Arecibo, PR
Arecibo, PR Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Arecibo, PR Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Arecibo ranks 88th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 298th for income. A household earns $23,466 a year while median rent runs $537/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn.
Its strongest card is home prices (2nd of 300), while household income is the soft spot (298th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 3rd and home prices 2nd among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 298th of 300↑22.5%$23,466
- Per-capita income
- $15,914
- Full-time pay
- $21,952
Housing
- Median rent
- 3rd of 300↑20.9%$537/mo
- Home value
- 2nd of 300↑38.4%$129,500
- Property tax
- $339/yr · 0.3%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 284th of 3007.6%
- Bachelor's+
- 242nd of 30025.8%
- Avg commute
- 229th of 30026.8 min
People
- Population
- 180,071
- Population change
- +3.1%
- Median age
- 45.9 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 0.8%
- Broadband
- 84%
Environment & risk
- Natural-hazard loss
- 291st of 300$43/$10k
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), FEMA, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Household income
- – Job market
- – Education
- – Commute
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — miami beach.
What jobs pay in Arecibo
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Pharmacists
- $105,880
- Family medicine physicians
- $101,580
- Lawyers
- $77,470
- Financial managers
- $75,140
- Elementary school teachers
- $61,230
- Civil engineers
- $60,950
- General & operations managers
- $60,110
- Secondary school teachers
- $60,110
- Electricians
- $37,840
- Registered nurses
- $37,460
- Accountants & auditors
- $36,680
- Police officers
- $33,070
- Carpenters
- $29,970
- Customer service reps
- $27,030
- Construction laborers
- $26,530
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $23,840
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $23,440
- Janitors
- $22,490
- Cashiers
- $22,440
- Retail salespersons
- $22,390
- Waiters & waitresses
- $22,140
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Cities like Arecibo
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Arecibo metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Arecibo metro?
- Median gross rent across the Arecibo, PR Metro Area is $537 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Arecibo.
- What is the median household income in the Arecibo metro?
- A typical household in the Arecibo, PR Metro Area earns $23,466 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the typical home value in the Arecibo metro?
- The median home value across the Arecibo, PR Metro Area is $129,500 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Arecibo metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Arecibo, PR Metro Area is 7.6% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).