Cuenca

RE/MAX Ecuador open data on 6 October 2026. Houses: the canton of Cuenca has 44 listings for sale, of which 40 have three or more bedrooms; from 99,000 to 985,000 dollars, median 179,500, middle half 121,250-284,750. Median floor area about 186 m², median price about 979 dollars per m². Houses are most often offered in Ricaurte (6), Baños (5) and San Sebastián (4). Apartments with three or more bedrooms: 18 listings, from 96,000 to 347,664, median 191,761, about 1554 dollars per m²; almost half of them in the parish of Huayna Cápac (8). These are asking prices of one agency, not transactions; the sample is small.

RE/MAX Ecuador open data on 6 October 2026: the canton of Cuenca has only 8 active listings of apartments for rent. Three bedrooms: 350 (Bellavista, 180 m²), 350 (Monay, 170 m²), 380 (Yanuncay, near Isabel la Católica), 440 (San Joaquín, 93 m²), 540 (San Joaquín, furnished and equipped). Two bedrooms: 450 (Monay) and 720 (furnished, San Sebastián, near Ordóñez Lasso avenue); a furnished studio in Yanuncay is 550. The median of all eight is 445. Houses: 590 for a 5-bedroom house in Totoracocha, 900 for a 4-bedroom house in Challuabamba, 3000 for a residence in Ricaurte. The sample is too small for a reliable figure, and the big portals (Plusvalía, Properati) are closed to automated reading. For comparison: in INEC's official basket for August 2026, rent for a family of four in Cuenca is 219 dollars, the highest of the ten cities in the basket (175 in Quito).

INEC, basic family consumption basket (CFBC) for August 2026, table by city; the basket is calculated for a family of 4. The "food and drinks" group for Cuenca is 362.22 dollars a month: meat, chicken and fish 78.48, non-alcoholic drinks 96.40, cereals 38.65, dairy and eggs 34.03, vegetables 21.45, fruit 18.61, food away from home 41.84, and other items. In Quito the same group is 372.19, the national average 357.44. This is a basic basket built around a family living on wages; the real spending of an incoming family is usually higher. The CFBC basket was introduced in 2026 to replace the old CFB and is not comparable with earlier values.

INEC, bulletin on income poverty for December 2025: the poverty line is 92.40 dollars a month per person; for a family of four this is 369.60 dollars - our multiplication. The line is the same for the whole country; there is no separate figure for Cuenca; INEC had not published the newer value (June 2026) as of 6 October 2026. A second benchmark is the basic consumption basket for a family of four (CFBC) for August 2026: in Cuenca 894.28 dollars a month, the highest of the ten cities in the basket (Quito 846.47, Guayaquil 840.75, nationally 828.06). The difference comes mainly from housing: the "housing and utilities" group in Cuenca is 325.20, of which rent 219.10 and basic utilities 34.49; education is also dearer - 40.14 against 26.88 in Quito. Market rents are not included in either figure.

Tariff schedule ARCONEL-009/2026, published in the Registro Oficial on 30 September 2026, in force for October-December 2026; the table is shared by several companies in the highland part of the country, including CENTROSUR, whose head office (matriz) is in Cuenca. Residential category, per kWh: 1-50 - 0.091 dollars; 51-100 - 0.093; 101-150 - 0.095; 151-200 - 0.097; 201-250 - 0.099; 251-300 - 0.101; 301-350 - 0.103; 351-500 - 0.105; 501-700 - 0.1285; 701-1000 - 0.145; and further up to 0.6812. The service charge is 1.414 dollars a month. The blocks are cumulative, as in El Diario's example for the same tariff. Our arithmetic, not a CENTROSUR bill: 300 kWh = 28.80 + 1.41 = 30.21 dollars; 150 kWh = 13.95 + 1.41 = 15.36. The first blocks in Cuenca are dearer than in Quito (0.078-0.083 there). The bill does include street lighting and fire service charges; we did not check their size. We did not find piped gas or the price of bottled gas.

