NUTS-3 ES522 · Spain
Castellón/Castelló
Castellón/Castelló generates €18bn of GDP across 627.6k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 54.5/100 is mid-table of EU regions, led by economic scale and economic growth. Its economy has grown +2.4%/yr over five years and cooling, with the employment rate up 5.7pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for clean environment (84th EU percentile) and weakest for jobs (9.5th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Mid-field stable47 → 38 EU percentile since 1995 (-9 ranks)
Yearly EU-wide percentile of real GDP per head (ARDECO regional accounts, constant 2020 prices, derived over population). 50 = the EU median that year; percentiles are scale-free, so decades are directly comparable. See the backtest for what long-run prosperity ranks do — and don't — anticipate.
Mandate pillar profile · EU percentiles (screener dimensions)
Freight intensity99
Energy cost95
Digital readiness88
Air quality83
Industrial base76
Cost advantage73
Growth momentum62
Talent & skills60
Quality of life57
Resilience51
Economic base47
Governance31
Connectivity23
Labour market14
Demographic outlook10
Each bar is this region's EU percentile on a screener pillar (higher = better for siting; cost & energy are inverted so cheap scores high). These are the exact weights you tune in the Site Screener.
Opportunity Index · composite triage (experimental)
54.5
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth62.2
Livability56.8
Market access21
Economic scale78
Equal-weighted mean of four EU-percentile pillars (deliberately orthogonal: growth=trend, livability=quality, market=distance-weighted demand proxy, scale=absolute GDP). Experimental — a screening triage, not investment advice.
Resilience Index · downside / risk lens (experimental)
51.3
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability36
Labour stability5
Diversification66
Demographic stability98
Inverse of GDP-growth & unemployment volatility (since 2008, incl. 2009/2020 shocks), economic diversification (inverse HHI) and population stability — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher withstands downturns better. Experimental.
Connectivity Index · transit · air · market access (experimental)
22.7
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density29
Airport access18
Market access21
Public-transport stop density, proximity to a major airport, and gravity access to surrounding economic mass — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = better-connected. Experimental.
Talent & Human Capital Index · skills base (experimental)
60.3
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary88
Lifelong learning84
Knowledge workers44
Scientists & engineers25
Young tertiary attainment (25–34), adult lifelong learning, knowledge-worker share and scientists & engineers — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = deeper talent pool. Experimental.
Clean-Air Score · air-quality livability (experimental)
83.3
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.55.6 µg/m³
PM1010.8 µg/m³
NO29.6 µg/m³
PM2.5, PM10 & NO2 annual means from official monitoring networks, inverted (lower pollution = higher) and EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = cleaner air; ground-level ozone is shown separately. Experimental.
Quality of Life · composite (experimental)
56.8
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy37
Jobs9.5
Education51.5
Health79
Safety78
Connectivity58.5
Environment84
Equal-weighted percentile across 6 pillars vs all EU NUTS-3; lower-is-better indicators (crime, unemployment, mortality) inverted. Experimental — regional screening only.
Growth momentum · trend analytics
62.2
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+2.4%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+3.4%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
-1.0 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-1.7 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+1.4%
CAGR
Employment rate
+5.7 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-4.6 pp
5-yr change
Compound annual growth to the latest available year vs all EU NUTS-3; GDP is nominal EUR (“vs country avg” removes most national inflation). Screening signal, not a forecast.
Economic structure · gross value added by sector
Dominant: Industry · 26.8%Diversified · HHI 2157
Agriculture 3.7%Industry 26.8%Construction 5.4%Trade · transport · ICT 25%Finance · real estate · prof. 21.3%Public · health · education 17.8%
Share of total GVA (latest year). HHI = sum of squared sector shares ×10,000; higher means a more concentrated, single-sector-dependent economy (more cyclicality risk).
