Badajoz · Extremadura
Mérida
A living Roman city — ancient Augusta Emerita, once capital of Roman Lusitania — where spectacular ruins turn up in the most unlikely corners of an otherwise everyday modern city.
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Why people fall for Mérida
Portrait drawn from Lonely Planet.
Extremadura, on the Río Guadiana.
Worth the trip
- The Alcazaba, Puente Romano and Teatro Romano
- The Templo de Diana
- The Acueducto de los Milagros
A little history
Born Augusta Emerita, once the capital of the Roman province of Lusitania.
Who it suits: Roman-history travellers
Who Mérida 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 Mérida lands.
Mérida is mid-pack for all six profiles we score (between the 43rd and 88th percentile) — a solid all-rounder, a standout for nobody. Your own priorities may read it differently: that's what the quiz is for.
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
- 10.5°C top 18% of 8,131 towns 2.7°C above the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 35.2°C bottom 4% of 8,131 towns 5°C above the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 54 days top 26% of 8,088 towns 21% less than the Spanish average (69 days)
- Sunshine
- no local data
- Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
- 106 bottom 17% of 8,033 towns 49 above the Spanish average (56)
Cost & economy
- Home price
- €1,096/m² top 12% of 306 towns 50% less than the Spanish average (€2,208/m²)
- Net income per person
- €13,297 bottom 34% of 8,059 towns 8% less than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 26.1% top 49% of 6,605 towns
Schools
- Schools in town
- 34 top 2% of 7,042 towns
- Nearest international school
- 50 km bottom 45% of 8,132 towns
- PISA maths (region) regional estimate
- 469 #12 of 17 regions, −10 vs national 12 below the Spanish average (481)
Healthcare
- Drive to a hospital
- 0 min top 1% of 8,132 towns
- Nearest health centre
- 8.7 km top 48% of 7,025 towns
- Surgical wait (region) regional estimate
- 135 days #14 of 17 regions, +32 days vs national 25% more than the Spanish average (108 days)
Getting around
- Drive to nearest airport
- 62 min top 38% of 8,132 towns
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 97% top 16% of 8,132 towns 18% above the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 100% top 12% of 8,132 towns 16% above the Spanish average (83%)
Who lives here
- Population
- 60,319
- Born in Spain
- 93% 4.2% above the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 1.1% 2.7% below the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 0.43 per 1,000
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.
How does Mérida 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 Mérida against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 59 min from Badajoz, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Mérida for you →Nearby towns
Other places we profile within easy reach.