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Pharmacies in Mexico: the three big cities, compared

We counted the pharmacies of Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey with the same criterion and the same method. The capital has 1.9 times the density of Monterrey — but the reason is not that Monterrey lacks them. And a myth falls, though not the one we thought: the wealthiest area has fewer pharmacies, consistently.

Updated September 11, 2026 · BlackPrint Team

1.9×more pharmacies per business in Mexico City than in Monterrey

The essentials, in 20 seconds

  • Mexico City 7,450 pharmacies (1.61 per 100 businesses) · Guadalajara 3,007 (1.33) · Monterrey 1,440 (0.83)
  • The gap is not scarcity: it is commercial composition and dominant format — distance between pharmacies confirms it (46 m in Mexico City, 72 in Monterrey)
  • The myth that falls: Miguel Hidalgo is the worst served in its city and San Pedro Garza García the best in its own. Two wealthy areas, opposite results

01 · The comparison SOURCE: DENUE · INEGI · MAY 2026

Same pharmacy chain, three different markets.

We counted the pharmacies of the country's three largest metro areas with the same criterion: SCIAN codes 464111 and 464112, pharmacies with and without a convenience store. We exclude the rest of class 4641 — opticians, orthopaedics and health-food shops — because they are not pharmacies and, as layer 03 shows, they are distributed the other way round.

1.9×more pharmacy density in Mexico City than in Monterrey

The three cities, same yardstick

Metro areaPharmaciesEstablishmentsPer 100
Mexico City7,450462,7321.61
Guadalajara3,007225,6851.33
Monterrey1,440173,8310.83
▲ READINGPer 100 businesses, the capital has 1.61 pharmacies and Monterrey 0.83: almost double. Before reading it as «Monterrey lacks pharmacies», you have to see which format dominates each city.

02 · Why the gap SOURCE: DENUE · INEGI · MAY 2026

Composition and format, not scarcity.

Monterrey does not have fewer pharmacies because it lacks them: it has a different pharmacy. One in three Monterrey pharmacies operates with a convenience store, against one in eight in the capital. That format is larger, sits on main roads and serves a wider radius, so fewer points cover the same ground. The distance between pharmacies confirms it without ambiguity.

183 mseparate the median Monterrey pharmacy from its nearest rival

Format and spacing in the three cities

Metro areaWith convenience storeMedian distanceUnder 25 m
Mexico City11.8%83 m14.1%
Guadalajara20.5%110 m15.3%
Monterrey34.9%183 m10.6%
▲ READINGThe Monterrey median is double the capital's: 183 metres against 83. Fewer points, larger and further apart is not an underserved market — it is a market that consolidated around a different format. For anyone opening a store it changes everything: in Monterrey you compete for the avenue and the car park; in Mexico City, for the corner.

03 · The income myth SOURCE: DENUE · INEGI · MAY 2026

The wealthiest area has fewer pharmacies. Consistently.

This guide used to argue that income predicts nothing, because Miguel Hidalgo came out low and San Pedro Garza García high. With actual pharmacies the result is different and cleaner: the highest-income boroughs sit at the bottom. Cuauhtémoc, Miguel Hidalgo and Benito Juárez are Mexico City's three highest-income boroughs and they occupy three of the last four places in pharmacy density. What does follow money is the optician — which is why mixing them misled us.

−0.57is the correlation between pharmacy and optician density in Mexico City

Pharmacies and opticians per 100 businesses, Mexico City

BoroughPharmaciesOpticiansProfile
Cuauhtémoc0.671.69High income, historic centre
Miguel Hidalgo0.990.36High income, corporate
Benito Juárez1.120.40High income, residential
Iztapalapa2.060.30Lower-middle income, dense
Tláhuac2.480.35Lower-middle income, periphery
▲ READINGThe two columns move in opposite directions: a correlation of −0.57 across the 16 boroughs. Cuauhtémoc has the lowest pharmacy density and the highest optician density in the city, five times Iztapalapa's. Monterrey shows the same pattern: San Pedro Garza García has 0.52 opticians per 100 businesses and García 0.07, seven times fewer. The lesson for anyone picking a location: do not buy the average income, and do not buy a catalogue category without opening it first.

04 · Where it is actually missing SOURCE: DENUE · INEGI · MAY 2026

91 gaps in Mexico City, 23 in Guadalajara, 18 in Monterrey.

250-metre cells holding 150 or more establishments and not a single pharmacy. Same method in all three cities. With the full 4641 class these gaps were 26, 12 and 3: counting opticians as pharmacies erased three quarters of the real gaps in pharmacy coverage.

18gaps in the Monterrey metro area, not one

Where the largest gaps are

Metro areaGapsThe largest sits inBusinesses with no pharmacy
Mexico City91Iztapalapa1,993
Guadalajara23Guadalajara1,824
Monterrey18Monterrey519
▲ READINGThe gap count depends on where the grid is anchored: shifting it by a few metres moves the result by around 10%. What does not change with the framing is the order or the magnitude — and Monterrey having 18 gaps rather than one is the difference between «already covered» and «there is room to enter».

Frequently asked questions

How many pharmacies are there in Mexico by city?
According to INEGI's DENUE (May 2026 cut), Mexico City has 7,450 pharmacies, the Guadalajara metropolitan area 3,007 and the Monterrey metropolitan area 1,440. These are SCIAN codes 464111 and 464112, pharmacies with and without a convenience store. Mexico as a whole has 80,320. Counting the full 4641 class, which also includes opticians, orthopaedics and health-food shops, the figures rise to 12,676, 5,156 and 2,959 — but those are not all pharmacies.
Why does Monterrey have fewer pharmacies than Mexico City?
Because of format, not scarcity. 34.9% of pharmacies in the Monterrey metro area operate with a convenience store, against 11.8% in the capital. That format is larger, sits on main roads and covers a wider radius, so fewer points serve the same market. The distance data confirms it: the median Monterrey pharmacy has its nearest competitor 183 metres away, against 83 in Mexico City.
Does the wealthiest area of a city have more pharmacies?
No: it has fewer, and consistently so. Cuauhtémoc, Miguel Hidalgo and Benito Juárez are Mexico City's three highest-income boroughs and they occupy three of the last four places in pharmacy density. Tláhuac and Iztapalapa, both lower-middle income, lead. What does follow income is the optician: the correlation between pharmacy and optician density across the 16 boroughs is −0.57, meaning they move in opposite directions.
Where is it worth opening a pharmacy in Mexico?
The census shows where coverage is missing, not where it is worth it. Using 250-metre cells that hold 150 or more establishments and no pharmacy, there are 91 gaps in Mexico City, 23 in Guadalajara and 18 in Monterrey; the largest holds 1,993 businesses and sits in Iztapalapa. Finding the gap is half the work: you still need to know whether people walk past it, and the directory does not say.
← PreviousCadastre and land-use data in MexicoNext →How many businesses are there in Querétaro?

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