Arecibo vs Ponce
Metro-area medians — Arecibo, PR Metro Area vs Ponce, PR Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Ponce comes out ahead, winning 4 of the 5 clearly-decided measures.
Arecibo and Ponce are closely matched on both cost of living and household income.
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.
Arecibo, PR
$61,314
take-home / yr · 18% to tax
No local price index — real value not shown.
Ponce, PR
$61,314
take-home / yr · 18% to tax
No local price index — real value not shown.
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.
Measure
Arecibo
Ponce
Livability (CityLedger)
33/100
35/100
Cost of living (price level, US = 100)
—
—
Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
—
—
Median household income
$23,466
$23,324
Median rent
$537/mo
$516/mo
Median home value
$129,500
$113,500
Unemployment
7.6%
14.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher
25.8%
25.9%
Average commute
26.8 min
24.9 min
Air quality (median AQI)
—
3
Avg temperature
76°F
76°F
Choose Ponce for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Median rent
- + Median home value
- + Average commute
Arecibo vs Ponce — frequently asked
- Which has higher household income, Arecibo or Ponce?
- Household incomes are similar — $23,466 in the Arecibo metro versus $23,324 in Ponce (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).
- Which has cheaper rent, Arecibo or Ponce?
- Ponce has cheaper rent — a median of $516/mo versus $537/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).