El Salvador
Republic of El Salvador
- Capital
- San Salvador
- Region
- Central America
- Population, 2025
- 6.4 million
- Currency
- USD
- Area
- 21,041 km²
Across El Salvador's 17 priced cities, one person needs about $1,307 a month, rent included; the average net salary is $390.
Livability
The same seven domains as for cities, scored at country level; safety falls back to the homicide rate where Numbeo has no survey.
47out of 100
- Purchasing power25%24
- Safety20%45
- Health care15%No data
- Climate10%No data
- Air quality10%87
- Connectivity10%63
- Cost10%54
How each domain is scored
- Purchasing power, 25%
- What a local net salary buys against local prices, as a percentile.
- Safety, 20%
- Numbeo safety index for the city, or for its country when the city has no survey.
- Health care, 15%
- Numbeo health care index, city first, then country.
- Climate, 10%
- Numbeo climate index where surveyed, otherwise a comfort score from NASA climate normals.
- Air quality, 10%
- 30-day mean US AQI on a 0-100 scale: 100 at AQI 25 or cleaner, 0 at 150 or worse.
- Connectivity, 10%
- Percentile of median fixed broadband download speed, city first, then country.
- Cost, 10%
- Cheaper places score higher: the percentile of the cost-of-living plus rent index, inverted.
What it costs
Averages over the country’s cities, weighted by population. New York = 100.
Cost of living index
43.7
New York = 100, rent excluded
Rent index
15.6
New York = 100
Purchasing power
33.0
New York = 100
One person
$1,307
A month, rent included
Net salary
$390
Average, a month after tax
Rent, one bedroom in the centre
$775
A month
Economy
World Bank development indicators; each figure is the latest year with data.
GDP per person
$5,767
2025
Growth
+3.9%
2025
Unemployment
3.3%
2025
Inflation
0.3%
2025
Life expectancy
72.3 years
2024
Internet users
66%
2024
Taxes
Headline rates side by side from three references, with the source of each.
- Top income tax rate
- 30%
- SourcePwC
- Lowest income tax rate
- 0%
- SourceWikipedia
- Corporate tax
- 30%
- SourcePwC
- VAT or sales tax
- 13%
- SourcePwC
- Capital gains, individuals
- 10%
- SourcePwC
- Social security, employee
- 3%
- SourceTrading Economics
- Social security, employer
- 7.5%
- SourceTrading Economics
Headline statutory rates as of Sep 2026; brackets, allowances and regional taxes change what a given person pays.
Safety and internet
Numbeo’s crime survey, the World Bank homicide series and the Speedtest Global Index.
Safety
- Safety indexNumbeo, higher is safer
- 44.5
- Crime indexNumbeo, lower is better
- 55.5
- HomicidesPer 100,000 people, 2022
- 7.9
Internet
- Fixed downloadMbps, median, #56 worldwide
- 137
- Mobile downloadMbps, median, #91 worldwide
- 38
- Change in a yearFixed download speed
- +61%
Cities in El Salvador
Sort by any column. Livability and cost use the same scales as every city page.
| 1Apopa | 64 | — | — | — | — | 112.2K | Low confidence |
| 2Soyapango | 62 | — | — | — | — | 329.7K | Low confidence |
| 3Mejicanos | 62 | — | — | — | — | 160.3K | Low confidence |
| 4Santa Ana | 53 | 43.7 | $650 | $450 | 39.4 | 176.7K | Medium confidence, 5 contributors |
| 5San Miguel | 50 | 40.0 | $696 | $390 | 34.4 | 247.1K | Low confidence, 2 contributors |
| 6Santa Tecla | 50 | 42.5 | $775 | $408 | 33.0 | 124.7K | Medium confidence, 7 contributors |
| 7Ayutuxtepeque | 49 | 37.0 | $150 | $430 | 69.6 | 25.4K | Low confidence, 1 contributors |
| 8San Salvador | 48 | 44.4 | $899 | $380 | 27.7 | 526K | High confidence, 26 contributors |
| 9Sonsonate | 47 | 43.5 | $550 | — | — | 59.5K | Low confidence, 1 contributors |
| 10Cojutepeque | 47 | 43.5 | — | — | — | 48.4K | Low confidence, 0 contributors |
| 11San Vicente | 47 | 43.5 | — | — | — | 41.5K | Low confidence, 0 contributors |
| 12Antiguo Cuscatlan | 47 | 43.5 | $600 | — | — | 33.8K | Low confidence, 1 contributors |
| 13Aguilares | 47 | 43.5 | — | — | — | 21.4K | Low confidence, 0 contributors |
| 14Chalatenango | 47 | 43.1 | — | — | — | 19.4K | Low confidence, 1 contributors |
| 15Candelaria de la Frontera | 47 | 43.5 | — | — | — | 6.3K | Low confidence, 0 contributors |
| 16Suchitoto | 47 | 43.5 | — | — | — | 5.7K | Low confidence, 0 contributors |
| 17Nejapa | 47 | 43.5 | — | — | — | — | Low confidence, 0 contributors |
| 18Anamoros | 47 | 43.5 | — | — | — | — | Low confidence, 0 contributors |
| 19Puerto De La Libertad | 47 | 43.0 | — | — | — | — | Low confidence, 2 contributors |
| 20Ahuachapan | 44 | 43.5 | $520 | $560 | 54.5 | 34.1K | Low confidence, 1 contributors |
| 21Delgado (Ciudad Delgado) | 43 | — | — | — | — | 71.6K | Low confidence |
| 22El Congo | 43 | — | $720 | $950 | — | 8.9K | Low confidence, 0 contributors |