Skip to content
A hillside town with a white church among coffee and maize fields, with a volcano on the horizon

Regions

Regional Data Maps of El Salvador: Poverty, Jobs, Income and Remittances by Department and Municipality

In the 2025 household survey, 22.5% of households in El Salvador were in poverty and unemployment was 4.7%. The gaps between departments are wide: average household income ranged from $573 a month in Ahuachapán to $948 in San Salvador, and the share of households receiving remittances from 15.9% in Ahuachapán to 50.5% in La Unión.

Updated November 2026 · Figures checked 9 November 2026

Households in poverty, 2025
22.5%1
Households in poverty, 2025
Unemployment rate, 2025
4.7%1
Unemployment rate, 2025
Average household income a month, 2025
$7641
Average household income a month, 2025
Households receiving remittances, 2025
26.1%1
Households receiving remittances, 2025

Regional Data Maps of El Salvador: Poverty, Jobs, Income and Remittances by Department and Municipality

The map

Choose departments or municipalities, then a figure. The darker the area, the higher the figure; hover over or tap an area for all its figures. The tables under the map list every figure for every area.

Households in poverty (2025), extreme and relative poverty
  1. 16.9%–21.1%
  2. 22.2%–24.1%
  3. 25.0%–25.7%
  4. 26.2%–31.4%
  5. 32.6%–34.1%
Map of El Salvador by department and municipality, shaded by poverty, jobs, income, remittances and other figures
Hover over or tap an area for all its figures; click to open its department page. The darker the area, the higher the figure: each shade holds about a fifth of the areas. Departments: household survey (EHPM) 2025, BCR and ONEC. Municipalities: UNDP, from the 2023 household survey (EHPM). Population: 2024 census (BCR, ONEC). Companies: listings in the InvestSalvador.com directory, not an official business count. Boundaries: geoBoundaries (OpenStreetMap contributors, CC BY-SA 2.0), grouped by Decree 762.

The 14 departments: household survey 2025, 2024 census and directory companies

Department Households in poverty Unemployment rate Average household income Households receiving remittances Households with internet Average years of schooling Population Companies in the directory
Ahuachapán 31.3% 4.9% $573 15.9% 29.1% 6.2 years 348,880 7
Santa Ana 24.1% 4.2% $643 27.5% 44.1% 6.8 years 552,938 38
Sonsonate 22.2% 4.8% $744 18.3% 37.6% 7.0 years 470,455 23
Chalatenango 25.7% 4.4% $591 43.9% 35.1% 6.1 years 185,930 11
La Libertad 18.1% 4.2% $887 22.4% 47.7% 7.7 years 765,879 324
San Salvador 16.9% 4.8% $948 17.3% 62.5% 9.1 years 1,563,371 1,025
Cuscatlán 25.0% 3.8% $676 22.5% 25.3% 7.1 years 244,901 5
La Paz 21.1% 5.0% $692 25.0% 31.2% 7.2 years 318,374 16
Cabañas 34.1% 5.8% $596 49.9% 32.5% 6.0 years 143,049 2
San Vicente 26.2% 5.5% $628 34.2% 29.5% 6.8 years 161,857 5
Usulután 32.6% 5.1% $599 37.6% 42.8% 6.8 years 325,494 7
San Miguel 22.7% 4.5% $717 39.9% 49.0% 7.1 years 447,634 31
Morazán 31.4% 6.1% $602 38.1% 33.2% 6.3 years 169,784 3
La Unión 25.6% 6.0% $612 50.5% 51.9% 5.7 years 224,375 3
El Salvador 22.5% 4.7% $764 26.1% 46.1% 7.5 years 6,029,976 1,500

The 44 municipalities: UNDP figures from the 2023 household survey, 2024 census and directory companies

