Cártama, Málaga: population, climate, prices
Málaga, Andalusia · 29,333 inhabitants (1 Jan 2025)
Living in Cártama
Cártama is a small town of 29,333 inhabitants 15 km from the sea in Málaga (Andalusia), with mild winters and hot summers (January nights 8.4°C, August afternoons 31.7°C). The nearest international school (Sunland International Novaschool, British curriculum) is 0.3 km away. Winter nights are mild for Spain: 8.4°C on average in January, warmer than 85% of the towns compared. Year-round direct flights to Amsterdam, London, Brussels, Paris and the US leave from Málaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP), 12 km away. Against that, public waiting lists in Andalusia are long (173 days on average for planned surgery); the centre is thin on everyday shops and services (1 of 6 essentials within a 10-minute walk); the nearest public hospital is 15 km away in Torremolinos. Around 2055, Spain's official climate scenarios put August afternoons here at about 32.8°C and the number of warm nights at 94 a year.
Each sentence is chosen by where the town ranks among the 333 places compared on that measure (top or bottom 20%); the numbers are the ones in the sections below, from the sources named there.
About Cártama
Cártama is a town and municipality in the province of Málaga, part of the autonomous community of Andalusia, southern Spain. The municipality is situated approximately 17 km (11 mi) from Málaga. It is one of the most extensive towns in the province, covering c. 105 km2 (41 sq mi). Cártama has a population of approximately 15,000 residents.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Read more on Wikipedia →
Getting there
- Nearest airport
- Málaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP), 12 km, 26,760,549 passengers in 2025, 168 destinations
- Direct to Amsterdam
- Málaga airport, 12 km (year-round)
- Direct to Brussels (Zaventem or Charleroi)
- Málaga airport, 12 km (year-round)
- Direct to London
- Málaga airport, 12 km (year-round)
- Direct to Paris
- Málaga airport, 12 km (year-round)
- Direct to Frankfurt
- Málaga airport, 12 km (year-round)
- Direct to the US
- Madrid airport, 430 km (year-round); summer only from Málaga, 12 km
- Train station
- no long-distance station within 15 km
- Fastest train to Madrid
- no direct train
- Fastest train to Barcelona
- no direct train
Distances are straight-line. Flights as listed in airport route tables on 4 Oct 2026; train times from Renfe's timetable (Iryo and Ouigo not included).
Healthcare
- Nearest public general hospital
- Hospital Marítimo de Torremolinos (15 km away, in Torremolinos, 774 beds)
- Nearest large public hospital (500+ beds, most specialties)
- Hospital Universitario Virgen de La Victoria (19 km away, in Málaga, 774 beds)
- Nearest private general hospital
- Hospital Vithas Xanit Internacional (14 km away, in Benalmádena, 125 beds)
- General hospitals within 25 km
- 13
- Waiting time for planned surgery (Andalusia)
- 173 days on average; 32.2% wait more than 6 months (Spain: 121 days)
- Waiting time for a first specialist visit
- 136 days on average; 57.1% wait more than 60 days (Spain: 102 days)
Ministry of Health, National Hospital Catalogue 2025 (situation on 31 Dec 2024); general hospitals only. Distances are straight-line to the hospital's municipality. Residents registered in Spain use public hospitals; non-EU applicants for some visas must have private health insurance. Waiting times are for the whole region (public health service, 31 Dec 2025), as reported by each region to the Ministry of Health (SISLE-SNS); private insurance usually avoids most of the wait.
International schools
- Nearest international school
- Sunland International Novaschool (British), Estación, 0.3 km
- International schools within 25 km
- 16
- Nearest by curriculum (within 100 km)
- British 0.3 km · American 59 km · French 22 km · German 26 km · Nordic 14 km
Within 30 km (up to five):
| School | Curriculum | Levels in the register | Where | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunland International Novaschool | British | secondary | Estación | 0.3 km |
| Interational Montessori School Caracoliris (IMSC) | curriculum not stated | infant, primary | Alhaurín de la Torre | 9.5 km |
| Escuela Montessori La Casa Verde | curriculum not stated | infant, primary | Coín | 13 km |
| The Benalmadena International College | curriculum not stated | infant, primary, secondary | Benalmádena | 14 km |
| Colegio Noruego Costa del Sol | Norwegian | primary, secondary | Arroyo de la Miel-Benalmadena Costa | 14 km |
Ministry of Education, register of non-university schools (RCD), October 2026: every school authorised to teach a foreign curriculum in Spain, without the business, arts and hairdressing schools in the same list and without schools for one nationality (Japanese, Libyan, Iraqi, Russian, Panamanian). Curriculum as labelled in the register or clear from the school's name; levels as listed in the register, which leaves them out for some schools. Straight-line distance from the town centre. We do not rate schools: visit, and ask about accreditation and fees.
