Tenerife: where the richest and poorest residents of the island live

According to tax data, the wealthiest people in Tenerife live in El Rosario. The average annual pre-tax income there is €37,352. This is €10,000 more than the average for the Canary Islands. And this is despite the fact that less than 18,000 people live in El Rosario.

But the poorest municipality in Tenerife is El Tanque. There, people earn an average of €20,146 per year. This is one of the worst places in the entire archipelago – 84th place out of 88. The situation is slightly better in Los Silos and Buenavista del Norte, but incomes there are also less than €20,000 per year.

Although El Rosario is wealthy, it is only second in the Canary Islands. In first place is Santa Brígida, in Gran Canaria. The average income there is €53,007. This is almost twice the average for the islands (€27,880).

Santa Brígida is the only Canarian city to make it into the top 20 richest cities in Spain. It is in 19th place, alongside such well-known cities as Pozuelo de Alarcón and Boadilla del Monte (both near Madrid), or Sant Just Desvern and Sant Cugat del Vallès (near Barcelona). El Rosario, the first in Tenerife, ranks 142nd in Spain.

In Tenerife, there is a large difference in income between different cities – more than €17,000. The most people earn live in and around the big cities. For example, in the capital, the average income is €31,004. This is the second place on the island and the fifth in the Canary Islands. Next are Tegueste (€30,557) and Candelaria (€30,485). La Laguna is in seventh place on the island (€28,375). It is ahead of Tacoronte and El Sauzal, where people earn about €30,000.

The poorest cities are in the north of the island: El Tanque, Los Silos, Buenavista, La Victoria, Icod de los Vinos, San Juan de la Rambla, Garachico and Los Realejos. The average income there is less than €23,000 per year.

In the south of Tenerife, the situation is more or less the same, but there are no very wealthy cities. Arafo and Adeje (around €26,300) are in 10th and 11th place. Arona is in 20th place (€23,000). The poorest city in the south is Guía de Isora (€22,603).

Things have worsened in Fasnia. In one year, the city dropped from 35th to 61st place among all cities in the Canary Islands. This is the only city where incomes have fallen – from €24,536 in 2022 to €23,156.

This data was taken from tax returns filed in 2024. Income for the previous year was taken into account – salaries, income from securities, profits from the sale of property and rental income. The statistics only include data on those cities in Spain with a population of more than 1,000 people. Therefore, Betancuria (in Fuerteventura), which has a population of just over 800, was not included in the statistics.