar jumped 23 per cent overnight because it is pinned to the minimum wage, and citizenship got harder rather than easier. And be clear-eyed about the crime: the murder rate is a third of the national average and falling, but El Poblado and Laureles are first and second in the city for drug-assisted robbery, with 428 cases by August against 227 in all of 2025. Both the British and American governments say so in writing.
