San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan
Municipio Autónomo de San Juan
Autonomous Municipality of San Juan
Flag of San Juan
Coat of arms of San Juan
Nicknames: 

La Llave de las Indias (The key to the Indies)
La Ciudad Amurallada (The Walled City)
Ciudad Capital (Capital City)
San Juan Municipality within Puerto Rico
San Juan Municipality within Puerto Rico
Map
Coordinates: 18°24′23″N 66°3′50″W / 18.40639°N 66.06389°W / 18.40639; -66.06389[1]
Sovereign state United States
Commonwealth Puerto Rico
Diocesan settlementAugust 8, 1511
FoundedAugust 15, 1521[2]
Founded byJuan Ponce de León
Named forJohn the Baptist
Barrios
Government
 • Mayor of San JuanMiguel Romero Lugo (PNP)
Area
77.0 sq mi (199 km2)
 • Land47.9 sq mi (124 km2)
 • Water29.1 sq mi (75 km2)  37.8%
 • Urban
763.60 sq mi (1,977.7 km2)
Elevation26 ft (8 m)
Population
342,259
 • Rank1st in Puerto Rico
57th in the United States
 • Density7,147.1/sq mi (2,759.5/km2)
 • Urban
1,844,410
 • Urban density2,415.4/sq mi (932.6/km2)
 • Metro
2,350,126
DemonymSanjuanero -a
Time zoneUTC−4 (AST)
ZIP Codes
00901, 00907, 00909, 00911-00913, 00915, 00917, 00918, 00920, 00921, 00923-00927
Area codes787 and 939
Major routes

Websitesanjuan.pr

San Juan (/ˌsæn ˈhwɑːn/ san WHAHN, Spanish: [saŋ ˈxwan]; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jurisdiction of the United States, with a population of 342,259. San Juan was founded by Spanish colonists in 1521, who called it Ciudad de Puerto Rico (Spanish for "Rich Port City").

Puerto Rico's capital is the second oldest European-established capital city in the Americas, after Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, founded in 1496,[5] and is the oldest European-established city under United States sovereignty. Several historical buildings are located in the historic district of Old San Juan; among the most notable are the city's former defensive walls, Fort San Felipe del Morro and Fort San Cristóbal, and La Fortaleza, the oldest executive mansion in continuous use in the Americas. These historic sites were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.[6]

Today, San Juan is Puerto Rico's most important seaport[7] and is the island's financial, cultural, and tourism center. The population of the metropolitan statistical area, including San Juan and the municipalities of Bayamón, Guaynabo, Cataño, Canóvanas, Caguas, Toa Alta, Toa Baja, Carolina and Trujillo Alto, is about 2.443 million inhabitants; thus, about 76% of the population of Puerto Rico now lives and works in this area.[8] San Juan is also a principal city of the San Juan-Caguas-Fajardo Combined Statistical Area. The city has been the host of events within the sports community, including the 1979 Pan American Games; 1966 Central American and Caribbean Games; events of the 2006, 2009 and 2013 World Baseball Classics; the Caribbean Series and the Special Olympics and MLB San Juan Series in 2010.

  1. ^ a b "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Archived from the original on August 24, 2019. Retrieved 2015-07-05.
  2. ^ San Juan, Ciudad CapitalArchived October 3, 2020, at the Wayback Machine. SanJuan.pr. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
  3. ^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2015-07-05. Archived from the original on February 12, 2012. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  4. ^ "PUERTO RICO: 2020 Census". The United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  5. ^ Magaly Rivera. "San Juan Capital City". Welcome to Puerto Rico. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved 2007-05-02.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "the San Juan Port" (in Spanish). Puerto Rico Port Authority. 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-09.[dead link]
  8. ^ "About Puerto Rico". Puerto Rico Tourism Company. 2007. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved 2007-05-08.