[4] The Mayagüez Metro Area (and part of Añasco) lies today on two former Taíno Cacicazgos (chiefdoms): Yaguex and Yagüeca, a region noted for its record of colonial resistance (i.e., Urayoán and Legend of Diego Salcedo).

The Taínos came from South American branches of Arawakan speakers, more specifically from modern-day Venezuela, and lived in small villages, organized their society in clans and named their chiefs Cacique.

The Spanish Crown granted the founders the right to self-government in 1763, formally separating the town from the larger Partido de San Germán.

The famous patriot, educator, sociologist, philosopher, essayist and novelist Eugenio María de Hostos was born in Mayagüez in 1839.

The 1918 San Fermín earthquake had destroyed the temple's ceiling, and a lightning bolt struck and tore down a wedge-shaped corner of one of its two bell towers.

At one time, 80% of all tuna products consumed in the United States were packed in Mayagüez (the biggest employer, StarKist, had 11,000 employees working three daily shifts in the local plant's heyday).

Mayagüez was also a major textile industry hub; almost a quarter of all drill uniforms used by the United States Army were sewn in the city.

Mayagüez has become a major college town with the establishment of the UPRM, the now closed Eugenio María de Hostos Law School[9] and the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico.

The high frequency of severe storms in the summer can produce strong winds, floods, waterspouts, and sometimes hail and even tornadoes.

Of the 742 places that were on the list in 2014, the following barrios, communities, sectors, or neighborhoods were in Mayagüez: Balboa, Barrio Salud, Buena Vista, Central Igualdad, Dulces Labios, El Maní, El Quemado, Felices Días, La Chorra, La Quinta, Leguízamo, Mayagüez Arriba, Parcelas Rolón, Polvorín, Quebrada Grande, Río Cañas, Río Hondo, Rosario, and Trastalleres.

As of 2023, Bureau of Labor Statistics data revealed that the Mayagüez metropolitan area had the worst-paid lawyers in the United States, with an annual average salary of only $62,380.

Besides being host to one of the largest concentrations of mango trees in the island, the city has been a host to various food enterprises whose products are popular in Puerto Rico (and elsewhere): A defunct cola bottling operation in town produced "Vita Cola", a popular soft drink in Puerto Rico between the late 1940s and early 1960s.

The Fiestas Patronales Virgen de la Candelaria is a religious and cultural celebration that generally features parades, games, artisans, amusement rides, regional food, and live entertainment.

Its baseball winter league team (LBPPR), the Indios de Mayagüez, honor[citation needed] their Indian heritage and the home town's Cervecería India brewery.

The municipal government is housed in Mayagüez City Hall or Casa Alcaldia, which faces the south side of the Plaza de Colon.

In addition to running the city's day-to-day operations and supervising associated departments, the mayor is also responsible for appointing a secretary-auditor and a treasurer.

It has numerous private ambulance service organizations which covered wide parts of the western coast of Puerto Rico and choose Mayagüez for its central location to the region.

The blue and white waves between the third and fourth quarters recall the coat of arms granted to Columbus by kings Ferdinand and Isabella.

[57] According to the Puerto Rican historian Federico Cedó Alzamora, the original version of the coat of arms of Mayagüez was given to the city December 19, 1894, by the Queen Regent of Spain Maria Christina of Austria.

The explorer's crew disembarked at the western coast of the island,[55] where several rivers spill their waters in the Mona Passage, among them the Yagüez, from which the name of Mayagüez is derived.

[59] Mayor José Guillermo Rodríguez and the Municipal Legislature entrusted the Advisory Board of Art and Culture of Mayagüez to hold a contest to select an anthem for the city.

[59] The lyrics alludes to the emblematic symbols of Mayagüez; its nicknames, to its Patron Saint, its taste of mango, to its sunsets in the bay, to the Taíno, to Eugenio María de Hostos, their role as cultural cradle, the sympathy of the ladies and the dream of its valleys and its mountains.

[59] The anthem was presented to the people in a memorable concert held in commemoration of the 239 anniversary of the founding of the city on the night of September 18, 1999, interpreted by tenor, Mayagüez adopted son, Rafael José Díaz, Mayagüezana lyric soprano, Hilda Ramos, accompanied by the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra conducted by its Associate Director, Mayagüezana Roselyn Pabón, in the same place where such Symphony Orchestra offered his first concert forty years earlier: the Plaza Colón.

Puerto Rico Highway 2 existing as an arterial road is a primary route between Ponce to the south-east and Aguadilla and Arecibo to the north and north-east respectively.

The portion of the highway adjacent to the Estadio Isidoro Garcia was upgraded from a two-lane road into an urban boulevard in anticipation of the 2010 Centro-American and Caribbean Games celebrated in Mayagüez.

In addition to this upgrade, an elevated by-pass was constructed from the coastal park site over the Yagüez River ending at the Concordia Housing Project.

[63] The city operates three trolleys, free of charge, which run as shuttles between the downtown area and the Palacio de Recreación y Deportes.

[66] For the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games the Puerto Rico's Department of Transportation and Public Works released an express public bus system operated with Autoridad Metropolitana de Autobuses (San Juan's Metropolitan Bus Authority) buses specially assigned to serve the city of Mayagüez.

It was normal to see 3 to 4 ships docked at any given day but due to the Section 936 termination the industries started to leave until 2000 approximately when only the ferry and the Federacion de Industria Agropecuaria silos pier were left.

After Eastern went bankrupt in 1991, American Eagle remained the only airline serving the airport until it ended service to the city on April 30, 2005, due to poor loads.