Santa Elena Province in Numbers

📊 Santa Elena Province in Numbers

Santa Elena Province in numbers compares the province's three cantons using the 2022 census and the cantonal…

Santa Elena Province in numbers compares the province's three cantons using the 2022 census and the cantonal development plans (PDOTs).

	Santa Elena	La Libertad	Salinas	Province
Population (2022)	186,687	112,247	86,801	385,735
Population (2010)	144,076	95,942	68,675	308,693
Area	3,669 km²	about 25 km²	68–78 km²	about 3,690 km²
People per km²	about 51	about 4,490	about 1,280	about 105
Urban share	29%	100%	40%	—
Parishes	Urban: Santa Elena, Ballenita. Rural: Atahualpa, Chanduy, Colonche, Manglaralto, San José de Ancón, Simón Bolívar	One urban parish	Urban: four in the cabecera. Rural: José Luis Tamayo, Anconcito	3 cantons, 8 rural parishes
Mayor 2023–2027	María del Carmen Aquino Merchán	Francisco Tamariz Guerrero	Dennis Córdova	—
Homes with electricity (2022)	93.8%	97.6%	97%	—
Homes on the sewer (2022)	32%	about 70% (2015)	73%	—
Fixed internet at home (2022)	—	55%	52%	—

Highlights

Santa Elena covers 97% of the province's land and has almost half its people — most of them in rural parishes and the comunas of the Ruta del Spondylus.
La Libertad is the densest canton in Ecuador and the peninsula's commercial centre.
Salinas is the beach resort, with Ecuador's second fishing town (Santa Rosa) and a fast-growing rural parish, José Luis Tamayo (Muey), which grew 69% between 2010 and 2022.
On holiday weekends the peninsula receives an estimated 100,000–500,000 extra visitors.