Who lives here
- Population trend
- +19.3% in ten years (24,592 in 2015, 29,333 in 2025)
- Age
- 11.9% aged 65 or over, 20.8% under 16 (2022; Spain: 20.0% and 14.9%)
- Local income
- 11,383 € net per person per year (2023), 76% of the Spanish average; median 16,450 € per adult-equivalent
- Foreign residents
- 6.8% of all residents; 8.9% of residents aged 65+ (2022)
- Largest nationalities
- British 1.5%, Romanian 0.8%, Moroccan 0.6%; all EU citizens 2.5% (share of all residents, 1 Jan 2022; the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland and the Nordic countries are not published per town)
INE: population register (Padrón) and household income atlas. Local income is a rough guide to local prices and affluence; Spain publishes no official cost-of-living index for towns.
Within a 10-minute walk of the centre
- Everyday essentials on foot
- 1 of 6 ✗ 15+ food shops ✗ 3+ pharmacies ✗ 25+ cafés, bars or restaurants ✓ 2+ parks ✗ 3+ bus stops ✗ 2+ libraries, theatres, cinemas or cultural centres
- Lively centre
- 5 out of 100: how much there is compared with the other 332 places (big cities score highest)
- 1 food shops (supermarkets, bakeries, greengrocers…)
- 2 pharmacies
- 0 doctors, clinics or hospitals
- 0 cafés, bars and restaurants
- 2 parks and gardens
- 0 bus stops
- 0 libraries, theatres, cinemas, cultural centres
- 0 market places
Counted in OpenStreetMap within 800 m of the town centre, taken as the point OpenStreetMap marks as the town's centre, moved at most 500 m to the busiest nearby spot (for a few spread-out municipalities without such a point: the busiest spot near the official coordinate). OpenStreetMap is kept by volunteers: very complete in most Spanish towns, thinner in some. “Everyday essentials” only asks whether the basics are there, so a small town can score 6 of 6; “lively centre” ranks each count among all 333 places and averages them, so it mostly reflects size. Large municipalities with several centres (Lorca, Oleiros, Ames…) can score low because their official centre is a small village.
Holiday lets and beaches
- Tourist apartments
- 61 (0.48% of all homes; Spain 1.28%), 1.1 tourist beds per 100 residents (May 2026)
- Blue Flag beaches
- nearest in Mijas, 13 km; 23 within 30 km
Tourist apartments: INE count of homes listed on Airbnb, Booking and Vrbo. A high share means busy summers and pressure on rents. Blue Flag 2026 (ADEAC): beaches meeting water-quality, safety and service standards; this includes some lake and river beaches. Distances are straight-line between town centres.
Water
- River basin
- Cuencas Mediterraneas Andaluzas
- Reservoirs now
- 64.3% full (week of 2026-09-29); the same week in the previous 10 years averaged 39.2%
- Worst week 2016-2025
- 18.2% full (2024-02-06)
- Weeks below 40% full, 2016-2025
- 39% of all weeks
Ministry for the Ecological Transition, weekly hydrological bulletin: all reservoirs over 5 hm³ in the basin. Low reservoirs are what led to drought restrictions in Catalonia (2023-24) and Andalusia (2022-24). Some basins (Segura) also rely on transfers and desalination, so their reservoir level alone overstates the risk of taps running dry.
What the rankings say
Not named in the rankings we track.
