Alt Empordà
A comarca in the province of Girona
The tramuntana wind and Dali's genius. Wild landscapes bathing Cap de Creus, with an authentic Empordà character and charming medieval villages.
Main cities: Figueres, Roses, Castelló d'Empúries
Alt Empordà at a glance
How Alt Empordà ranks
Where Alt Empordà sits in each of Onviure's comarca rankings. Click through to the full ranking.
Where it stands out
- Lowest wildfire hazard8.3%#14 of 43
- Most protected nature36.7%#14 of 42
- Best hospital access0.6 km#18 of 43
- Cheapest housing1,678 €/m²#21 of 43
- Most rural111 /km²#24 of 43
Where it falls behind
- Land prices276 €/m²#29 of 43
- Closest to Barcelona117.8 km#31 of 43
- Least touristy45.6 / 100 res.#38 of 43
- Highest income per resident16,222 €#40 of 43
- Safest comarques84.8 /1,000#39 of 40
Show the other 11 rankings
- Mildest climate41.3 nights#26 of 43
- Affordability index10.3% income/m²#26 of 43
- Most schools per resident8.7 / 10,000#26 of 43
- Lowest unemployment8.6%#26 of 43
- Lowest flood risk71.2%#28 of 43
No better end
- Most international31.6%#2 of 43
- Immigration growth+4.8 pp#17 of 42
- Catalan name forms40.5%#24 of 40
- Political spectrum57% independentist#27 of 43
- Where Catalan is most spoken71.8%#38 of 43
- Islamisation index2.81/4 (High)#43 of 43
In these rankings neither end is better: they describe what a comarca is like, not how well it does. That is why they are not coloured green-to-red and do not count as a strength or a weakness.
Trends & composition
How prices, climate and the population have moved in Alt Empordà over time.
Property price evolution
Median asking price (€/m²) across all Idealista listings collected up to each month (5 months so far). These are asking prices, not sale prices: not comparable with the official Idescat figure.
Climate trend (2018–2025)
- Tropical nights40 per year
- Hot days43 per year
Modeled yearly averages from Open-Meteo reanalysis data — not direct station readings.
Crime over time
Offences known to the Mossos d'Esquadra per 1,000 residents, 2011 to 2025. Up to 2022, each year is divided by that year's own registered population. The register goes no further, so later years are divided by today's population and read slightly low. The 2020 fall reflects the lockdowns.
Registered sale prices
Average selling price of second-hand housing, euros per built m², 2013 to 2024 (Idescat). These are registered transactions: not comparable with the Idealista asking prices elsewhere on this page.
How the population's origins have changed
- Rest of Spain12%
- Latin America & the Caribbean8.7%
- Maghreb8.2%
- Western Europe6.1%
- Eastern Europe3.5%
- West Africa1.6%
Percentage of the comarca's population born in each world region, 2007 to 2022 (Idescat, INE municipal register, at 1 January). Residents born in Catalonia are not plotted — 58.9% in the latest year — because a line that size would flatten every other one. The regions are geographic and do not follow EU membership: Romania and Poland sit in Eastern Europe. That is deliberate, because EU membership moved during the period (the UK left in 2020, Croatia joined in 2013) and a series built on it would show treaty steps rather than migration. This is place of BIRTH, not nationality (many residents have naturalised), not ethnicity and not religion. It does not include the second generation: a child born in Spain to Moroccan parents counts as born in Spain.
Where given names come from
All living residents of any age, as a share of the whole population — not names given to this year's newborns.
- Castilian names23.8%
- Names shared by both languages21.4%
- Catalan names15.2%
- Maghrebi names7.7%
- West African names0.7%
- Eastern European names0.7%
- Basque names0.5%
- Anglophone names0.5%
- Other European names0.2%
- South Asian names0.1%
- Other traditions<0.1%
- Unclassified29.1%
Share of residents by the naming tradition their given name comes from (Idescat Onomàstica, 2025 register). Note carefully: the register covers ALL living residents, of every age — not names given in 2025. People called Antonio average 62 years old; people called Marc average 27. The composition is eighty years of naming decisions accumulated, not a picture of what parents choose today. The list classifies 81.6% of names in Catalonia; the rest is shown as "unclassified" and is never redistributed across the other groups. That share covers two different things: names absent from the list, and names on it that Idescat withholds for statistical confidentiality when fewer than 4 people in the comarca carry them. It is therefore much larger in small comarques — and every minority slice should be read as a floor, especially there. Names Idescat publishes merged (Maria/María, Júlia/Julia, Ramon/Ramón) cannot be attributed to either language and count as shared. It measures where a name comes from — not a person's origin, language or identity.
All the data
Market Data (Idealista)
- All homes
- 1,678 €/m²
- Apartments
- 1,768 €/m²
- Houses / chalets
- 1,514 €/m²
- All land
- 276 €/m²
- Urban / developable
- 296 €/m²
- Rustic
- 202 €/m²
- Avg. rent
- 628 €/month2025
Asking prices to buy (sale), not rent — median €/m² of active listings. Based on 318 home listings and 247 land listings stored for this comarca. Last updated: August 28, 2026.
