How Panama City and Mexico City 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 visa income bar.
Mexico City Pick it for 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 $933 to $1,460 (£701 to £1,100) in Mexico City. We can't call it: Panama City has no checked figure for a desk, so that total leaves it out.
The visaPanama City
Panama City 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). Mexico City: Residente Temporal, economic solvency, about $4,050 to $4,630 a month (USD 4,049 a month, sources differ).
A London 9 to 5Even
A start in the small hours in both: 03:00 to 11:00 in Panama City, 02:00 to 10:00 in Mexico City.
A New York 9 to 5Even
Normal hours in both: 08:00 to 16:00 in Panama City, 07:00 to 15:00 in Mexico City.
WeatherMexico City
Mexico City has more comfortable months. Comfortable months on our best-time rule: none in Panama City, 9 in Mexico City. No month is comfortable in both.
SafetyEven
The US State Department puts both countries at level 2. Watch for muggings, ATM attacks and pickpockets in Panama City; express and virtual kidnapping in Mexico City.
Side by side
Measure
Panama City
Mexico City
Country
Panama
Mexico
Language
Spanish
Spanish
Currency
Balboa (B/.), with US dollars in circulation
Mexican peso (MXN)
Plugs
—
Type A and B, 127V
Time zone
UTC−5 today
UTC−6 today
A month's basics
$914 to $2,230 (£687 to £1,680), with a desk missing
$933 to $1,460 (£701 to £1,100)
Remote work visa
Short Stay Visa as a Remote Worker (Visa de Corta Estancia como Trabajador Remoto)
Residente Temporal, economic solvency
Income needed
About $3,000 a month (PAB 36,000 a year)
About $4,050 to $4,630 a month (USD 4,049 a month, sources differ)
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: up to 180 days, at the border officer's discretion
Tax residency
More than 183 days during the year, with physical presence and income generated in Panama
No day count: tax residence follows where your home is
Download speed
—
117 Mbps
Comfortable months
None on our rule
January, February, March, April, May, June, October, November and December
US travel advice
Level 2: increased caution
Level 2: increased caution
Meetups
None we could confirm
4 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 $4,050 to $4,630 a month (USD 4,049 a month, sources differ); in pounds, about £3,040 to £3,480 a month
How long
One to four years, then permanent residence
What it leads to
Citizenship after five years, with exams
Without a visa
British and American passports: up to 180 days, at the border officer's discretion
The catch. Every consulate prints its own figure. Check the sheet for the one you will apply at, and apply before you travel: it cannot be done inside Mexico.
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 have functional Spanish or a real intention to get it, you earn in dollars or pounds, and you want a genuine city rather than a nomad compound. If you can show roughly 80,000 to 84,000 pesos a month on paper you get a four-year residency route with a five-year path to a passport, which is unusually generous. Live in Juarez or San Rafael rather than Condesa and you pay about a third of Condesa rent for the same commute. Buy a desk instead of pretending cafes work, and the infrastructure holds up fine.
It doesn't suit
You want a cheap, clean, easy city. The air was officially clean on 15 days out of 273 this year. You will live 2,240 metres up, which flattens people for a fortnight. The British government tells you not to hail taxis, not to use street ATMs and not to leave your drink, in a city where 59.8 per cent of adults already feel unsafe. Take the obvious flat in Roma or Condesa and you are on the soft lakebed where 2017 shook fifty times harder than firm ground, in the exact building height that fell, in the neighbourhoods where hundreds marched in July 2025 to tell foreigners to leave. Their complaint is arithmetically correct: Cuauhtemoc rents rose 13.7 per cent in a year against a 3.69 per cent cap that protects everyone except the newcomer.
