North · coastal · ~15 mi from San Juan

Living in Vega Alta

Residents live in a coastal municipality within commuting distance of San Juan, with the town organized into seven barrios surrounding its central barrio-pueblo.

How Vega Alta sits among Puerto Rico’s 78 municipios — every figure against the island median, with its source. Visiting instead? Things to do in Vega Alta.

Housing & money

Median rent in Vega Alta runs 25% above the Puerto Rico median — 69th lowest of 78 municipios.

Median rent: $667/moPR median $534 · 69th lowest of 78
Median home value: $140,700PR median $115,700 · 62nd lowest of 78
Median household income: $25,538/yrPR median $24,070 · 25th highest of 78
Income per person: $18,289PR median $14,811
Homes owner-occupied: 70%PR median 71.1%
Homes vacant: 18%PR median 20.3%
Below the poverty line: 41%PR median 44.1%
Typical home built: 1986median 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 31 minutes, 4 minutes longer than the island median.

Typical commute: 31 minPR median 27 min · 62nd shortest of 78
Work from home: 7.9%PR median 4.5%
Commute by transit: 0.4%PR median 0.3%
Unemployment: 15.5%PR median 10.5%
Households with broadband: 83%PR median 80.6% · 32nd highest of 78
To San Juan: ~15 minext door: Dorado, Corozal, Toa Baja

83% of households have a broadband subscription (32nd of 78).

People

Population: 34,92171.8 km²
Residents per km²: 486PR median 295 · 16th densest of 78
Median age: 42.4PR median 44.9
Bachelor's degree or higher: 26%PR median 24.1% · 31st highest of 78

Daily life

What is mapped in Vega Alta today — counts, then per 10,000 residents so a small town and San Juan read on the same scale.

Schools: 185.2 per 10k · PR 6.3
Supermarkets: 30.9 per 10k · PR 0.7
Parks: 185.2 per 10k · PR 4.1
Restaurants: 51.4 per 10k · PR 2.1
Bus stops: 00 per 10k · PR 0
Beaches: 0coastal municipio

Counts from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL) — what volunteers have mapped, not an official register. Places our guide recommends in Vega Alta.

Water, power & safety

Water. Vega Alta is not on the current AAA rationing calendar. Reservoir levels & the rationing calendar
Power. LUMA reports outages by town; the live tracker shows Vega Alta’s share of customers out right now. Outages by town
Safety. 21.5 reported violent crimes per 10,000 residents in 2025 — above most towns of the 78 municipios (6 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.