The household income of Oviedo and Avilés increases, while that of Gijón continues falling. This is highlighted by the "Urban Indicators 2017" of the Spanish Institute of Statistics (INE), which compile data from 126 Spanish cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants. In spite of the increase of wealth in Oviedo and Avilés, the three cities of Asturias lose positions in the national classification of income and are some of the latest in indicators like the rate of activity.

In order to measure the wealth of the cities, the study uses the average annual net household income, which is constituted by the total income received by all family members living in each house after deducting taxes and social security contributions. Pozuelo de Alarcón, in Madrid, is the richest municipality in Spain with an average household income of 73,014 euros and Torrevieja in Alicante as the poorest with 14,462 euros. In Asturias, the richest city is Oviedo, which is ranked 35th nationally with an income of 30,264 euros. Gijón occupies the 66th position with 27,633 euros and Avilés is in the 72nd position with 27,016 euros.

The data have been obtained from tax sources for the fiscal year 2014, when the economic recovery began. In the case of Oviedo, there is a rise in incomes (from 30,045 euros in 2013 to 30,264 in 2014) as in Avilés (from 26,784 to 27,016 euros), while in Gijón there is a slight decrease (from 27,636 to 27,633 euros) that is related with those of previous years (in 2012 the average income was 27,998 euros).

Despite the rise of Oviedo and Avilés, the three cities of Asturias lose positions in the Spanish wealth classification. They do so, up to a certain point, because for the first time the INE has data from the seven cities of the territories of the Basque Provinces and Navarra, where the average incomes are high. Nevertheless, Oviedo loses eight positions with respect to the previous year, Gijón loses eleven and Avilés seven.

The INE study on cities also focuses on work related to 2016. As for the unemployment figures, Asturian cities occupy intermediate positions, but are some of the latest when it comes to activity rates (the ratio of the active population, made up of employed and unemployed people, and the population over 16 years old) due to the accelerating aging of the population. The three cities of the Principality are among the 15 with the lowest rate of activity. Gijón is the fourth, with 51.9%, Avilés the fifth, with 52.4%, and Oviedo the fourteenth, with 54.3%.

As for employment by sectors, Avilés stands out as the seventh city of Spain with the highest proportion of employment in industry (20.6%) and Gijón as the twelfth (18.4%), while Oviedo stands out as the eleventh in proportion of employment in services (91.2%).

The cities of Asturias also stand out in the average household statistics. Oviedo is the ninth with the smallest size (2.36 people per household), Avilés the eleventh (2.33) and Gijón the thirteenth (2.31).