As Cuenca celebrates its independence, it also boasts the country’s strongest economy

As Cuenca celebrates its independence, it can also celebrate the fact that it has the country’s strongest economy.

Most of the tires manufactured at Cuenca’s Continental Tire factory are exported.

According to statistics compiled by the University of Guayaquil and the University of Cuenca, the city leads the country in almost all major economic categories on a per capita basis, including household spending, industrial production, exports, construction, employment and income.

Not surprisingly, the city also leads the country in recovery from the six-year recession that begin in 2019.

In the first seven months of 2025, total sales in Cuenca exceeded $5.5 billion dollars, 10.4% higher than the same period in 2024. In addition, exports of manufactured goods from the city totaled $242 million, 15.6% higher than 2024.

Also important to the city’s relative prosperity, according to the University of Cuenca study, are remittances from overseas. “Per capita, Cuenca and Azuay Province receives 50% more from Ecuadorians living in other countries than any other area of Ecuador,” the study reported. “In the first seven months of 2025, an estimated $1.1 billion came from this source.”

Although most of remittances go directly to families, the study noted that many Ecuadorian migrants in the U.S., Spain and other countries, want to invest in Cuenca. “They see the growth and stability in the city and want to invest here,” the study said.

Workers assembly appliances in a Cuenca’s factory.

According to Galo Salamea, president of the Cuenca Chamber of Commerce, Cuenca has always had a reputation for a strong work ethic and prosperity. “Until the middle of the 20th century, Cuenca was largely isolated from the rest of the country and it had to create its own products and its own well-being, he said. “This is the story of the toquilla straw hat industry, of which Cuenca is still the world leader.”

By necessity, Salamea said the city diversified its production, providing not only for itself, but for the rest of Ecuador and the world. “More than 95% of what Cuenca produces, is exported and most or the proceeds return to the city,” he says, adding that the city is a leader in the manufacture of ceramics, car and truck tires, steel products, appliances, furniture and Panama hats.

Cuenca has the highest rate of full employment in Ecuador, a fact that Sofía Arce, president of the Cuenca Chamber of Industries, attributes to a better trained workforce. “The city’s four universities provide us with professionally and technically trained people we need in our businesses,” she says. “The universities are also fertile grounds for innovation and entrepreneurship that helps us stay competitive.”

Arce cites the recent designation of Cuenca as Ecuador’s first Technological Free Trade Zone. “This is recognition of Cuenca’s large number of programmers and other tech saavy university graduates,” she says, adding that construction of trade center facilities is already underway.”

Both Arce and Salamea say that Cuenca’s reputation as a safe city plays a major role in recent growth as well as for attracting new investment. “We are an island of stability in Ecuador, not just today with the bad news about crime on the coast, but historically,” says Salamea. “Our success would not happen without the low crime rate, freedom from extortion and the other problems that plague some parts of the country.”

Much of Cuenca’s prosperity, according to University of Guayaquil data, is the large number of banks and financial cooperatives in the city. “Although the city represents only 4% of the country’s population, 16% of the country’s bank and cooperative deposits are held in the city,” the university study says. “Much of that money is spent and invested in Cuenca and Azuay Province.”