Panama City, FL
Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Panama City ranks 156th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 138th for income. A household earns $77,625 a year while median rent runs $1,543/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 3% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is household income (138th of 300), while hazard safety is the soft spot (279th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 218th and home prices 166th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Panama City, your take-home is worth about $63,017 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 138th of 300↑30.6%$77,625
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 185th of 30097 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $79,782
- Per-capita income
- $41,072
- Full-time pay
- $41,218
Housing
- Median rent
- 218th of 300↑28.2%$1,543/mo
- Home value
- 166th of 300↑59.7%$324,900
- Property tax
- $1,903/yr · 0.6%
- Sales tax
- 6.95%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 216th of 3005.1%
- Bachelor's+
- 225th of 30027.6%
- Avg commute
- 206th of 30025.8 min
People
- Population
- 226,221
- Population change
- +29.5%
- Median age
- 40.4 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 9.2%
- Broadband
- 95.8%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 162nd of 30047
- Natural-hazard loss
- 279th of 300$37/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 175th of 30019.3%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 13.5%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- —
Watch-outs
- – Rent
- – Job market
- – Education
- – Commute
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — panama city bay co ap.
What jobs pay in Panama City
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- IT managers
- $138,670
- Pharmacists
- $130,540
- Lawyers
- $126,670
- Financial managers
- $123,350
- Software developers
- $121,150
- Family medicine physicians
- $98,320
- Civil engineers
- $97,180
- General & operations managers
- $86,070
- Registered nurses
- $75,310
- Accountants & auditors
- $71,820
- Police officers
- $58,750
- Elementary school teachers
- $58,640
- Electricians
- $52,900
- Secondary school teachers
- $52,070
- Carpenters
- $49,650
- Plumbers
- $47,800
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $47,610
- Construction laborers
- $43,250
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $39,540
- Customer service reps
- $36,900
- Waiters & waitresses
- $34,990
- Janitors
- $34,070
- Retail salespersons
- $32,290
- Cashiers
- $29,080
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Panama City metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Florida are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Alabama1,503
- Georgia1,466
- Texas846
- South Carolina716
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Panama City
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Panama City metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Panama City metro?
- Median gross rent across the Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL Metro Area is $1,543 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Panama City.
- What is the median household income in the Panama City metro?
- A typical household in the Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL Metro Area earns $77,625 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Panama City expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL Metro Area runs about 3% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Panama City metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $79,782 (versus its face value of $77,625). CityLedger rates the Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Panama City metro?
- The median home value across the Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL Metro Area is $324,900 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Panama City metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL Metro Area is 5.1% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).