South · coastal · ~36 mi from San Juan
Living in Salinas
Residents live in a coastal town organized around five barrios and a central Pueblo, with easy access to the natural reserve and the surrounding southern coast towns.
How Salinas sits among Puerto Rico’s 78 towns: every figure against the median town, with its source. Visiting instead? Things to do in Salinas.
Housing and money
Median rent in Salinas runs 1% below the median of the 78 towns (38th lowest of 78 towns).
- Median rent
- $530/momedian town $534 · 38th lowest of 78
- Median home value
- $88,700median town $115,700 · 4th lowest of 78
- Median household income
- $21,901/yrmedian town $24,070 · 22nd lowest of 78
- Income per person
- $14,275median town $14,811
- Homes owner-occupied
- 77%median town 71.1%
- Homes vacant
- 22%median town 20.3%
- Below the poverty line
- 48%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 27 minutes, 1 minute shorter than the median of the 78 towns.
- Typical commute
- 27 minmedian town 27 min · 36th shortest of 78
- Work from home
- 5.5%median town 4.5%
- Commute by transit
- 0.0%median town 0.3%
- Unemployment
- 7.2%median town 10.5%
- Households with broadband
- 79%median town 80.6% · 35th lowest of 78
- To San Juan
- ~36 miNext door: Santa Isabel, Coamo, Aibonito, Guayama and Cayey
People
- Population
- 25,079Census estimate, 2020–2024 · 69.4 sq mi (179.8 km²)
- Residents per sq mi
- 360median town 763 · 12th least dense of 78
- Median age
- 43.7median town 44.9
- Bachelor's degree or higher
- 20%median town 24.1% · 14th lowest of 78
Daily life
What is mapped in Salinas today: counts, then per 10,000 residents so a small town and San Juan read on the same scale.
- Schools
- 218.4 per 10k · median town 6.3
- Supermarkets
- 20.8 per 10k · median town 0.7
- Parks
- 228.8 per 10k · median town 4.3
- Restaurants
- 2510 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 Salinas.
Water, power and safety
- Water. Salinas 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 Salinas are out right now. Outages by town
- Safety. 25.5 reported violent crimes per 10,000 residents in 2025, among the highest of the 78 towns (11 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 La Ochenta. 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.