An Overview of SPREDD’s Economy

The Southern Puerto Rico Economic Development District covers six municipalities: Ponce, Yauco, Peñuelas, Guayanilla, Guánica and Juana Díaz. This overview sets the baseline for SPREDD’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy for 2026 to 2031. Who lives there, who works, what the region produces, and where the constraints sit. Every figure below comes from federal and local sources, current through 2025.

Six municipalities, one labor market

Ponce anchors the region. Its floating population reaches 112% of its residents, the only SPREDD municipality where the daytime population exceeds the people who live there. That makes Ponce the employment center for workers commuting from Juana Díaz, Peñuelas and Guayanilla, the three towns with the longest travel times. The average commute across SPREDD is 24 minutes, below Puerto Rico’s 28. The region functions as one labor market, not six.

Population is shrinking twice as fast as Puerto Rico

SPREDD lost 5.3% of its population between 2019 and 2024. Puerto Rico lost 2.5%. Guánica lost 21.1%, the steepest decline of any municipality on the island, one in every five residents. Only Guayanilla held flat. What remains is older: residents 65 and over rose from 20% to 24% in five years while those under 18 fell from 21% to 17%. Outmigration to the United States runs at 2.0% against 1.4% islandwide. This is the demographic floor every other projection has to stand on.

Incomes rose. Dependence rose with them.

Median household income in SPREDD grew 38% since 2019 to $23,306, outpacing Puerto Rico’s 28%. Yauco grew fastest at 64%. Much of that reflects minimum wage adjustments since 2021, because SPREDD incomes started closer to the floor. Poverty fell 4.1 points but still sits at 49.7% against 40.5% islandwide, and Guánica remains at 63.6%. Over the same period, households receiving federal food assistance rose from 49.6% to 54.9%. More than half the region now depends on it. Rising wages and rising dependence are happening at the same time.

The labor market stalled while Puerto Rico kept moving

SPREDD unemployment fell from 12.0% in 2019 to 8.5% in 2022, then stopped. It was still 8.8% in 2025 while Puerto Rico continued down to 5.6%. Every SPREDD municipality now runs above the island rate. Guánica and Guayanilla rank fourth and fifth highest in Puerto Rico, and Guánica is projected at 16.2% for 2025. Labor force participation improved to 42.4% but still trails the island’s 46.4%. The education gap widened as well: 27.9% of adults hold a bachelor’s degree against 29.8% islandwide, and only 15.8% in Guánica. Employment did grow, from 50,544 in 2019 to 61,375 in 2025, but the gains came mainly from educational services and public administration.

Where the region has leverage

Manufacturing holds 13% of SPREDD employment against 8% for Puerto Rico. Mercedita airport moved more than 11 million pounds of cargo in 2024 and handled 14% of the island’s inbound cargo, second only to Aguadilla. Energy service in Ponce has been more reliable than the Puerto Rico average since 2024 on both the frequency and the duration of interruptions. Tourism skews local: 25% of visitors of Puerto Rican descent came to the southern area against 11% of visitors born elsewhere, and short term rental listings grew 34% since 2023.

The constraints are just as clear. Roughly 70% of employment sits in five industries and half of all establishments in three. Over 20% of housing units are vacant, 36% in Guánica. Only 154 new housing units were built between 2020 and 2024.

ABEXUS built this baseline for SPREDD’s 2026 to 2031 strategy. If you are planning investment, programming or policy in the region, request a briefing.