Cartago is a canton in the Cartago province of Costa Rica. The head city is Cartago.

History

Cartago was created on 7 December 1848 by decree 167.

Geography

Cartago has an area of 278.66 km2 and a mean elevation of 1575 m. Cartago is a T-shaped canton stretching southeast from its capital city to encompass a thin swatch of the Cordillera de Talamanca (Talamanca Mountain Range), and including portions of the Pan-American Highway.

Government

Mayor

According to Costa Rica's Municipal Code, mayors are elected every four years by the population of the canton. As of the latest municipal elections in 2024, the Let's Act Now Party (Partido Actuemos Ya) candidate, Mario Redondo Poveda, was elected mayor of the canton with 43.51% of the votes, with Silvia María Navarro Gómez and Marco Andrés Brenes Tinoco as first and second vice mayors, respectively.

Municipal Council

Like the mayor and vice mayors, members of the Municipal Council (called regidores) are elected every four years. Cartago's Municipal Council has 9 seats for regidores and their substitutes, who can participate in meetings but not vote unless the owning regidor (regidor propietario) is absent. The current president of the Municipal Council is the Let's Act Now Party member, Alonso Picado Chacón. The Municipal Council's composition for the 2024–2028 period is as follows:

Districts

The canton of Cartago is subdivided into the following districts:

Demographics

Cartago had a population of 165,417 inhabitants in 2022, up from 147,898 people at the time of the 2011 census. In 2022, Cartago had a Human Development Index of 0.791, the 3rd highest in its province, behind El Guarco and La Unión, and 18th in the country.

Transportation

Road transportation

The canton is covered by the following road routes: • CR RNP 2.svg National Route 2 • CR RNP 10.svg National Route 10 • CR RNS 206.svg National Route 206 • CR RNS 218.svg National Route 218 • CR RNS 219.svg National Route 219 • CR RNS 222.svg National Route 222 • CR RNS 228.svg National Route 228 • CR RNS 231.svg National Route 231 • CR RNS 233.svg National Route 233 • CR RNS 236.svg National Route 236 • CR RNT 304.svg National Route 304 • CR RNT 401.svg National Route 401 • CR RNT 405.svg National Route 405 • CR RNT 406.svg National Route 406 • CR RNT 407.svg National Route 407

Rail transportation

The Interurbano Line operated by Incofer goes through this canton.