Guayama, Puerto Rico

Area Profile

18,216 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Guayama, in Guayama Municipio.

51out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 22% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 9 sources
Opportunity2,999th of 4,199 cities measured46
SchoolsTop 28% of 4,162 cities measured67
GrowthTop 21% of 4,224 cities measured65
Housing affordabilityTop 47% of 4,218 cities measured68
Climate2,507th of 4,225 cities measured68
Physical resilience4,150th of 4,226 cities measured6
Access3,088th of 4,226 cities measured84
Economic stability4,201st of 4,226 cities measured12
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable cities measured: unemployment is 11.9% and the Opportunity signal places Guayama in the bottom 29%. The unemployment rate is published for Guayama Municipio, PR, which contains Guayama, rather than for Guayama alone.

In the public schools here, 31% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 9.6 students for every teacher.

90 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, essentially level with the prior year — steady rather than turning. The permit count and 1 other measure here are published for Guayama Municipio, PR, which contains Guayama, rather than for Guayama alone.

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
18,216
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$20,955
Bottom 1% nationally
Density
4,984/sq mi
3.7 sq mi of land
Median age
39.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Puerto Rico
Metro area
Nearest major airport
PSE
30 mi · Mercedita
Median home value
$112,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across Guayama Municipio, PR, which contains Guayama, is 11.9% — higher than in all but 1% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment across Guayama Municipio, PR, which contains Guayama, grew 2.9% over the past year, to 9,323 employed residents.

35% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 76% of measured US cities.

Median household income of $20,955 is lower than in 99% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$1,7282024 ACS 5-Year$20,955Bottom 1%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,4082024 ACS 5-Year$15,289Bottom 4%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year46.4%Bottom 3%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±3.4 min2024 ACS 5-Year28.3 minBottom 42%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year35.2%Top 24%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year82.2%67th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentGuayama Municipio, PR’s figureJuly 20269,323Bottom 2%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)Guayama Municipio, PR’s figureJuly 2026+8.2%Top 1%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)Guayama Municipio, PR’s figureJuly 2026+2.9%Top 3%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceGuayama Municipio, PR’s figureJuly 202610,5833rd percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year62.9%Bottom 15%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wageGuayama, PR Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$34,090Bottom 1%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Median annual wageGuayama, PR Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$25,260Bottom 1%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Public transit to work ±0.4%2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)Guayama Municipio, PR’s figureJuly 2026+3.1%Bottom 1%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateGuayama Municipio, PR’s figureJuly 202611.9%Bottom 1%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year5.5%39th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202421k18k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $20,955 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

Largest occupations — Guayama, PR

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons650$22,190
Fast Food and Counter Workers550$21,920
Cashiers550$22,070
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators520$23,340
Stockers and Order Fillers390$25,580
Registered Nurses350$38,800

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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Guayama Municipio, PR, which contains this city.

31% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 47% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 9.6 students for every full-time teacher across 6 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
9.6
across all schools here
Math proficiency
31.1%
Top 43% in Puerto Rico
Reading proficiency
47.1%
Top 39% in Puerto Rico
All 6 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Dra. Maria Socorro LacotPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION92711.927%50%
Dr. Rafael Lopez LandronPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION30910.01%23%
Genaro CautinoPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION3028.244%81%
Oscar Hernandez GuevaraPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION2728.052%47%
Rafael Antonio Delgado MateoPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION1839.247%27%
Vicente Pales AnesPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION1206.337%32%

86.6% 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 $669 a year in real estate taxes.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $475, some 15% above the $412 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $475 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $19,000 a year, about 91% of the median household income here of $20,955.

The typical renter household here spends 28% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $412 a month.

A median home at $112,200 costs 3.9 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $28,894, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.

Rent as a share of income
27.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.9×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$475
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$412
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$112,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Guayama’s median household income of $20,955, 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 ±0.52024 ACS 5-Year3.9Bottom 19%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year57.6%17th percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±7052024 ACS 5-Year10,46094th percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$418Top 1%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$637Top 1%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$475Top 1%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$432024 ACS 5-Year$412Top 1%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$7,1552024 ACS 5-Year$112,20024th percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$5172024 ACS 5-Year$66911th percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$2,8692024 ACS 5-Year$28,894Bottom 2%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year27.8%Top 47%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±1132024 ACS 5-Year16993rd percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year1.6%67th percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year14.3%78th percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±3202024 ACS 5-Year1,66697th percentileof 32,3302024 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

65/ 100
Top 21% of 4,224 published city profiles

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 90 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes. The multifamily share is published for Guayama Municipio, PR, which contains Guayama, rather than for Guayama alone.

At 2.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities. The permit rate is published for Guayama Municipio, PR, which contains Guayama, rather than for Guayama alone.

Units permitted
90
2025 calendar year
Per 1,000 residents
2.5
Top 50% nationally
Year over year
0%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey lists only jurisdictions that issue their own permits, and Guayama, PR is not one. This is the figure for Guayama Municipio, PR, which contains this city.

Weather & climate

4 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 90°F and January a low of 72°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 54.4 inches.

60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station GUAYAMA 2E, 1.6 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND7.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals54.4"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals0.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals72°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals90°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals41991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals5°F1991-2020 Normals

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

Physical risk

6 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, earthquake and inland flooding, with hurricane alone responsible for 63% 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.

EarthquakeModerate
HurricaneHigh
LandslideElevated

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. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. 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. Either no municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — or its department did not report every month of the year. Either way there is no figure to show. 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 only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this page.
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 Mercedita at 30 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year82.6%Bottom 24%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle30 miBottom 28%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle3Bottom 20%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year16.1%Bottom 19%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
MerceditaPSE30 mi8,002 ft
Luis Munoz Marin IntlSJU33 mi10,400 ft
Henry E RohlsenSTX88 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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Area Score
51
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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.

ZIP codes in Guayama

1 ZIP area

Every ZIP area in Guayama with census figures of its own, largest first. The ones linked below diverge enough from the city as a whole to carry a full profile; the rest track Guayama closely, so their figures are here rather than on a page that would repeat this one. An Area Score is calculated for published profiles only, which is why it is blank on those rows.

ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeMedian home valueArea Score
0078434,981$20,558$108,700—