Mayagüez, PR

Metro Area Profile

209,892 residents. Jobs, income, development, climate and physical risk across the Mayagüez, PR metropolitan area.

45out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 11% of 834 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 9 sources
Opportunity537th of 835 metro and micro areas measured44
GrowthTop 38% of 834 metro and micro areas measured57
Housing affordability762nd of 835 metro and micro areas measured52
ClimateTop 15% of 835 metro and micro areas measured76
Physical resilience813th of 835 metro and micro areas measured9
Access443rd of 835 metro and micro areas measured76
Economic stability832nd of 835 metro and micro areas measured2
The quick read

Unemployment is 9.5% and median household income $21,163, putting employment conditions in the middle range of metro and micro areas measured.

343 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 12% of the prior year — steady rather than turning.

Rent takes 33% of renter income here, at or above the threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, while buying strains owner incomes less — the median home is 4.3 times what its owners earn, against a historic benchmark near three.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
209,892
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$21,163
Bottom 1% nationally
Density
677/sq mi
310.1 sq mi of land
Median age
46.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
Area type
Metropolitan area
Puerto Rico
Nearest major airport
PSE
40 mi · Mercedita
Median home value
$114,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 9.5% — higher than in all but 1% of the 835 measured US metro and micro areas.

Employment grew 4.8% over the past year, to 64,288 employed residents.

Median household income of $21,163 is lower than in 99% of measured US metro and micro areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$6972024 ACS 5-Year$21,163Bottom 1%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$6052024 ACS 5-Year$14,723Bottom 1%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year46.6%Bottom 1%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.8 min2024 ACS 5-Year26.1 minBottom 29%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year27.4%Top 42%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year86.5%99th percentileof 9352024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202664,288Top 37%of 835July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026+8.4%Top 1%of 835July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026+4.8%Top 1%of 835July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202671,06965th percentileof 835July 2026
Labor force participation ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year63.4%Bottom 4%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage2025 OEWS$35,140Bottom 1%of 3922025 OEWS
Median annual wage2025 OEWS$25,270Bottom 1%of 3922025 OEWS
Metro employment2025 OEWS52,11019th percentileof 3922025 OEWS
Public transit to work ±0.3%2024 ACS 5-Year0.7%72nd percentileof 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026+0.8%Bottom 6%of 835July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20269.5%Bottom 1%of 835July 2026
Worked from home ±0.7%2024 ACS 5-Year4.0%5th percentileof 9352024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/082022/082023/082024/082025/082026/07116.8
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 9.5% in July 2026. It has been rising for the last 3 months, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07.

Largest occupations — Mayagüez, PR

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons2,610$22,090
Sewing Machine Operators2,370$21,840
Registered Nurses2,070$39,280
Cashiers1,990$21,870
Fast Food and Counter Workers1,730$21,840
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners1,520$21,960

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

No Puerto Rico metropolitan area carries a whole-area LAUS series of its own; BLS publishes Puerto Rico labor data only at the municipio and commonwealth level. This is the sum of Mayagüez, PR Metro Area's 6 component municipios' own published employment and labor force, divided the same way BLS itself derives a metro rate from its component areas.

28% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 46% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 9.9 students for every full-time teacher across 49 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
50
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
9.9
across 49 of them
Math proficiency
27.8%
2018-19 school year
Reading proficiency
46.0%
2018-19 school year
The 12 largest of 50 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Dr Pedro Perea FajardoPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION88810.83%37%
Segundo Ruiz Belvis HormiguerosPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION69715.512%47%
Luis Negron LopezPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION65213.08%42%
Leonides Morales RodriguezPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION61711.68%37%
Lola Rodriguez De TioPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION51511.03%47%
Eugenio Maria De Hostos MayaguezPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION48611.612%52%
Ramon E. Rodriguez DiazPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION45611.112%41%
Blanca MalaretPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION43910.230%50%
Francisco Maria QuinonesPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION4309.825%53%
Alfredo DorringtonPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION42412.125%34%
Elpidio H. RiveraPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION40810.713%26%
Monserrate Leon IrizarryPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION36314.03%47%

87.1% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Puerto Rico’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $516 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.45% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $536, close to the $504 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $536 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $21,400 a year, about 101% of the median household income here of $21,163.

The typical renter household here spends 33% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $504 a month.

A median home at $114,200 costs 4.3 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $26,556, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.

Rent as a share of income
33.4%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.3×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$536
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$504
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$114,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Mayagüez’s median household income of $21,163, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income ±0.22024 ACS 5-Year4.3Bottom 12%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year64.1%20th percentileof 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±1,3162024 ACS 5-Year119,06780th percentileof 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$489Top 1%of 818FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$689Top 1%of 818FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$536Top 1%of 818FY2026
Median gross rent ±$162024 ACS 5-Year$504Top 1%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$2,1672024 ACS 5-Year$114,2004th percentileof 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$592024 ACS 5-Year$5162nd percentileof 9332024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$8922024 ACS 5-Year$26,556Bottom 1%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.05%2024 ACS 5-Year0.45%9th percentileof 9322024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year33.4%Bottom 8%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±6742024 ACS 5-Year9,59291st percentileof 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year8.1%82nd percentileof 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year21.3%99th percentileof 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±1,3122024 ACS 5-Year34,89592nd percentileof 9352024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures.

Development Momentum

57/ 100
Top 38% of 834 published metro profiles
Permitting has been rising for the last 2 years of a series running from 2022 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 343 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

At 1.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US metro and micro areas.

Units permitted
343
2025 calendar year
Per 1,000 residents
1.6
Bottom 32% nationally
Year over year
+12%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Housing units permitted per year

2022202320242025496246
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−31%).

Census does not publish a Puerto Rico CBSA aggregate in the Building Permits Survey the way it does for the other 50 states and DC. This is the sum of Mayagüez, PR Metro Area's component municipios, from the same annual Island Areas file each municipio's own figure comes from.

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 92°F and January a low of 62°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 44.9 inches.

50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station LAJAS SUBSTN, 6.3 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND6.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals44.9"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals0.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals62°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals92°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals7°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

9 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, earthquake and landslide, with hurricane alone responsible for 48% of it.

EarthquakeModerate
HurricaneHigh
LandslideHigh

Low or minimal exposure: avalanche, coastal flooding, cold wave, drought, hail, heat wave, ice storm, inland flooding, lightning, strong wind, tornado, tsunami, volcanic activity, wildfire, winter weather.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. This value is the population-weighted mean of all component counties; expected annual loss is their sum. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Cost of living
Regional price parities are published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis for the fifty states, the District of Columbia and their metropolitan areas. Puerto Rico is outside that program.
Death-certificate rates
The CDC provisional county file covers the fifty states and the District of Columbia. Puerto Rico is not in it, so the homicide, firearm, overdose and suicide rates shown elsewhere on this site have no counterpart here.
Air quality
The EPA publishes an air-quality index by county, and only where a monitor sits, so a metropolitan area carries none of its own. The county profiles inside it show it where one exists.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. Cost of living is published where the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures it, though not for this place. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Mercedita at 40 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year74.2%Bottom 1%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle40 miTop 48%of 835NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle2Bottom 16%of 835NASR current cycle
No internet access ±1.0%2024 ACS 5-Year20.9%Bottom 1%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
MerceditaPSE40 mi8,002 ft
Luis Munoz Marin IntlSJU82 mi10,400 ft
Henry E RohlsenSTX157 mi10,002 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWS
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
2025 calendar year
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology, or every source with how often each updates.