Climate
● average daily high ● average nightly low ■ rainy days (1 mm or more). These are 1991-2020 averages, not record temperatures: a hot spell will be warmer and a cold night colder than these values.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average daily high, °C | 17.4 | 17.7 | 19.5 | 21.6 | 24.8 | 28.8 | 31.3 | 31.7 | 28.8 | 24.9 | 20.2 | 17.8 |
| Average nightly low, °C | 8.4 | 8.8 | 10.5 | 12.3 | 15.1 | 18.9 | 21.5 | 22.2 | 19.6 | 16.0 | 11.8 | 9.4 |
| Rain, mm | 41 | 54 | 74 | 40 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 28 | 56 | 80 | 64 |
| Rainy days (1 mm or more) | 4.7 | 4.8 | 6.1 | 4.8 | 2.9 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 2.6 | 4.9 | 5.9 | 4.8 |
| Sunshine, hours per day | 5.9 | 6.7 | 7.2 | 8.3 | 9.7 | 11.2 | 11.4 | 10.4 | 8.7 | 7.1 | 5.9 | 5.2 |
| Humidity, % | 67 | 66 | 65 | 62 | 58 | 55 | 56 | 59 | 63 | 70 | 68 | 69 |
| Days reaching 30 °C / 86 °F | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 2.1 | 11.1 | 21.0 | 24.4 | 9.7 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
The year in numbers
- Köppen climate class
- Csa: Hot-summer Mediterranean
- Summer mugginess (August average dew point)
- 18.2°C – oppressive (humidity from a nearby station)
- Days reaching 25 °C / 77 °F
- 151 a year (estimate)
- Days reaching 30 °C / 86 °F
- 70 a year
- Days reaching 35 °C / 95 °F
- 4 a year (estimate)
- Warm nights (low of 20 °C / 68 °F or more)
- 76 a year (estimate)
- Frost nights (0 °C / 32 °F or less)
- 0 a year
- Average humidity
- 63%
Dew point measures how sticky the air feels: under 13 °C (55 °F) feels dry, 16-18 °C (61-64 °F) muggy, over 18 °C oppressive. For comparison, Davis, California (also Köppen Csa) has a summer dew point of about 11 °C. "Typical hottest day" is the 1991-2020 average of each year's single hottest day. Estimates are counted from daily satellite data adjusted to this place's averages; checked against AEMET's own 30 °C counts they are usually within 4 days a year.
1991-2020 averages, AEMET station MÁLAGA, CENTRO METEOROLÓGICO (6156X), 13.4 km away; sunshine from MÁLAGA AEROPUERTO (6155A), 14 km; humidity from MÁLAGA AEROPUERTO (6155A), 14 km; temperatures adjusted to the town's altitude. © AEMET.
Around 2055 (projection)
- August average high
- 32.8°C: +1.0 °C compared with today (models range from 0.3 °C to 1.7 °C)
- Warm nights (low of 20 °C / 68 °F or more)
- 94 a year, +16 (models: +6 to +23)
- Frost nights
- 0 a year (+0)
- Rainy days (1 mm or more)
- 35 a year, -7 (models: -14 to -3)
- Rain amount
- -10% over the year: summer -32%, winter -6%
- Sunlight reaching the ground
- +0.4% (models: -1.1% to +1.2%); no official sunshine-hours projection exists
Spain's official climate scenarios (Escenarios-PNACC 2024, AEMET regionalisation of 11 global climate models, ~5 km grid), middle emissions scenario SSP2-4.5: average change from 2011-2040 to 2041-2070, added to today's 1991-2020 values above. The range shows the lowest and highest of the 11 models. Rain: the same models regionalised by CSIC (DeepESD). Sunlight: EURO-CORDEX regional models (RCP4.5). A projection, not a forecast. Read: Spain around 2055, region by region →
Questions people ask
Where is Cártama?
Cártama is in the province of Málaga (Andalusia), Spain, 15 km from the sea. The nearest airport is Málaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP), 12 km away.
How many people live in Cártama?
29,333 registered residents on 1 January 2025 (INE), +19.3% in ten years.
What is the climate of Cártama?
January afternoons average 17.4°C and nights 8.4°C; August afternoons 31.7°C. 8.1 hours of sunshine a day and 42 rainy days a year (AEMET 1991-2020).
Is Cártama safe?
Recorded conventional crime in Cártama was 29.1 offences per 1,000 residents in 2025, low for Spain (national rate about 41). Home burglaries: 1.19 per 1,000.
How hot is Cártama in summer?
August afternoons average 31.7°C (1991-2020), with 76 nights a year above 20 °C and 4 days of 35 °C or more.
How cold is Cártama in winter?
January afternoons average 17.4°C and January nights 8.4°C, with 0 frost nights a year.
Is there a hospital in Cártama?
The nearest public general hospital is Hospital Marítimo de Torremolinos in Torremolinos, 15 km away. Planned surgery in Andalusia waits 173 days on average.
Can you fly direct from Cártama to Amsterdam or London all year?
Yes. Málaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP) (12 km away) has year-round direct flights to Amsterdam, London, Brussels, Paris and the US.
What does it cost to rent or buy in Cártama?
A typical apartment (85 m²) rented for 580 € a month in 2024 contracts.
Nearby and similar towns
- Nearest towns in this comparison
- Alhaurín de la Torre (Málaga, 8 km), Alhaurín el Grande (Málaga, 10 km), Coín (Málaga, 13 km), Mijas (Málaga, 13 km), Benalmádena (Málaga, 14 km)
- Most similar towns (summer heat, winter nights, rainy days, home prices, size)
- Catarroja (Valencia), Vícar (Almería), Alboraia/Alboraya (Valencia), Sant Antoni de Portmany (Balearic Islands), El Campello (Alicante)
Distances are straight-line between town centres. Similarity is the distance in standardised values of the five measures.