Puriscal (canton)
Puriscal is the 4th canton in the province of San José, Costa Rica. The head city of the canton is Santiago.
Toponymy
In Spanish, a purisco is the flower of the common bean. A puriscal is a field of flowering beans.History
Puriscal canton was established by decree on 7 August 1868.Geography
Puriscal has an area of and a mean elevation of.Chucás River delineates the canton's northernmost boundary, while the Chires River marks its far southern border, with the canton of Parrita in Puntarenas Province. Puriscal includes a significant portion of the Coastal Mountain Range. However, the canton is landlocked.
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 municipal elections in 2024, the National Liberation Party candidate, Iris Cristina Arroyo Herrera, was elected mayor of the canton with 60.39% of the votes, with Miguel Ángel Mata Zúñiga and David Alonso Carrera Herrera as first and second vice mayors, respectively.| Period | Name | Party |
| 2002–2006 | Carlos Araya Jiménez | PLN |
| 2006–2010 | Jorge Luis Chaves Gutiérrez | PLN |
| 2010–2016 | Manuel Espinoza Campos | PLN |
| 2016–2020 | Luis Madrigal Hidalgo | PUSC |
| 2020–2024 | Iris Cristina Arroyo Herrera | PLN |
| 2024–2028 | Iris Cristina Arroyo Herrera | PLN |
Municipal Council
Like the mayor and vice mayors, members of the Municipal Council are elected every four years. Puriscal's Municipal Council has 7 seats for regidores and their substitutes, who can participate in meetings but not vote unless the owning regidor is absent. The Municipal Council's composition for the 2024–2028 period is as follows:Demographics
Puriscal had an estimated population of people in 2022, up from at the time of the 2011 census.Puriscal had a Human Development Index of 0.755 in 2022. Its Multidimensional Poverty Index in 2023 was 0.072.
Only 18% of the canton's population live in urban areas. Among its inhabitants, 20.2% are under ten, and 7.4% are over 65.