Municipality Households in poverty Employment rate Average labour income Households receiving remittances Households with internet Workers in informal jobs Average years of schooling Population Companies in the directory
Ahuachapán Norte 36.4% 55.5% $300 14.7% 27.1% 72.6% 7.2 years 65,290 2
Ahuachapán Centro 30.5% 62.5% $301 12.6% 20.9% 76.2% 6.6 years 180,913 4
Ahuachapán Sur 43.8% 60.2% $247 22.7% 20.7% 86.2% 5.1 years 102,677 1
Santa Ana Norte 25.4% 56.5% $309 46.0% 32.9% 83.0% 5.6 years 90,056 1
Santa Ana Centro 28.4% 59.4% $326 31.1% 41.6% 75.7% 6.8 years 250,760 30
Santa Ana Este 29.3% 61.5% $305 21.9% 19.5% 70.0% 6.3 years 63,958 0
Santa Ana Oeste 32.2% 60.7% $315 22.7% 29.4% 75.1% 6.9 years 148,164 7
Sonsonate Norte 28.6% 66.4% $292 7.6% 17.6% 76.7% 6.6 years 99,556 2
Sonsonate Centro 30.3% 59.9% $381 22.3% 43.0% 70.1% 7.8 years 149,482 14
Sonsonate Este 27.7% 60.5% $409 13.9% 30.8% 68.8% 6.9 years 166,110 2
Sonsonate Oeste 25.6% 63.3% $320 25.0% 23.4% 75.1% 5.9 years 55,307 5
Chalatenango Norte 13.4% 67.8% $468 46.1% 38.8% 86.2% 6.9 years 26,806 4
Chalatenango Centro 26.6% 58.8% $277 41.2% 23.7% 90.5% 5.4 years 85,829 1
Chalatenango Sur 33.0% 60.4% $247 34.9% 26.2% 89.3% 6.3 years 73,295 6
La Libertad Norte 29.1% 61.2% $340 26.5% 28.8% 73.4% 6.6 years 88,356 2
La Libertad Centro 25.0% 64.1% $350 24.4% 34.3% 66.4% 7.0 years 162,760 13
La Libertad Oeste 27.0% 62.7% $391 17.7% 43.6% 54.7% 7.0 years 182,512 19
La Libertad Este 23.5% 65.3% $551 9.3% 45.7% 49.6% 8.9 years 108,097 186
La Libertad Costa 26.7% 62.4% $393 25.4% 24.3% 76.3% 6.0 years 85,917 15
La Libertad Sur 23.2% 62.2% $432 12.8% 37.1% 60.6% 8.3 years 138,237 89
San Salvador Norte 26.4% 63.7% $354 30.0% 27.2% 72.6% 6.9 years 61,864 1
San Salvador Oeste 28.0% 66.3% $401 18.5% 43.7% 58.9% 8.0 years 164,756 11
San Salvador Este 20.1% 63.0% $453 19.4% 59.8% 54.7% 8.7 years 496,761 37
San Salvador Centro 19.7% 61.5% $512 16.7% 62.7% 50.9% 9.8 years 673,319 960
San Salvador Sur 21.6% 63.5% $429 11.2% 42.4% 58.4% 8.3 years 166,671 16
Cuscatlán Norte 36.0% 56.9% $268 18.9% 13.4% 77.9% 6.1 years 99,591 2
Cuscatlán Sur 26.5% 61.4% $352 16.6% 23.8% 74.6% 7.3 years 145,310 3
La Paz Oeste 27.8% 69.1% $340 21.7% 15.8% 69.2% 6.9 years 108,708 10
La Paz Centro 27.9% 59.2% $318 28.0% 13.4% 78.2% 6.4 years 117,548 3
La Paz Este 23.8% 59.1% $355 20.4% 28.0% 70.1% 7.7 years 92,118 3
Cabañas Este 34.1% 52.3% $256 49.5% 27.5% 89.0% 5.6 years 68,054 0
Cabañas Oeste 33.3% 54.3% $260 44.8% 24.8% 88.4% 5.9 years 74,995 2
San Vicente Norte 29.9% 55.2% $287 35.4% 18.7% 85.3% 7.1 years 62,613 2
San Vicente Sur 30.4% 63.5% $289 31.3% 31.1% 82.4% 6.7 years 99,244 3
Usulután Norte 49.1% 52.4% $280 26.9% 34.8% 84.7% 7.1 years 108,523 0
Usulután Este 27.4% 59.8% $323 39.9% 36.3% 82.7% 6.6 years 149,297 5
Usulután Oeste 33.4% 62.2% $239 34.0% 22.0% 88.1% 5.4 years 67,674 2
San Miguel Norte 34.8% 52.1% $223 53.7% 22.7% 93.6% 5.1 years 72,035 1
San Miguel Centro 20.6% 64.7% $389 33.5% 49.8% 72.7% 8.0 years 290,274 30
San Miguel Oeste 32.7% 57.4% $288 36.4% 24.9% 81.2% 6.4 years 85,325 0
Morazán Norte 38.6% 59.4% $233 30.1% 14.4% 93.9% 5.5 years 55,667 2
Morazán Sur 31.1% 56.9% $292 39.0% 31.2% 87.6% 6.1 years 114,117 1
La Unión Norte 30.4% 51.0% $273 59.9% 34.6% 91.4% 5.2 years 107,540 1
La Unión Sur 27.6% 57.1% $328 44.7% 43.5% 84.6% 5.9 years 116,835 2

