What is a Canton?

What is a Canton?

An administrative region equal to a county or a district.

In Costa Rica, there is no such concept as “state” or “governor”. Instead of those, we have “cantones” and “alcaldes”. Our provinces are merely created for the sorting of how many “diputados” each area can elect, some sort of congress members for the “Asamblea Legislativa” where laws and budgets are discussed.

These are smaller areas than provinces which were created to concentrate a population that has similar economic activities and geography. But that is only on the paper because, to be honest, the administrative division of Costa Rica is a total mess. Most cantons were created hundreds of years ago when Costa Rica was mostly a rural country.

Why cantons are important

Yet, Costa Ricans have to live with this mess and pay taxes to these local governments called “Municipalidades”. These taxes are invested in roads, bridges, social programs, institutions with specific functions like helping homeless people, water distribution, among others.
Of course, cantons are divided into districts, way shorter zones, useful to differentiate one zone from another for administrative purposes.
In addition, cantons have their own electoral process, where inhabitants can choose the mayor and the “regidores”. These “regidores” are members of the local council where projects and budgets are discussed.

Still, I’ll be using these administrative divisions to discover the country piece by piece. There are 84 cantons, the most recent canton created was just declared as such 8 years ago, which is Rio Claro.
Update: New cantons were created recently, Monteverde and Puerto Jimenez, both in Puntarenas.

List of cantons in Costa Rica

    • San Jose Province

    • San Jose. Main City: San Jose
    • Desamparados. Main City: Desamparados
    • Escazu. Main City: Escazu
    • Santa Ana. Main City: Santa Ana
    • Puriscal. Main City: Santiago
    • Curridabat. Main City: Curridabat
    • Tarrazu. Main City: San Marcos
    • Aserrí. Main City: Aserri
    • Mora. Main City: Colon
    • Goicochea. Main City: Guadalupe
    • Alajuelita. Main City: Alajuelita
    • Acosta. Main City:San Ignacio
    • Vazquez de Coronado. Main City: San Isidro
    • Dota. Main City: San Maria
    • Tibas. Main City: San Juan
    • Moravia. Main City: San Vicente
    • Montes de Oca. Main City: San Pedro
    • Turrubares. Main City: San Pablo
    • Perez Zeledon. Main City: San Isidro
    • Leon Cortes Castro. Main City: San Pablo

    • Alajuela Province

    • Alajuela. Main City: Alajuela
    • San Ramon. Main City: San Ramon
    • Grecia. Main City: Grecia
    • San Mateo. Main City: San Mateo
    • Atenas. Main City: Atenas
    • San Carlos. Main City: Quesada
    • Poas. Main City: San Pedro
    • Naranjo. Main City: Naranjo
    • Palmares. Main City: Palmares
    • Orotina. Main City: Orotina
    • Sarchi. Main City: Sarchi
    • Upala. Main City:Upala
    • Guatuso. Main City: San Rafael
    • Rio Cuarto. Main City: Rio Cuarto
    • Los Chiles. Main City: Los Chiles

    • Cartago Province

    • Cartago. Main City: Cartago
    • La Union. Main City: Tres Rios
    • Paraiso. Main City: Paraiso
    • Jimenez. Main City: Juan Viñas
    • Turrialba. Main City: Turrialba
    • Alvarado. Main City: Pacayas
    • Oreamuno. Main City: San Rafael
    • EL Guarco. Main City: El Tejar

    • Limon Province

    • Limon. Main City: Limon
    • Talamanca. Main City: Bribri
    • Siquirres. Main City: Siquirres
    • Pococi. Main City: Guapiles
    • Matina. Main City: Matina
    • Guacimo. Main City: Guacimo

    • Guanacaste Province

    • Hojancha. Main City: Hojancha
    • Liberia. Main City: Liberia
    • Santa Cruz. Main City: Santa Cruz
    • Bagaces. Main City: Bagaces
    • Carrillo. Main City: Filadelfia
    • Abangares. Main City: Las Juntas
    • Cañas. Main City: Cañas
    • Tilaran. Main City: Tilaran
    • Nicoya. Main City: Nicoya
    • Nandayure. Main City: Carmona
    • La Cruz. Main City: La Cruz

    • Puntarenas Province

    • Puntarenas. Main City: Puntarenas
    • Buenos Aires. Main City: Buenos Aires
    • Monteverde. Main City: Santa Elena
    • Montes de Oro. Main City: Miramar
    • Parrita. Main City: Parrita
    • Osa. Main City: Puerto Cortes
    • Garabito. Main City: Jaco
    • Corredores. Main City: Ciudad Neily
    • Golfito. Main City: Golfito
    • Quepos. Main City: Quepos
    • Coto Brus. Main City: San Vito
    • Esparza. Main City: Esparza
    • Puerto Jimenez. Main City: Puerto Jimenez

    • Heredia Province

    • Santo Domingo. Main City: Santo Domingo
    • Barva. Main City: Barva
    • Heredia. Main City: Heredia
    • Santa Barbara. Main City: Santa Barbara
    • San Rafael. Main City: San Rafael
    • San Isidro. Main City: San Isidro
    • Sarapiqui. Main City: Puerto Viejo
    • Belen. Main City: San Antonio
    • Flores. Main City: San Joaquin
    • Parrita. Main City: Parrita
    • San Pablo. Main City: San Pablo

I want to visit your canton

In conclusion, the idea of this article is to explain what is a canton, because it will be very important for visitors of this site to understand about the roads and places I’ll be visiting will be inside the canton boundaries. Some cantons are really famous inside and outside Costa Rica and people feel very identified with them.
I want to help people grow this sense of belonging to their canton. This country is beautiful, and every canton adds something to the diversity and splendor of the whole.

Finally, If you want to know more about cantons in Costa Rica from the administrative point of view visit this article on Wikipedia

map of covid cases in costa rica by cantonCantons are important to measure the impact of different illnesses in the country.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia and user ROQZ

Costa Rica on Foot