South · coastal · ~49 mi from San Juan
Living in Peñuelas
Residents live in a coastal valley town with a long history dating to 1793, a strong cultural identity tied to its güiro and flamboyán nicknames, and proximity to the larger Yauco and Ponce area.
How Peñuelas sits among Puerto Rico’s 78 towns: every figure against the median town, with its source. Visiting instead? Things to do in Peñuelas.
Housing and money
Median rent in Peñuelas runs 8% below the median of the 78 towns (21st lowest of 78 towns).
- Median rent
- $489/momedian town $534 · 21st lowest of 78
- Median home value
- $89,600median town $115,700 · 5th lowest of 78
- Median household income
- $22,697/yrmedian town $24,070 · 29th lowest of 78
- Income per person
- $12,056median town $14,811
- Homes owner-occupied
- 70%median town 71.1%
- Homes vacant
- 20%median town 20.3%
- Below the poverty line
- 52%median town 44.1%
- Typical home built
- 1983median 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 26 minutes, 1 minute shorter than the median of the 78 towns.
- Typical commute
- 26 minmedian town 27 min · 31st shortest of 78
- Work from home
- 2.7%median town 4.5%
- Commute by transit
- 0.4%median town 0.3%
- Unemployment
- 11.2%median town 10.5%
- Households with broadband
- 85%median town 80.6% · 20th highest of 78
- To San Juan
- ~49 miNext door: Guayanilla, Adjuntas and Ponce
People
- Population
- 19,853Census estimate, 2020–2024 · 44.6 sq mi (115.6 km²)
- Residents per sq mi
- 445median town 763 · 17th least dense of 78
- Median age
- 41.7median town 44.9
- Bachelor's degree or higher
- 25%median town 24.1% · 34th highest of 78
Daily life
What is mapped in Peñuelas today: counts, then per 10,000 residents so a small town and San Juan read on the same scale.
- Schools
- 147.1 per 10k · median town 6.3
- Supermarkets
- —median town 0.7
- Parks
- 115.5 per 10k · median town 4.3
- Restaurants
- 10.5 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 Peñuelas.
Water, power and safety
- Water. Peñuelas 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 Peñuelas are out right now. Outages by town
- Safety. 13.6 reported violent crimes per 10,000 residents in 2025, below most towns of the 78 towns (1 homicide 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
Sources: 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.