Mayagüez, Puerto Rico

Area Profile

58,977 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Mayagüez, in Mayagüez Municipio.

43out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 6% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 10 sources
Opportunity3,143rd of 4,199 cities measured45
Schools2,622nd of 4,162 cities measured40
Growth2,795th of 4,224 cities measured43
Housing affordability3,409th of 4,218 cities measured49
ClimateTop 19% of 4,225 cities measured79
Physical resilience4,067th of 4,226 cities measured9
Access3,552nd of 4,226 cities measured75
Economic stability4,220th of 4,226 cities measured9
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable cities measured: unemployment is 10.7% and the Opportunity signal places Mayagüez in the bottom 25%. The unemployment rate is published for Mayagüez Municipio, PR, which contains Mayagüez, rather than for Mayagüez alone.

In the public schools here, 28% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 9.4 students for every teacher.

Rent takes 38% of renter income here, at or above the threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, while buying strains owner incomes less — the median home is 3.8 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
58,977
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$17,410
Bottom 1% nationally
Density
2,811/sq mi
21 sq mi of land
Median age
41.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Puerto Rico
Metro area
Nearest major airport
PSE
40 mi · Mercedita
Median home value
$114,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across Mayagüez Municipio, PR, which contains Mayagüez, is 10.7% — higher than in all but 1% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment across Mayagüez Municipio, PR, which contains Mayagüez, grew 4.1% over the past year, to 20,451 employed residents.

Median household income of $17,410 is lower than in 99% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$9922024 ACS 5-Year$17,410Bottom 1%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,0322024 ACS 5-Year$14,396Bottom 3%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year51.9%Bottom 2%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±1.2 min2024 ACS 5-Year22.8 minTop 30%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year28.3%Top 33%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year83.5%71st percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentMayagüez Municipio, PR’s figureJuly 202620,451Bottom 24%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)Mayagüez Municipio, PR’s figureJuly 2026+6.8%Top 3%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)Mayagüez Municipio, PR’s figureJuly 2026+4.1%Top 1%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceMayagüez Municipio, PR’s figureJuly 202622,89126th percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year63.7%Bottom 16%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wageMayagüez, PR Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$35,140Bottom 1%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Median annual wageMayagüez, PR Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$25,270Bottom 1%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Public transit to work ±0.8%2024 ACS 5-Year1.1%85th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)Mayagüez Municipio, PR’s figureJuly 2026+1.3%Bottom 2%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateMayagüez Municipio, PR’s figureJuly 202610.7%Bottom 1%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year4.8%35th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202417k15k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $17,410 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 — 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish a labor-market series for this place — true of a consolidated city-county, a city and county sharing one government, or a Puerto Rico municipio, regardless of population. This is the figure for Mayagüez Municipio, PR, which contains this city.

28% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 41% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 9.4 students for every full-time teacher across 15 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
16
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
9.4
across 15 of them
Math proficiency
27.7%
Bottom 29% in Puerto Rico
Reading proficiency
40.6%
Bottom 21% in Puerto Rico
The 12 largest of 16 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Dr Pedro Perea FajardoPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION88810.83%37%
Eugenio Maria De Hostos MayaguezPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION48611.612%52%
Elpidio H. RiveraPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION40810.713%26%
Manuel A. BarretoPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION3047.416%31%
Esteban Rosado BaezPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION28412.948%40%
Jose Gautier Benitez MayaguezPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION2599.622%29%
Luis Munoz Rivera MayaguezPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION2359.057%42%
Maria Dolores FariaPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION2356.712%17%
Centro Residencial Oportunidades Educativas Mayaguez (croem)PUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION21510.290%90%
Mariano Riera PalmerPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION19111.262%42%
Elvira Ruperto QuilesPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION1909.023%36%
Rafael Martinez Nadal MayaguezPUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION1759.252%52%

87.6% 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 $741 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.65% 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, some 11% above the $482 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 123% of the median household income here of $17,410.

The typical renter household here spends 38% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $482 a month.

A median home at $114,000 costs 3.8 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $30,338, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.

Rent as a share of income
38.4%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.8×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$536
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$482
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$114,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Mayagüez’s median household income of $17,410, 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 ±0.32024 ACS 5-Year3.8Bottom 20%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year45.3%6th percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±7182024 ACS 5-Year35,23599th percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$489Top 1%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$689Top 1%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$536Top 1%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$182024 ACS 5-Year$482Top 3%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$4,5372024 ACS 5-Year$114,00025th percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$1112024 ACS 5-Year$74114th percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$1,7042024 ACS 5-Year$30,338Bottom 2%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.10%2024 ACS 5-Year0.65%24th percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year38.4%Bottom 13%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±3242024 ACS 5-Year1,75299th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year5.0%80th percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year23.9%92nd percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±6262024 ACS 5-Year10,15999th 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

43/ 100
Ranks 2,795 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 20 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes. The multifamily share is published for Mayagüez Municipio, PR, which contains Mayagüez, rather than for Mayagüez alone.

At 0.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities. The permit rate is published for Mayagüez Municipio, PR, which contains Mayagüez, rather than for Mayagüez alone.

Units permitted
20
2025 calendar year
Per 1,000 residents
0.3
Bottom 11% nationally
Year over year
+18%
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 Mayagüez, PR is not one. This is the figure for Mayagüez Municipio, PR, which contains this city.

Weather & climate

7 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 68°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 51.3 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 11, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station MAYAGUEZ CITY, 1.0 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND6.8"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year262024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals51.3"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals0.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals68°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals90°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year02024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year112024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals5°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
11
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
26
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. 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 44% 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. 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.
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 ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year84.7%Bottom 30%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle40 miBottom 19%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle2Bottom 8%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year12.5%Bottom 28%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
MerceditaPSE40 mi8,002 ft
Luis Munoz Marin IntlSJU77 mi10,400 ft
Henry E RohlsenSTX158 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
43
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Where Mayagüez ranks

Top-ten placements in AreaProfile’s standing rankings

Every ranking is a standing calculation over all published profiles, not an editorial selection. Each one states its cohort, its inputs and what it excludes.

Other cities in Mayagüez, PR

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
HormiguerosHormigueros Municipio10,97546Hormigueros vs Mayagüez
San GermánSan Germán Municipio10,74750San Germán vs Mayagüez

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Compare

Put Mayagüez side by side with a similar place.

Mayagüez vs HumacaoMayagüez vs Bayamón

Moving to Mayagüez from somewhere else?

You get the difference in prices, rent and weather, and the income that would keep pace.

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
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
2025 calendar 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
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
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 Mayagüez

2 ZIP areas

Every ZIP area in Mayagüez 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 Mayagüez 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
0068042,689$17,896$107,400—
0068228,977$18,793$118,100—