People, People Everywhere

We have been asked by many people about what it is like to be living in Spain. While there is no simple answer to that question, I have come across a few statistics that might give you an idea of how different our current community is in comparison to the last several communities we have lived in.

The last three cities we have lived in are Youngsville, LA; Sugar Hill, GA; and New Orleans, LA. Youngsville is a suburb of Lafayette, LA, and has a population density of approximately 597.3 people/square mile. Hence, we had a nice, big yard and a neighborhood surrounded by sugar cane fields. Sugar Hill is a suburb of Atlanta and has a population density of approximately 1239/sq mi. Before Sugar Hill, we were in New Orleans, which has about 2518/sq mi.

About two months ago we moved into an apartment in Portugalete, Spain. Portugalete is very small in terms of land area. It's total area is only 1.24 square miles, but the population is 51,066. That translates to a population density of 41,202.6/sq mi. Here there is high rise apartment building after high rise apartment building. There are people everywhere. For perspective, New York City, one of the most densely populated US cities, has a density of 27,147/sq mi, significantly less than what we have here.

Being around that many people is a lot different than living in the suburbs in the US. We have always thought of ourselves as city people, but we have not ever experienced anything like this. Living in an apartment rather than in a house with yard is different as well. Not better or worse, just different.