Economics & Demographics
- Income (per person)
- 16,222 € · 11% below the Catalan median2023
- Unemployment
- 8.6%2024
- Median Age
- 45 years2023
- Foreigners
- 31.6%2025
- Annual Growth
- +0.9%2024
Climate metrics
- Tropical nights
- 41.3 per year2023–2025
- Cool nights
- 16.3 each summer2023–2025
- Hot days
- 37.7 per year2023–2025
Natural risk
- Residents in a very-high flood-risk municipality
- 71.2%2026
- Residents in an above-average wildfire-hazard municipality
- 8.3%2026
- Forest area burned (2011-2024)
- 10,640 ha2011–2024
Shares of people, not of municipalities or of land: the proportion of the comarca's residents living in a municipality classified at the stated level. Official classification from the INUNCAT and INFOCAT plans (Departament d'Interior); fires from the Departament d'Acció Climàtica. Wildfire hazard is relative to the Catalan average.
Quality & Safety
- PM2.5
- No monitoring station in this comarca
- Safety
- 84.8 per 1,0002025
Language
- Can speak Catalan
- 71.8%2011
- Given name in its Catalan form (among dual-form names)
- 40.5%2025
Share of residents aged 2 and over who report being able to speak Catalan, from the 2011 population census (Idescat, based on INE figures). That is the last census edition to carry the language question at municipal level: real measured data, but more than a decade old. It measures the ability to speak Catalan, not everyday use; Idescat's language-use survey is only published for broad territorial areas, not by comarca. Among residents whose given name exists in both a Catalan and a Castilian form — Josep/José, Jordi/Jorge, Carme/Carmen — the share registered under the Catalan one (Idescat Onomàstica, 2025 register: living residents of every age, not names given that year). About 28% of the population carries one of these names; names with no counterpart in the other language are outside the calculation. This is why it is not comparable with "Catalan names" in the name-origin chart: there the percentage is taken over all residents; here, only over those carrying a dual-form name. It does not measure identity, language spoken at home, or political preference: a given name is chosen by parents, and for most living residents that choice was made decades ago, when Catalan forms were barred from the civil registry — they were not permitted until 1977. The figure therefore tends to run low in comarques with an older population.
Religious Diversity
- Places of Worship
- 193
- Islamic Centers
- 15
- Muslim-Country Born Residents
- 14,569
- Given names of Muslim-world origin
- 5.4%2025
Religious-infrastructure data from public sources (DGAR Generalitat, Idescat). Presented as-is, with no value judgment. Percentage of residents whose given name belongs to the naming traditions of Morocco and the Maghreb, West Africa, South Asia and the Balkans (Idescat Onomàstica, 2025 register — living residents of every age, not names given that year). It measures name origin, not religion or religious practice: a given name is chosen by parents and reflects a family's cultural tradition. It is a floor, because Idescat withholds counts below 4 for statistical confidentiality and names shared with European traditions are deliberately excluded.
Points of Interest
- Beach
- 18 km
- Ski
- 57 km
- Airport
- 44 km
- Hospital
- 1 km
- Barcelona
- 118 km
Lifestyle & Services
- Tourism Intensity
- 45.6 per 1002026
- Total Schools
- 1312025–2026
- Protected Nature
- 36.7%2022–2023
Frequently asked questions
- Is it expensive to live in Alt Empordà?
- Housing in Alt Empordà costs 2,447 €/m² on average, from registered sales in 2024, 65% above the Catalan median. It ranks #21 of 43 in Onviure's "Cheapest Housing in Catalonia by Comarca".
- How much is rent in Alt Empordà?
- Average rent in Alt Empordà is 628 € a month (2025), from the deposits registered with Incasòl, 11% above the Catalan median.
- What do people earn in Alt Empordà?
- Household disposable income per resident in Alt Empordà is 16,222 € a year (Idescat, 2023), 11% below the Catalan median. It ranks #40 of 43 in Onviure's "Catalan Comarques with Highest Income per Resident".
- Is it safe to live in Alt Empordà?
- The Mossos d'Esquadra recorded 84.8 offences per 1,000 residents in Alt Empordà in 2025. It ranks #39 of 40 in Onviure's "Safest Comarques in Catalonia".
- What is the climate like in Alt Empordà?
- Alt Empordà averages 41 tropical nights (above 20 °C) and 38 days above 30 °C a year, from the 2023–2025 mean.
- Do people speak Catalan in Alt Empordà?
- 71.8% of residents aged 2 and over in Alt Empordà reported being able to speak Catalan in the 2011 census, the last edition to carry the question at this level. It measures the ability to speak it, not everyday use.
Compare Alt Empordà with another comarca
Pick a comarca to see it side by side with Alt Empordà, with the Catalonia median as a reference.
The reference period varies by metric and is shown beside each value. Sources: Idescat, Mossos d'Esquadra, Open-Meteo, Idealista and Generalitat de Catalunya.