South · coastal · ~46 mi from San Juan
Living in Ponce
Residents live in Puerto Rico's largest city outside the San Juan metro area, with access to museums, coastal recreation, and a varied nightlife scene.
How Ponce sits among Puerto Rico’s 78 towns: every figure against the median town, with its source. Visiting instead? Things to do in Ponce.
Housing and money
Median rent in Ponce sits right at the median of the 78 towns.
- Median rent
- $536/momedian town $534 · 39th highest of 78
- Median home value
- $110,200median town $115,700 · 28th lowest of 78
- Median household income
- $19,877/yrmedian town $24,070 · 11th lowest of 78
- Income per person
- $14,625median town $14,811
- Homes owner-occupied
- 67%median town 71.1%
- Homes vacant
- 20%median town 20.3%
- Below the poverty line
- 50%median town 44.1%
- Typical home built
- 1976median 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 24 minutes, 4 minutes shorter than the median of the 78 towns.
- Typical commute
- 24 minmedian town 27 min · 14th shortest of 78
- Work from home
- 5.9%median town 4.5%
- Commute by transit
- 0.2%median town 0.3%
- Unemployment
- 15.1%median town 10.5%
- Households with broadband
- 86%median town 80.6% · 12th highest of 78
- To San Juan
- ~46 miNext door: Juana Díaz, Peñuelas, Adjuntas, Jayuya and Utuado
People
- Population
- 132,760Census estimate, 2020–2024 · 114.9 sq mi (297.7 km²)
- Residents per sq mi
- 1,155median town 763 · 21st densest of 78
- Median age
- 44.5median town 44.9
- Bachelor's degree or higher
- 30%median town 24.1% · 13th highest of 78
Daily life
What is mapped in Ponce today: counts, then per 10,000 residents so a small town and San Juan read on the same scale.
- Schools
- 906.8 per 10k · median town 6.3
- Supermarkets
- 90.7 per 10k · median town 0.7
- Parks
- 544.1 per 10k · median town 4.3
- Restaurants
- 342.6 per 10k · median town 2.4
- Beaches
- 8coastal town
Counts from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL): what volunteers have mapped, not an official register. Places our guide recommends in Ponce.
Water, power and safety
- Water. Ponce 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 Ponce are out right now. Outages by town
- Safety. 18.5 reported violent crimes per 10,000 residents in 2025, middle of the island of the 78 towns (33 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 Hilton Ponce. 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.