ETAPA EP brochure on water and sewerage tariffs for 2024, from the April 2024 bills; ETAPA's tariff page on 6 October 2026 links to the same file, and we found no newer tariff. Residential category: fixed charge 3.32 dollars a month, variable charge per m³: 0-10 m³ - 0.60; 11-25 - 0.70; 26-40 - 0.83; above 40 - 0.89. Sewerage costs 50% of the amount billed for water. ETAPA says the cost of water is 0.70 per m³ and it subsidises the first 10 m³. Our arithmetic, not an ETAPA bill, counting the blocks cumulatively: 15 m³ = 10 × 0.60 + 5 × 0.70 = 9.50, plus 3.32 = 12.82 for water; sewerage at 50% of that is 6.41; total about 19.23 dollars. If the 50% is taken only from the per-cubic-metre charge, it comes to 17.57; the brochure does not say directly. Pensioners and people with disabilities get a discount. The tariff is more than two years old, so the estimate is weak.

Home page of Hospital de Especialidades José Carrasco Arteaga (IESS) on 6 October 2026: a third-level teaching hospital that provides specialised care to IESS members and other citizens within the single public health network (Red Pública Integral de Salud). In the news on the same page: the hospital bought 9 new intensive care beds, 7 for the adult and 2 for the paediatric ICU, and a working CT scanner will serve more than 700 patients a week. The number of beds and the list of specialties are not given on the page. According to the UK Foreign Office, public healthcare is free for foreigners too, but with queues and shortages of medicines (see the country fact). We did not check private clinics in Cuenca.

UK Foreign Office, advice updated 2 October 2026: a 60-day state of emergency for security reasons was declared from 15 September in eight provinces (Guayas, Manabí, Santa Elena, Los Ríos, El Oro, Pichincha, Esmeraldas, Santo Domingo) and in three separate cantons; from Azuay province only the canton of Camilo Ponce Enríquez is on the list, not the canton of Cuenca. Cuenca, like several other cities, has a tourist police unit. Forest fires are frequent in the provinces of Pichincha, Loja, Azuay and Cotopaxi due to heat, wind, drought and arson; in case of fire call 911. The risk of earthquakes, according to the same advice, is high throughout the country. We did not find official homicide statistics for Cuenca.

Cuenca airport website (CORPAC): Mariscal La Mar airport is at Avenida España and Avenida Elia Liut in Cuenca; local flights take about 55 minutes from Quito and 35 minutes from Guayaquil. Technical data: runway 1900 × 36 m, threshold elevations 8256 and 8306 feet, that is about 2516-2532 m - our conversion; the airport operates from 6:00 to 21:30 local time, on Fridays until 22:00. There is no text list of airlines or timetable on the site, and we did not confirm any direct international flights. For long-haul flights, Quito and Guayaquil remain.

Climate normals of Cuenca for 1981-2010 in the WMO handbook, data from the INAMHI weather service. June, July, August: average minimum 10.0, 9.0 and 9.5 degrees, average maximum 19.8, 18.6 and 19.7. Averaged over the three months, minimum 9.5 and maximum 19.4 - our calculation. In the other months the average minimum is 10.1-11.4 and the maximum 20.3-22.2. July is the coolest month of the year.

WMO normals (INAMHI data) for 1981-2010, precipitation by month: January 58.1 mm, February 85.4, March 112.8, April 123.3, May 85.5, June 46.9, July 27.9, August 19.8, September 49.7, October 90.8, November 86.2, December 89.8. The total is 876.2 mm a year; this is our sum. Days with precipitation: from 12 in August to 21 in April, and even in the dry months 12-15 days. So rain is frequent but usually light.

Netlife plans page on 6 October 2026: the Starter Defense plan, download up to 850 Mbit/s (minimum 425), XGPON, Wi-Fi 7 router; without promotion 33.93 dollars a month including VAT, with a 50% discount on the first 9 bills - 16.96. Prices are nationwide; Netlife's service points page lists 6 addresses in Cuenca. The municipal company ETAPA EP gives six plans on its tariff page for Cuenca: 19.99, 23.91, 32.93, 45.99, 65.99 and 80.99 dollars a month plus taxes, all with symmetric speed and a Wi-Fi 6 router; the speed of each plan is shown on the page only as images, so we do not give it. Connection of a specific house is checked by address.