Angra do Heroísmo vs Velas
Two municipalities in Açores, Portugal, side by side on the five things this site grades — climate & hazards, local vitality, services, affordability and property market. Every figure comes from official open data, and the ones that cannot honestly be compared are marked rather than quietly averaged.
Pillar by pillar
| Pillar | Angra do Heroísmo | Velas |
|---|---|---|
| Climate & hazards | 95/100 | 95/100 |
| Local vitality | 50/100 ▲ | 39/100 |
| Services & access | 45/100 ▲ | 31/100 |
| Affordability | 52/100 | 52/100 |
| Property market | 48/100 | 48/100 |
Pillar scores are percentile ranks within each municipality's own country, so a 70 in Spain and a 70 in Italy each mean "ahead of 70% of this country's towns" — not that the two places are alike.
The underlying figures
| Indicator | Angra do Heroísmo | Velas |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 34,782 inhab. (2023) | 5,010 inhab. (2023) |
| Population trend (~10y) | -1.4% (2013→2023) declining — the key rural depopulation risk | -5.7% (2013→2023) declining — the key rural depopulation risk |
| Price (€/m²) Not compared — At least one of these figures covers a wider area than the municipality itself. | 1,400 €/m² district proxy | 1,400 €/m² district proxy |
| Price appreciation (~5y) | +6.0%/yr district proxy · 2020→2025 | +6.0%/yr district proxy · 2020→2025 |
| Gross rental yield Not compared — At least one of these figures covers a wider area than the municipality itself. | 6.0% est. from a district rent ÷ price | 6.0% est. from a district rent ÷ price |
| Tourism / short-let potential | 40 beds / 1,000 inhab. | 40 beds / 1,000 inhab. |
| Foreign residents | 1.7% (2023) | 2.71% (2023) ▲ |
| Everyday essentials | 4 of 4 in the municipality pharmacy, supermarket, school, doctor | 4 of 4 in the municipality pharmacy, supermarket, school, doctor |
| International airport | Lisboa-Humberto Delgado (LIS) (1571.1 km) | Lisboa-Humberto Delgado (LIS) (1647.4 km) |
Which way each is going
| Population momentum | Angra do Heroísmo | Velas |
|---|---|---|
| Annualised change | -0.14 %/yr 2013–2023 | -0.58 %/yr 2013–2023 |
Demographic momentum is an absolute rate and feeds no grade of its own — see the momentum pages.
How to read this
Grades are computed from official open data — statistics offices, hazard catalogues, land registries and OpenStreetMap — never from reviews, listings or opinion. Each indicator is ranked against the other municipalities of the same country, except the natural hazards, which are absolute 30-year probabilities and therefore mean the same thing everywhere.
That is why some rows above carry no comparison. Spain counts registered tourist dwellings where Italy counts every tourist bed place; each statistics office defines a foreign resident differently; the property-price vintages run from 2018 in Italy to 2025 in Portugal. Putting two such numbers side by side and calling the difference a finding would be inventing one, so the row states the reason instead.
Full method, sources and known gaps: the methodology page.