Quito 2026The independent atlas report on Quito, Ecuador.

Quito in 200 numbers. Read this before you read anything else.

A tropical highland (eternal spring), with mild temperatures year round and an Andean wet and dry season pattern city, 2,010,000 people, the city profile in one stat grid.

Quito scored 6.6 on the everycity index, placing it in the relevant band of the global cohort of 5,000 cities. A single person spends $920 a month here including rent, groceries, transport and utilities. A working couple spends $1,420. Internet runs at a median 82 Mbps on residential fiber per OOKLA Speedtest readings from April 2026. The average reported salary, blended across sectors, is $880 a month. The highest marginal income tax rate is 37 percent. Safety reads 5.6 on a 0 to 10 scale, with the night safety subindex at 4.8, the female solo subindex at 5.2, and the family subindex at 6.0. The metro area holds 2,010,000 people and sits at -0.1807 degrees, -78.4678 degrees. The summer high lands at 20 Celsius, the winter low at 9. The city averages 1,910 sunshine hours a year.

Compared with peer cities, Quito sits within the Andean highland capital cohort on monthly outlay. See Quito vs Bogota for the head to head numbers. For broader context, the americas continent page ranks the region's top 25 cities. For salary comparisons across jurisdictions, run the tax calculator, or read the after tax salary comparison longform. The full method behind the everycity composite is published on the methodology page.

Risk, by the subindex.

No moral panic, no rose tint. Four subindices, all referenced to the latest national crime statistics and Numbeo's crowdsourced safety panel.

Quito's overall safety score lands at 5.6, which places it in the relevant band on the everycity index. The female solo subindex reads 5.2 and the night walk subindex reads 4.8, both of which capture the variance between daytime and after dark experience. Family safety, weighted for primary school commute risk, sits at 6.0. Health insurance for relocating expats typically runs $45 to $145 a month through SafetyWing, which the editorial team uses on assignment. For broader context the global safest cities ranking places Quito alongside its regional peers in the cohort table.

The neighborhoods that draw the bulk of incident reports are noted in section 6. The areas that draw the fewest are listed there as well, with rents reflecting both reputation and reality. A foreigner walking with a phone in hand on a main avenue at 1 a.m. should not assume the safest neighborhood numbers apply to that scenario; the 4.8 night subindex is the figure that matters. Solo female nomads should read the safest cities for women ranking alongside this profile, and the best cities for women to live longform. See Quito vs Guayaquil for the head to head safety read against the most common peer city.

Who pays, and how much.

Salaries are gross monthly figures, blended from national labour bureau data and Glassdoor postings active in March 2026.

Largest employers in metro Quito

1. The Government of Ecuador (the executive, legislative and judicial branches, the largest single employer with the Carondelet Palace and the Asamblea Nacional)
2. Petroecuador (the state oil company, headquartered in Quito)
3. Banco Pichincha (the largest commercial bank in Ecuador, headquartered in Quito)
4. Produbanco (the second largest private bank)
5. Corporacion Favorita (the supermarket and retail conglomerate, headquartered in Quito)
6. Diners Club del Ecuador and the regional financial services cluster
7. Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador and Universidad San Francisco de Quito (the academic anchor employers)
8. The Mariscal Sucre International Airport operations and the related logistics cluster in Tababela

The blended average salary in Quito runs $880 a month, gross of tax. A senior software developer earns $2,992 on local payroll, while a senior financial analyst commands $2,288. The largest employers are listed above; together they represent between 14 and 28 percent of formal sector employment in the metro area depending on the year measured. The top marginal income tax rate is 37 percent. Expats moving regular income across borders typically use Wise at the daily mid market rate, which removes the 1.4 to 3.2 percent retail spread that local banks charge.

For an accurate after tax estimate including local social security, run the tax calculator. For a market wide salary view, the highest salary cities ranking and the highest paying cities after tax ranking place Quito in the relevant cohort. The lowest tax cities ranking covers the relative position on tax. For a peer set comparison, run Quito vs Bogota and Quito vs Lima.

Seven quarters, one verdict each.

A working map of where to live in Quito in 2026, ordered loosely from highest cost to lowest commute.

