Southwest · coastal · ~69 mi from San Juan
Living in Lajas
Residents live in a valley-and-coast town made up of eleven barrios plus the town center, within the San Germán-Cabo Rojo metropolitan area of southwestern Puerto Rico.
How Lajas sits among Puerto Rico’s 78 towns: every figure against the median town, with its source. Visiting instead? Things to do in Lajas.
Housing and money
Median rent in Lajas runs 10% below the median of the 78 towns (16th lowest of 78 towns).
- Median rent
- $479/momedian town $534 · 16th lowest of 78
- Median home value
- $107,800median town $115,700 · 24th lowest of 78
- Median household income
- $19,695/yrmedian town $24,070 · 9th lowest of 78
- Income per person
- $11,343median town $14,811
- Homes owner-occupied
- 70%median town 71.1%
- Homes vacant
- 30%median town 20.3%
- Below the poverty line
- 53%median town 44.1%
- Typical home built
- 1982median year
For scale: the U.S. median rent is $1,413 and household income $80,734; Puerto Rico's, island-wide, are $578 and $26,297. Full cost-of-living comparison.
Work and getting around
The typical commute is 23 minutes, 4 minutes shorter than the median of the 78 towns.
- Typical commute
- 23 minmedian town 27 min · 10th shortest of 78
- Work from home
- 2.9%median town 4.5%
- Commute by transit
- 0.8%median town 0.3%
- Unemployment
- 16.5%median town 10.5%
- Households with broadband
- 75%median town 80.6% · 21st lowest of 78
- To San Juan
- ~69 miNext door: San Germán, Cabo Rojo, Sabana Grande and Guánica
People
- Population
- 23,035Census estimate, 2020–2024 · 60 sq mi (155.3 km²)
- Residents per sq mi
- 383median town 763 · 14th least dense of 78
- Median age
- 48.5median town 44.9
- Bachelor's degree or higher
- 22%median town 24.1% · 22nd lowest of 78
Daily life
What is mapped in Lajas today: counts, then per 10,000 residents so a small town and San Juan read on the same scale.
- Schools
- 187.8 per 10k · median town 6.3
- Supermarkets
- 20.9 per 10k · median town 0.7
- Parks
- 2812.2 per 10k · median town 4.3
- Restaurants
- 166.9 per 10k · median town 2.4
- Beaches
- 1coastal town
Counts from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL): what volunteers have mapped, not an official register. Places our guide recommends in Lajas.
Water, power and safety
- Water. Lajas is not on an AAA rationing calendar. Reservoir levels & the rationing calendar
- Power. LUMA reports outages by sector; the live tracker shows how many sectors in Lajas are out right now. Outages by town
- Safety. 8.2 reported violent crimes per 10,000 residents in 2025, among the lowest of the 78 towns (3 homicides that year). Every town, with context
- Hurricanes. Every town prepares the same way; the Puerto Rico version of the checklist starts from a grid and water system that take longer to come back. Prepare
Beach water
Within limits: Playa Rosada. Last tested Oct 5, over 2 weeks ago.
Beach water qualitySources: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates, 2020–2024 (small towns carry wide margins of error); OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), mapped as of Oct 4, 2026; Puerto Rico Police Bureau, SAEC Type I, 2025 full year; AAA: Plan de Interrupciones Programadas.