What the figures show

  • Poverty: the share of households in poverty was lowest in San Salvador (16.9%) and highest in Cabañas (34.0%). Extreme poverty was 7.7% nationally.
  • Unemployment: from 3.8% in Cuscatlán to 6.1% in Morazán. The rate counts people looking for work as a share of the labour force.
  • Income: households in San Salvador and La Libertad had the highest average incomes, $948 and $887 a month; the national average was $764.
  • Remittances: about half of households in La Unión (50.5%) and Cabañas (49.9%) received money from abroad, against 26.1% nationally.
  • Internet: 62.5% of households in San Salvador had internet at home, against 25.3% in Cuscatlán.

Source: BCR and ONEC: Multipurpose Household Survey (EHPM) 2025, tables by department, March 2026 (PDF, in Spanish)1

About the data

  • Departments: the Multipurpose Household Survey (EHPM) 2025 of the Central Reserve Bank (BCR) and its National Statistics Office (ONEC), published in March 2026. The BCR notes that the 2025 survey still used the sample frame from before the 2024 census.
  • Poverty is the share of households in extreme or relative poverty, measured by income against the cost of the basic food basket. Households receiving remittances is an InvestSalvador.com calculation: the households that receive remittances divided by all households in the survey tables.
  • Municipalities: the UNDP socio-economic map of the 44 municipalities, from the 2023 household survey. Its figures are not directly comparable with the 2025 department figures; labour income there is per worker, not per household.
  • Population: the 2024 census. Companies: the companies listed in the InvestSalvador.com directory by the town of their address. It is a count of listings, not an official count of businesses.
  • Yearly update: InvestSalvador.com checks the BCR document centre every week for new survey tables and updates the department figures when a newer survey is published.

Source: BCR and ONEC: Multipurpose Household Survey (EHPM) 2025, tables by department, March 2026 (PDF, in Spanish); BCR and ONEC: Multipurpose Household Survey (EHPM) 2025, main results (PDF, in Spanish); UNDP: socio-economic map, guide to the 44 new municipalities of El Salvador, October 2024 (PDF, in Spanish); BCR and ONEC: VII Population Census 2024, population by department, municipality and district, urban and rural (Excel, in Spanish)1,2,3,4

Sources

  1. BCR and ONEC: Multipurpose Household Survey (EHPM) 2025, tables by department, March 2026 (PDF, in Spanish)
  2. BCR and ONEC: Multipurpose Household Survey (EHPM) 2025, main results (PDF, in Spanish)
  3. UNDP: socio-economic map, guide to the 44 new municipalities of El Salvador, October 2024 (PDF, in Spanish)
  4. BCR and ONEC: VII Population Census 2024, population by department, municipality and district, urban and rural (Excel, in Spanish)

Figures checked 9 November 2026. Prepared by InvestSalvador.com for general information. Figures come from the sources listed.

Next step

Meet the Companies in Your Department

Lawyers, accountants, office landlords and recruiters, listed in the InvestSalvador.com directory by department and city.

Browse the Directory Add Your Company