San Juan · coastal · the capital
Living in San Juan
Residents live in Puerto Rico's capital and largest municipality, a coastal urban center at the heart of the San Juan metro area with centuries of history behind it.
How San Juan sits among Puerto Rico’s 78 municipios — every figure against the island median, with its source. Visiting instead? Things to do in San Juan.
Housing & money
Median rent in San Juan runs 15% above the Puerto Rico median — 63rd lowest of 78 municipios.
- Median rent
- $611/moPR median $534 · 63rd lowest of 78
- Median home value
- $171,200PR median $115,700 · 77th lowest of 78
- Median household income
- $27,992/yrPR median $24,070 · 17th highest of 78
- Income per person
- $25,758PR median $14,811
- Homes owner-occupied
- 53%PR median 71.1%
- Homes vacant
- 24%PR median 20.3%
- Below the poverty line
- 39%PR median 44.1%
- Typical home built
- 1967median year
For scale: the U.S. median rent is $1,413 and household income $80,734; Puerto Rico's are $578 and $26,297. Full cost-of-living comparison.
Work & getting around
The typical commute is 24 minutes, 3 minutes shorter than the island median.
- Typical commute
- 24 minPR median 27 min · 15th shortest of 78
- Work from home
- 8.2%PR median 4.5%
- Commute by transit
- 3.4%PR median 0.3%
- Unemployment
- 12.3%PR median 10.5%
- Households with broadband
- 74%PR median 80.6% · 59th highest of 78
- To San Juan
- the capitalnext door: Cataño, Bayamón, Guaynabo
74% of households have a broadband subscription (59th of 78).
People
- Population
- 336,160124 km²
- Residents per km²
- 2,711PR median 295 · 1st densest of 78
- Median age
- 45.8PR median 44.9
- Bachelor's degree or higher
- 43%PR median 24.1% · 2nd highest of 78
Daily life
What is mapped in San Juan today — counts, then per 10,000 residents so a small town and San Juan read on the same scale.
- Schools
- 2336.9 per 10k · PR 6.3
- Supermarkets
- 511.5 per 10k · PR 0.7
- Parks
- 1895.6 per 10k · PR 4.1
- Restaurants
- 69920.8 per 10k · PR 2.1
- Bus stops
- 87826.1 per 10k · PR 0
- Beaches
- 10coastal municipio
Counts from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL) — what volunteers have mapped, not an official register. Places our guide recommends in San Juan.
Water, power & safety
- Water. Sectors of San Juan are on AAA's Carraízo rationing calendar (zones 1 and 2) — interruptions currently paused. Reservoir levels & the rationing calendar
- Power. LUMA reports outages by town; the live tracker shows San Juan’s share of customers out right now. Outages by town
- Safety. 35.9 reported violent crimes per 10,000 residents in 2025 — among the highest of the 78 municipios (82 homicides that year). Every town, with context
- Hurricanes. Every municipio 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 ACS 5-Year Estimates (5-year estimates — small municipios carry wide margins of error); OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), mapped as of 2026-08-13; Puerto Rico Police Bureau, SAEC Type I, 2025 full year; AAA — Plan de Interrupciones Programadas. Figures refresh when each source publishes; nothing here is modelled or estimated by us.
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