Huesca · Aragon

Huesca

A pleasant mix of urban and rustic, once briefly capital of the Aragón kingdom — modern apartment blocks around an atmospheric old quarter.

55,033 residents~55 min to Zaragoza
Huesca, Huesca
Photo: Kent Wang · CC BY-SA 4.0

Why people fall for Huesca

Portrait drawn from The Rough Guide.

The provincial capital.

On the table. Outdoor cafés and drinking dens in the old quarter.

Worth the trip

  • The Catedral, spanning brick Mudéjar to soaring Gothic, with a 16th-century alabaster retablo by Damián Forment
  • A spiral staircase up the 14th-century bell tower with views to the Pyrenees
  • The Museo Diocesano's sacred art

A little history

The Romans settled here first, calling it Osca; the Moors took Huesca in 718 and ruled almost four hundred years; in 1096 it became capital of the Aragón kingdom until power moved to Zaragoza in the early twelfth century.

Who it suits: Cathedral/history travellers · Base for the castle of Loarre

Who Huesca is for — and who it isn't

Not our opinion: we ran the same scoring engine behind the quiz for six settler profiles across all 8,132 municipalities and read off where Huesca lands.

Good for

  • American retirees 90th percentile of 8,132 towns a hospital in town · a health centre close by

The numbers

The decision data — each figure placed among all Spanish municipalities that report it ("top 10%" always means good, also where lower is better). Regional overlays and estimates are labelled, and where there's no local reading we say so plainly.

Climate

Winter average temp
7°C bottom 49% of 8,131 towns 0.8°C below the Spanish average (7.8°C)
Summer high (Jul–Aug)
31.8°C bottom 27% of 8,131 towns 1.6°C above the Spanish average (30.2°C)
Rainy days a year
61 days top 45% of 8,088 towns 11% less than the Spanish average (69 days)
Sunshine
7.8 h/day top 24% of 3,829 towns 7% more than the Spanish average (7.2 h/day)
Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
20 top 18% of 8,033 towns 36 below the Spanish average (56)

Cost & economy

Home price
€1,706/m² top 39% of 306 towns 23% less than the Spanish average (€2,208/m²)
Net income per person
€15,494 top 34% of 8,059 towns 7% more than the Spanish average (€14,495)
Income growth ’18–’23
17.8% bottom 12% of 6,605 towns

Schools

Schools in town
30 top 2% of 7,042 towns
Nearest international school
3 km top 1% of 8,132 towns
PISA maths (region) regional estimate
487 #7 of 17 regions, +8 vs national 6 above the Spanish average (481)

Healthcare

Drive to a hospital
0 min top 1% of 8,132 towns
Nearest health centre
1.6 km top 7% of 7,025 towns
Surgical wait (region) regional estimate
132 days #13 of 17 regions, +29 days vs national 22% more than the Spanish average (108 days)

Getting around

Drive to nearest airport
74 min top 50% of 8,132 towns
Fibre-to-home coverage
97% top 15% of 8,132 towns 19% above the Spanish average (79%)
100 Mbps+ coverage
99% top 20% of 8,132 towns 15% above the Spanish average (83%)

Who lives here

Population
55,033
Born in Spain
80.9% 7.9% below the Spanish average (88.8%)
Born elsewhere in EU/UK
2.7% 1.1% below the Spanish average (3.8%)
U.S.-born residents
0.6 per 1,000
Nearest airport Zaragoza Airport (ZAZ) — 74 min drive · international: direct flights to 29 countries (incl. UK, US)
Winter 7°C average — 0.8°C below the Spanish average (7.8°C)
Summer 31.8°C high — 1.6°C above the Spanish average (30.2°C)
Homes €1,706/m² — 23% less than the Spanish average (€2,208/m²)

Numbers: SpainScore town dataset, derived from INE, AEMET, Mitma and the Catastro. Percentile chips count only the municipalities that report the figure — the "of n" says how many. Region-ranked figures (PISA, surgical waits) compare Spain's 17 comunidades autónomas. A blank means no municipal-level figure is published — not a zero.

The year, month by month

AEMET 30-year climate normals — what a January or an August actually feels like, not the annual average.

-5° 15° 25° 35° 100 0 mm 10° 12° 16° 19° 23° 10° 29° 14° 32° 17° 32° 17° 26° 14° 20° 10° 14° 10° day high night low JFMAMJJASOND
day high → night low (°C) rain (mm/month, right axis) Measured at the HUESCA, AEROPUERTO station.

How does Huesca fit you?

These are the town's numbers. Whether it's your town depends on what you're optimising for — winter sun or mild summers, a city or a village, short medical waits, an easy flight home. The 3-minute quiz scores Huesca against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 55 min from Zaragoza, if that's your anchor.

Take the quiz — rank Huesca for you →

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