The seven quarters above cover the spread of the rental market in Quito for a relocating professional. La Mariscal is the highest priced and the most likely to deliver the lifestyle a Western expat imagines. La Floresta is the upscale residential pick at a different price point. Quito Centro Historico is the value pick at the cost of a longer commute. Gonzalez Suarez and El Batan is the cultural pick, suited to short term assignments or those who prefer density to silence. The full neighborhood by neighborhood walk through, with photos, is in the Quito neighborhoods longform, scheduled to publish in Q3 2026.

Long term rental supply in Quito is concentrated in the four to seven year old apartment stock; older buildings often lack reliable elevators or, in some neighborhoods, reliable hot water during the coldest months. Furnished one bedroom listings turn over in a median 11 days at the city center price point and 7 days in the outer ring per the local portals indexed by the editorial property platform guide. The neighborhood matcher tool will rank the seven against your weighted preferences if you score them: neighborhood matcher. For peer city neighborhood maps, see Quito vs Cuenca.

For the kids, and the postgrads.

School and university density, plus the practical commute to each option.

International and bilingual schools

• Colegio Menor San Francisco de Quito (the K through 12 lab school of the Universidad San Francisco de Quito)
• Academia Cotopaxi American International School (the IB programme in Cumbaya)
• Alliance Academy International (the Christian international school in Quito)
• Colegio Americano de Quito (the bilingual flagship)
• Liceo La Condamine (the French international school)
• Colegio Aleman (the German international school)

Universities

• Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador (PUCE, the historic Catholic research university)
• Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ, the private liberal arts university in Cumbaya)
• Universidad Central del Ecuador (the public flagship research university)
• Escuela Politecnica Nacional (the public engineering and science university)
• Universidad de las Americas (UDLA, the private research university)
• FLACSO Ecuador (the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences)

Relocating families in Quito typically pick from the school cluster listed above. Tuition for relocating expatriate families typically runs $8,400 a year at the lower priced bilingual options and $18,800 a year at the international baccalaureate flagships. Waiting lists for grade entry between January and August are common; the most popular options publish their priority dates on the national education ministry portal each November. The combined family safety subindex of 6.0 on the everycity index should be read alongside the school commute when ranking neighborhoods.

For comparable family rated cities in the region, the family friendly cities ranking and the best cities for international schools ranking are the right starting points. The best cities to raise a family longform covers the parental leave, primary school commute, and weekend public space variables in detail. For local pediatric specialists, the editorial guide on international health insurance lists the in network hospitals near each Quito school cluster. The Ecuador country page covers the national education policy context.

What makes the city itself.

Food signatures, nightlife rating, and the cultural through line that separates Quito from its regional neighbors.

The food signatures of Quito include encebollado (the tuna, yucca and red onion soup, the Quito morning after staple), llapingachos (the potato and cheese patties served with avocado, peanut sauce and chorizo, the Sierra regional signature), ceviche (the Ecuadorian fish or shrimp version, slightly milder than the Peruvian baseline), locro de papa (the potato, cheese and avocado soup), the Mariscal market hornado (the slow roasted pork served with hominy and pickled red onion), the Otavalo market chocolate and the Ecuadorian single origin coffee program, the dense weekend artisan market in the Plaza Foch, and the legacy colonial era Catholic monastery wine and herbal liqueur production. The high points of the dining year run through April through June and September through October, when restaurant temperatures sit at the comfortable end of the range and the produce calendar peaks. For longer reads on the cuisine, the best food cities ranking and the Michelin cities ranking place Quito in the relevant cohort regionally. Nightlife sits at a 6.4 rating on the everycity scale, with weeknight venue density highest in La Mariscal and La Floresta. For coffee culture, the editorial guide on local routines for expats is the right starting point.

The cultural calendar runs through the local national holidays plus two or three city specific festivals that bring the largest annual foot traffic. The Ecuador cultural and creative industries policy is reviewed in detail on the Ecuador country page, and the americas continent page covers the broader pattern across the region. For peer city comparisons, see Quito vs Guayaquil and the best nightlife cities ranking. Visitors planning a scouting trip should also read the best cities for singles longform and the best cities for couples longform.

Keep going.