San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan
Municipio Autónomo de San Juan
Autonomous Municipality of San Juan
Nicknames: 

La Llave de las Indias (The key to the Indies)
La Ciudad Amurallada (The Walled City)
Ciudad Capital (Capital City)
Interactive map outlining San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan
Location of San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan
San Juan (Caribbean)
San Juan
San Juan (North America)
Coordinates: 18°24′23″N 66°3′50″W / 18.40639°N 66.06389°W / 18.40639; -66.06389
Country United States
Commonwealth Puerto Rico
Diocesan settlementAugust 8, 1511
FoundedAugust 15, 1521
Founded byJuan Ponce de León
Named afterJohn the Baptist
Barrios
Government
 • MayorMiguel Romero Lugo (PNP)
Area
 • Municipality
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)
Elevation
26 ft (8 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Municipality
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/sq mi (932.6/km2)
 • Metro
2,350,126
DemonymSanjuanero (male) Sanjuanera (female)
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 Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory, and insular area of the United States. 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, 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.

Today, San Juan is Puerto Rico's most important seaport and is one of the island's most notable financial, cultural, and tourism centers. 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. 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, 2013 and 2026 World Baseball Classics; and the Caribbean Series, the Special Olympics and MLB San Juan Series in 2010.