Heredia is a
canton
Canton may refer to:
Administrative divisions
* Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries
* Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French
Arts and entertainment
* Canton (band), an It ...
in the
Heredia province of
Costa Rica
Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
.
The head city is in
Heredia district, and is also the provincial capital of Heredia Province.
History
Heredia was created on 7 December 1848 by decree 167.
Geography
Heredia has an area of
and a mean elevation of .
The canton includes the areas south and west of the capital city of Heredia as far as the Virilla River and the
National Route 1.
The non-contiguous district of
Varablanca, that includes a large portion of
Braulio Carrillo National Park
Braulio Carrillo National Park is a national park in Heredia Province, Cartago Province, Limón Province and San José Province, in central Costa Rica. It is part of the Central Conservation Area.
Geography
The park is located on the volcanic C ...
high in the
Cordillera Central Central Cordillera refers to the New Guinea Highlands.
Cordillera Central, meaning ''central range'' in Spanish, may refer to the following mountain ranges:
* Cordillera Central, Andes (disambiguation), several mountain ranges in South America
** ...
, is also administered as part of Heredia Canton.
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
National Liberation Party candidate, Ángela Ileana Aguilar Vargas, was elected mayor of the canton with 31.58% of the votes, with Víctor Andrés Sánchez González and Kenneth Armando Arguedas Navarro as first and second vice mayors, respectively.
Municipal Council
Like the mayor and vice mayors, members of the Municipal Council (called ) are elected every four years. Heredia's Municipal Council has 9 seats for regidores and their substitutes, who can participate in meetings but not vote unless the owning regidor () is absent.
The current president of the Municipal Council is the Sentir Heredia regidor, José Pablo Quesada Castro, with
National Liberation Party member, Heidy Hernández Benavides, as vice president.
The Municipal Council's composition for the 2024–2028 period is as follows:
Districts
The canton of Heredia is subdivided into the following
districts
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...
:
#
Heredia
#
Mercedes
#
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
#
Ulloa
#
Varablanca
Demographics
In 2022, the National Institute of Statistics and Census estimated Heredia's population at ,
up from at the time of the
2011 census.
According to a publication by the
United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...
, Heredia had a
Human Development Index
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistical composite index of life expectancy, Education Index, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income i ...
of 0.816 in 2022, ranking it 4th in its province and 9th in the entire country.
Transportation
Road transportation
The canton is covered by the following road routes:
Rail transportation
The
Interurbano Line operated by
Incofer
Rail transport in Costa Rica is primarily under the stewardship of Incofer (Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarriles), an autonomous institution of the state. Incofer owns the national railway infrastructure and operates virtually all freigh ...
goes through this canton.
References
{{Provinces of Costa Rica
Cantons of Heredia Province
Populated places in Heredia Province