San Juan-Bayamón-Caguas, PR
Metro Area Profile
2,052,186 residents. Jobs, income, development, climate and physical risk across the San Juan-Bayamón-Caguas, PR metropolitan area.
How this area ranks
Data updated · 9 sourcesUnemployment is 5.7% and median household income $29,276, putting employment conditions in the middle range of metro and micro areas measured.
Residential permitting has slowed: 1,546 units authorized over the past twelve months, 28% below the prior year.
Rent takes 31% of renter income here, at or above the threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, while buying strains owner incomes less — the median home is 4.0 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
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 5.7% — higher than in all but 9% of the 835 measured US metro and micro areas.
Employment grew 2.8% over the past year, to 801,597 employed residents.
32% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 74% of measured US metro and micro areas.
Median household income of $29,276 is lower than in 99% of measured US metro and micro areas.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$3782024 ACS 5-Year | $29,276 | Bottom 1%of 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$2382024 ACS 5-Year | $20,176 | Bottom 1%of 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate ±0.4%2024 ACS 5-Year | 37.2% | Bottom 1%of 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute ±0.2 min2024 ACS 5-Year | 32.3 min | Bottom 4%of 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher ±0.4%2024 ACS 5-Year | 32.3% | Top 26%of 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Drove alone to work ±0.4%2024 ACS 5-Year | 81.0% | 81st percentileof 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| EmploymentJuly 2026 | 801,597 | Top 5%of 835 | July 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years)July 2026 | +6.5% | Top 3%of 835 | July 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year)July 2026 | +2.8% | Top 5%of 835 | July 2026 |
| Labor forceJuly 2026 | 850,421 | 95th percentileof 835 | July 2026 |
| Labor force participation ±0.3%2024 ACS 5-Year | 68.3% | Bottom 11%of 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Mean annual wage2025 OEWS | $39,970 | Bottom 1%of 392 | 2025 OEWS |
| Median annual wage2025 OEWS | $29,440 | Bottom 1%of 392 | 2025 OEWS |
| Metro employment2025 OEWS | 690,810 | 89th percentileof 392 | 2025 OEWS |
| Public transit to work ±0.1%2024 ACS 5-Year | 1.1% | 85th percentileof 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026 | +1.1% | Bottom 3%of 835 | July 2026 |
| Unemployment rateJuly 2026 | 5.7% | Bottom 9%of 835 | July 2026 |
| Worked from home ±0.3%2024 ACS 5-Year | 6.6% | 27th percentileof 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Unemployment rate
Largest occupations — San Juan-Bayamón-Caguas, PR
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Retail Salespersons | 27,950 | $22,780 |
| Security Guards | 22,420 | $21,840 |
| Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners | 21,530 | $21,930 |
| Cashiers | 18,010 | $22,300 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 17,900 | $22,130 |
| Customer Service Representatives | 15,940 | $26,520 |
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 San Juan-Bayamón-Caguas, PR Metro Area's 40 component municipios' own published employment and labor force, divided the same way BLS itself derives a metro rate from its component areas.
29% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 45% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.
There are 9.7 students for every full-time teacher across 498 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Superior Urbana Jose Felix Rodriguez | PUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION | 842 | 13.0 | 4% | 39% |
| Salomon Rodon Tollens | PUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION | 821 | 10.3 | 48% | 46% |
| Leap Steam+e Academy of San Juan - Alianza · charter | PUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION | 808 | 19.7 | — | — |
| Tomas C. Ongay | PUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION | 808 | 13.2 | 3% | 42% |
| Ines Maria Mendoza Vda. De Munoz Marin | PUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION | 807 | 11.4 | 11% | 29% |
| Francisco Manrique Cabrera | PUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION | 764 | 9.1 | 2% | 34% |
| Ruben Rodriguez Figueroa | PUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION | 738 | 13.2 | 8% | 52% |
| Republica De Costa Rica | PUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION | 733 | 14.1 | 12% | 67% |
| Ramon Power Y Giralt Las Piedras | PUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION | 718 | 14.4 | 8% | 52% |
| Jose Santos Alegria | PUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION | 714 | 13.2 | 3% | 32% |
| Benjamin Harrison | PUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION | 695 | 10.7 | 3% | 32% |
| Miguel Such | PUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION | 691 | 10.3 | 1% | 28% |
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.
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated — housing affordability →Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $717 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.49% of the median home value.
HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $650, close to the $623 tenants already here pay.
At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $650 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $26,000 a year, about 89% of the median household income here of $29,276.
The typical renter household here spends 31% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $623 a month.
A median home at $145,900 costs 4.0 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $36,260, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.
The figures above are measured against San Juan-Bayamón-Caguas’s median household income of $29,276, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income ±0.12024 ACS 5-Year | 4.0 | Bottom 15%of 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate ±0.3%2024 ACS 5-Year | 67.6% | 36th percentileof 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±3,4042024 ACS 5-Year | 1,028,553 | 97th percentileof 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Market rent, one bedroomFY2026 | $557 | Top 1%of 818 | FY2026 |
| Market rent, three bedroomFY2026 | $856 | Top 1%of 818 | FY2026 |
| Market rent, two bedroomFY2026 | $650 | Top 1%of 818 | FY2026 |
| Median gross rent ±$92024 ACS 5-Year | $623 | Top 1%of 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$1,1142024 ACS 5-Year | $145,900 | 14th percentileof 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median property taxes ±$202024 ACS 5-Year | $717 | 5th percentileof 933 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Owner household income ±$4202024 ACS 5-Year | $36,260 | Bottom 1%of 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Property tax rate ±0.01%2024 ACS 5-Year | 0.49% | 13th percentileof 932 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income ±0.7%2024 ACS 5-Year | 30.7% | Bottom 27%of 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Seasonal and second homes ±1,4392024 ACS 5-Year | 41,204 | 99th percentileof 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year | 4.0% | 71st percentileof 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year | 15.3% | 95th percentileof 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacant housing units ±2,8952024 ACS 5-Year | 199,018 | 99th percentileof 935 | 2024 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.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated — growth →Development Momentum
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.
Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before: 1,546 units authorized in 2025, 28% below the prior year.
New construction is predominantly single-family: of 1,546 units permitted over the past twelve months, only 4% are in buildings of five or more homes.
At 0.8 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US metro and micro areas.
Housing units permitted per year
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 San Juan-Bayamón-Caguas, 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 89°F and January a low of 67°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 73.0 inches.
Precipitation
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals | 73.0" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals | 0.0" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low1991-2020 Normals | 67°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high1991-2020 Normals | 89°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals | 7 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals | 6°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, earthquake and inland flooding, with hurricane alone responsible for 49% of it. Inland flooding is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.
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
3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Luis Munoz Marin Intl at 10 miles.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broadband access ±0.3%2024 ACS 5-Year | 82.2% | Bottom 8%of 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Distance to major airportNASR current cycle | 10 mi | Top 12%of 835 | NASR current cycle |
| Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle | 3 | Bottom 35%of 835 | NASR current cycle |
| No internet access ±0.3%2024 ACS 5-Year | 16.0% | Bottom 5%of 935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luis Munoz Marin Intl | SJU | 10 mi | 10,400 ft |
| Mercedita | PSE | 40 mi | 8,002 ft |
| Henry E Rohlsen | STX | 91 mi | 10,002 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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Similar places
Matched on AreaProfile signals, not geographyData & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | 2025 OEWS |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | July 2026 |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 2025 calendar year |
| Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year |
| Housing | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research Fair Market Rents | FY2026 |
| Current conditions | NOAA 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.