Salta
Salta, the beautiful. From the San Bernardo hill, the city lies at your feet: more than 444 years of history. From there the road leads to Cachi and the Calchaquí Valleys, all the way to Cafayate, home to its oldest wineries. Colorful gorges, cardón cacti and estancias from the 17th and 18th centuries. Land of faith, of legends and of poets. Salta is not visited: it is breathed. Salta is a peace that resonates in the soul.
- Capital
- Salta
- Region
- Northwest
- Area
- 155,488 km²
- Population · 2022 Census
- 1,441,351 inhabitants · 9.3 hab/km²
- Women · Men
- 51.2 % · 48.8 %
- Median age
- 29 years
- By age
- 0 to 14 years: 25.2 % · 15 to 64 years: 65.7 % · 65 years and over: 9.1 %
- Climate
- Subtropical with a dry season in the valleys and plains; humid in the yungas; cold and arid at altitude in the Puna.
- Demonym
- salteño/a
- Founding of the capital
- 16 April 1582
- World Heritage (UNESCO)
- Qhapaq Ñan, Sistema Vial Andino (2014)
Sources: INDEC, 2022 National Census (final results) · INDEC / IGN (area). World Heritage: UNESCO, World Heritage List.
Natural wealth
The territory that defines it
Salta brings together almost all the landscapes of northern Argentina. To the west, the Puna and its salt flats, guarded by the Llullaillaco volcano, 6,739 meters high, the highest point in the province. In the center, the Calchaquí Valleys —Cachi, Molinos, Cafayate— and the Quebrada de las Conchas, with its reddish rocks carved by wind and water. The capital lies in the Lerma Valley. To the east, the mountain rainforest protected in the Baritú and El Rey national parks, and beyond it, the plains of the Salta Chaco.
- Parque Nacional El Rey (1948)
- Parque Nacional Baritú (1974)
- Parque Nacional Los Cardones (1996)
Source: Argentine National Parks Administration (SIB-APN).
Human wealth
The living figures
Salta is the land of Güemes and his gauchos, and the red-and-black poncho remains its emblem. One in ten people from Salta identifies as Indigenous —Guaraní, Wichí, Kolla and Diaguita, among many other peoples— and that diversity can be felt at the table: Salta-style empanadas, tamales, humitas and locro, with Torrontés from the Calchaquí Valleys. Every September, the procession of the Lord and the Virgin of the Miracle draws crowds of the faithful, and the peñas keep the zamba and the chacarera alive.
- 15th and 16th centuries · the Inca Empire incorporates the territory into the Collasuyu. On the summit of Llullaillaco, at 6,739 meters, it builds a high-altitude sanctuary: there, in 1999, the Children of Llullaillaco were found, offered more than 500 years ago in the Capacocha ceremony. Today they are kept at the Museum of High Mountain Archaeology, and the INAI declared the volcano a sacred site of the Indigenous peoples
- 16th and 17th centuries · the Calchaquí peoples resist the Spanish conquest in the Calchaquí Wars
- 1582 · Hernando de Lerma founds the city of Salta
- 1814 to 1821 · Martín Miguel de Güemes and his gauchos defend the northern border during the War of Independence
Sources: Museum of High Mountain Archaeology (MAAM) · National Institute of Indigenous Affairs (INAI).
- Chaqueño Palavecino · music · born in the Salta Chaco (1959)
- Los Chalchaleros · music · folk group formed in Salta in the late 1940s
- Lucrecia Martel · film · born in Salta
Sources: careers published in national and provincial press.
142,870 people identify as Indigenous or as descendants of Indigenous or native peoples: 10.0 % of the province's population. They belong to 44 different peoples, and 58,807 (41.2 %) speak or understand the language of their people. The five largest peoples are:
- Guaraní · 35,460
- Wichi · 31,723
- Kolla · 21,703
- Diaguita · 16,635
- Chané · 2,937
Source: INDEC, 2022 National Population, Household and Housing Census, final results. Population in private dwellings.
Productive wealth
What it produces and exports
Salta's economy combines the mining Puna —lithium, borates and gold— with the farmland of the valleys and plains: Virginia tobacco, pulses, cereals, sugarcane and high-altitude wines. The United States is today its main buyer.
USD 1,432 million, 28.6 % more than in 2024: 1.6 % of the national total and 28.5 % of the Northwest.
- Primary products · USD 791 M
- Manufactures of industrial origin · USD 502 M
- Manufactures of agricultural origin · USD 110 M
- Fuels and energy · USD 28 M
Main destinations: United States (USD 335 M, 23.4 %), European Union (USD 284 M), China (USD 196 M) and Brazil (USD 90 M). Main products: precious stones and metals and their manufactures, coins (USD 297 M), unprocessed vegetables and pulses (USD 235 M), cereals (USD 222 M) and unmanufactured tobacco (USD 207 M).
Source: INDEC, Provincial origin of exports. Goods. Year 2025 (provisional data) and annex tables.
Four operations in production in the Puna:
- Centenario-Ratones · Eramet · lithium carbonate
- Salar del Rincón · Rio Tinto · lithium carbonate
- Sal de Oro · Posco · lithium hydroxide
- Mariana · Ganfeng Lithium · lithium chloride
Source: Secretariat of Mining of the Province of Salta, report to the Mining Committee of the provincial Senate (2026).
- Borates · Salta is the Latin American leader · 2025 exports: USD 129 M, 35.2 % more than in 2024
- Gold · Lindero Mine, in production (Fortuna Mining)
Sources: Secretariat of Mining of the Province of Salta (borates) · Fortuna Mining (Lindero).
3,700 hectares of vines in 256 vineyards: 1.9 % of the country's area, the fourth wine-producing province. Torrontés is its emblematic grape, centered in Cafayate and the Calchaquí Valleys.
Source: Instituto Nacional de Vitivinicultura (INV), 2024 annual vineyard area report.
Two sugar mills: El Tabacal, in Hipólito Yrigoyen, and San Isidro, in Campo Santo.
Public and private sectors · the 2025 production figures published for Salta do not match each other; they will be added once they can be cross-checked.
Sources: Centro Azucarero Argentino · Instituto de Promoción del Azúcar y Alcohol de Tucumán (IPAAT).
Virginia tobacco: Salta and Jujuy are the country's main producers. In 2025, unmanufactured tobacco accounted for USD 207 M of Salta's exports.
Source: INDEC, Provincial origin of exports, 2025 annex tables.
CONICET has five research units in the province, among them INENCO (non-conventional energy), INIQUI (chemical industry) and IBIGEO (bio and geosciences of the Northwest), together with the Universidad Nacional de Salta.
Sources: CONICET, 2025 Management Report · CCT CONICET Salta-Jujuy.
- Lithium expansion · Rincón, by Rio Tinto, is the first lithium project approved in the country under the RIGI, with an investment of USD 2,700 M
Sources: Secretariat of Mining of the Province of Salta, report to the provincial Senate (2026) · Argentine Secretariat of Mining.
Data on mining and hydrocarbons is included for information purposes only, as part of the province's productive profile. Explora Nuestras Provincias y sus Riquezas does not promote extractive activity.
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