Trends · 2009–2023
GDP (current prices)
€17,662M2023
1.8% 1y 2.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 78
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€16,561M2025
2.8% 1y 2.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 80
Population
627,6202025
2.0% 1y 1.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 85
Unemployment rate
11.6%2025
14.7% 1y 4.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 95
Employment
258,2002023
1.6% 1y 0.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 82
Productivity / employee
€73,5352025
3.0% 1y 4.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 33
Gross value added
€16,117M2023
1.8% 1y 2.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 79
All indicators · 87 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€16,117M
2023 · EU pctl 79
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€599M
2023 · EU pctl 91
GVA — industry (B–E)
€4,318M
2023 · EU pctl 84
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,949M
2023 · EU pctl 87
GVA — construction (F)
€866M
2023 · EU pctl 76
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€4,035M
2023 · EU pctl 82
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€16,000
2023 · EU pctl 27 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
32,500 PPS
2023 · EU pctl 47
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€29,000
2023 · EU pctl 35
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€25,331M
2023 · EU pctl 74 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€4,983M
2023 · EU pctl 83 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€70,224M
2024 · EU pctl 83 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,435M
2023 · EU pctl 77
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,864M
2023 · EU pctl 73
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€16,561M
2025 · EU pctl 80
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€73,535
2025 · EU pctl 33
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,634M
2025 · EU pctl 76
Labour market
Employment, total persons
258,200
2023 · EU pctl 82
Self-employed persons
38,900
2023 · EU pctl 79
Employment in manufacturing (C)
45,000
2023 · EU pctl 84
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
74.1%
2025 · EU pctl 28 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
30.5%
2025 · EU pctl 93 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
11.6%
2025 · EU pctl 95
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
315,800
2025 · EU pctl 86
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
42,255
2023 · EU pctl 82
Enterprise births
3,604
2023 · EU pctl 78
Enterprise deaths
3,007
2023 · EU pctl 77
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.1%
2023 · EU pctl 42
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
1.2%
2023 · EU pctl 38 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
3.3%
2025 · EU pctl 25 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
1.0%
2023 · EU pctl 41 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
38.1%
2025 · EU pctl 65 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
53.1%
2025 · EU pctl 88 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
18.3%
2025 · EU pctl 84 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
22.2%
2025 · EU pctl 44 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
7.0%
2025 · EU pctl 25 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
98.0%
2025 · EU pctl 88 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
7,911,112
2024 · EU pctl 93
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
510 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 23 · NUTS-2 src
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
60,988 kt
2025 · EU pctl 99
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
933
CURRENT · EU pctl 51
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
50 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 86 · NUTS-2 src
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
149
CURRENT · EU pctl 29
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
92
CURRENT · EU pctl 82
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
CURRENT · EU pctl 15
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
415,765
2025 · EU pctl 86
Population aged 65+
127,565
2025 · EU pctl 84
Population aged under 15
84,290
2025 · EU pctl 82
Median age of population
45.8 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 47
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
30.7%
2025 · EU pctl 16
Crude rate of total population change
20.0 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 98
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
22.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 98
Crude birth rate
6.7 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 27
Crude death rate
8.9 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 11
Live births
4,168
2024 · EU pctl 80
Deaths
5,517
2024 · EU pctl 78
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
51.0%
2025 · EU pctl 8
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.19
2024 · EU pctl 19
Population density (persons per km²)
94 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 38
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
444,591
2100 · EU pctl 78
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
219 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 7 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
900 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 25 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
213 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 28 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.3 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 27
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
77.5 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 90
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
428 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 83
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
318 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 20
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
30 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 19 · NUTS-2 src
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.14
2022 · EU pctl 33
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.84
2022 · EU pctl 33
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.96
2022 · EU pctl 32
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.78
2022 · EU pctl 32
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.16
2022 · EU pctl 9
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.106/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 5
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 30
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
528 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 82
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
22 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 79
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
10 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 10
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 67
Environment
PM10 (coarse particulate matter) annual mean concentration — mean across EEA air-quality monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
11
2024 · EU pctl 11
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
10
2024 · EU pctl 30
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
59
2024 · EU pctl 73
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
233 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 96
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
1.7%
2021 · EU pctl 35
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Spain regions