// Center · Comuna 1 · Gateway contrast
Retiro
Rail gateway, office core, embassies, plazas, and some of the city's most contrasting blocks.
Hero: illustration adapted from a photograph by Roberto Fiadone (CC BY-SA 4.0). Illustration credits and adaptation licenses.
Photos: Dennis G. Jarvis CC BY-SA 2.0 · Evelyn Proimos (photo)Jules Dormal (1846–1924) CC BY 2.0 · Banfield CC BY-SA 2.5 ar · Roberto Fiadone CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Retiro at a glance
Retiro is office towers and grand plazas on one side, embassies and old apartment blocks on another, and the terminals and Villa 31 behind them. It covers 4.52 km² in the city's center, Comuna 1, with 67,177 residents at the 2022 census — about 14,900 people per km², about the median barrio's density (14,700).
People who need the rail terminals and downtown on foot, and can choose the Plaza San Martín pocket precisely.
Retiro is not one simple vibe; station areas, Plaza San Martin, and Catalinas feel different.
Anchors
The places that define Retiro · our read- PlazaPlaza San Martín
The park on the bluff with the jacarandás and the palaces around it; the barrio's one lovely place.
- LandmarkEstación Retiro
Three rail terminals and the bus station; the north's gateway, and the barrio's crowd.
- LandmarkTorre Monumental
The English clock tower in front of the station, 1916; a landmark more than a place.
1 on the calendar - LandmarkEdificio Kavanagh
The 1936 art-deco tower on the plaza, once the tallest in South America; the barrio's best address, still.
- LandmarkCatalinas Norte
The office towers between the station and the river; full of people at noon, no one at nine.
- LandmarkBarrio Padre Carlos Mugica (Villa 31)
The city's largest informal settlement, behind the station and under the motorway; being urbanized, and part of what Retiro is.
Photos: Gusbatero CC BY-SA 4.0 · Presidencia de la Nacion CC BY-SA 2.0 · GameOfLight CC BY-SA 3.0 · Leandro Kibisz CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mcamueira CC BY-SA 4.0 · Roberto Fiadone CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Fit scores
12 marks · 1 low · 10 highhealthcare, transit and culture
quiet and schools
Fair
median barrio
The overall read is an even weighting of the 12 marks we have for this barrio — a starting point, not a verdict. Of our six lenses it ranks highest under “Car-free”. Reported crime is left out: far more people pass through here each day than live here, so the rate below compares streets, not a resident's risk. The tick is the median of the 48 barrios. Eight marks are computed from public data and four are our read; what goes into each is on how we score.
What it costs
average asking prices · Q2 2026To buy: about US$2,458 per m² for a used two-bedroom (+14% vs the city). One-bedroom asking rents changed by +35.8% year on year in pesos. Budget separately for expensas (building fees) and utilities. These used-apartment benchmarks are not furnished short-stay quotes or offers. Figures are averages of what landlords ask — IDECBA (city statistics office), from Argenprop listings; 2nd quarter 2026, provisional — converted at the Banco Central de la República Argentina (BCRA, Argentina’s central bank) retail seller rate, Q2 2026 average.
Reported robbery & theft
reported crimes · 202544.8 reported robberies and thefts per 1,000 residents — above the city rate of 32.2.
Read this one with care: offices, terminals or tourism put far more people on these streets every day than live here, while the denominator only counts residents. This is not an estimate of an individual resident’s risk. 1,755 robberies (with violence or threat) and 1,254 thefts were reported in Retiro in 2025, against 67,177 residents in private dwellings at the 2022 census. Reporting rates, visitors, population changes since the census and differences between blocks limit the comparison. These counts do not measure all crime or predict personal safety. Source: the city's open crime map — method and sources.
A barrio is half the decision. The other half is the lease — the guarantee, the up-front cash, the contract terms — and that part we walk through with you.