Heredia (canton)
Heredia is a canton in the Heredia province of Costa Rica. The head city is in Heredia district, and is also the provincial capital of Heredia Province.
History
Heredia was created on 7 December 1848 by decree 167.Geography
Heredia has an area of and a mean elevation of.The canton includes the areas south and west of the capital city of Heredia as far as the Virilla River and the National [Route 1 (Costa Rica)|National Route 1].
The non-contiguous district of Varablanca, that includes a large portion of Braulio Carrillo National Park high in the Cordillera Central, is also administered as part of Heredia Canton.
Government
Mayor
According to Costa Rica's Municipal Code, mayors are elected every four years by the population of the canton. As of the latest 2024 [Costa Rican municipal elections|municipal elections in 2024], the National [Liberation Party (Costa Rica)|National Liberation Party] candidate, Ángela Ileana Aguilar Vargas, was elected mayor of the canton with 31.58% of the votes, with Víctor Andrés Sánchez González and Kenneth Armando Arguedas Navarro as first and second vice mayors, respectively.| Period | Name | Party |
| 2002–2006 | Javiel Carvajal Molina | Social [Christian Unity Party|PUSC] |
| 2006–2010 | José Manuel Ulate Avendaño | PLN |
| 2010–2016 | José Manuel Ulate Avendaño | PLN |
| 2016–2020 | José Manuel Ulate Avendaño | PLN |
| 2020–2024 | José Manuel Ulate Avendaño | PLN |
| 2024–2028 | Ángela Ileana Aguilar Vargas | PLN |
Municipal Council
Like the mayor and vice mayors, members of the Municipal Council are elected every four years. Heredia's Municipal Council has 9 seats for regidores and their substitutes, who can participate in meetings but not vote unless the owning regidor is absent. The current president of the Municipal Council is the Sentir Heredia regidor, José Pablo Quesada Castro, with National Liberation Party member, Heidy Hernández Benavides, as vice president. The Municipal Council's composition for the 2024–2028 period is as follows:Districts
The canton of Heredia is subdivided into the following districts:Demographics
In 2022, the National Institute of Statistics and Census estimated Heredia's population at, up from at the time of the 2011 census.According to a publication by the United Nations Development Programme, Heredia had a Human Development Index of 0.816 in 2022, ranking it 4th in its province and 9th in the entire country.