CochraneCapital of Capitán Prat, between Cerro Tamango and the Río Baker

Where Cochrane is, what the town is built on, and why soil and water rule in this commune.

3.1 Location

The commune extends between latitudes 47° and 47°45′ south and longitudes 71°50′ and 73°45′ west. It borders Chile Chico to the north, O'Higgins to the south, Tortel to the west —the boundary runs over the Campo de Hielo Norte— and Argentina to the east, in Santa Cruz province. The only road that crosses it is Ruta 7 (Carretera Austral). From the plaza, Tortel is 126 km away, Chile Chico about 180, Villa O'Higgins about 230 and Coyhaique 331.

3.2 Terrain and setting

The town lies on the floor of the Río Cochrane valley, at about 200 m a.s.l. and some 45 m above the lake. Around it, the terrain is arranged from west to east: to the west, the ice fields and the mountain range that drops to the Pacific at the boundary with Tortel; toward the border, valleys and a wind-shaped plateau steppe, where ranching is done on coirón grass. Lenga and ñirre cover the slopes of the park.

The two landmarks of the terrain stand on either side of the town. Cerro Tamango, of nearly 1,700 m, rises some four kilometers northwest of the plaza. To the southeast, on the border with Argentina, is Monte San Lorenzo (3,706 m), called "Cerro Cochrane" in Chile: its summit lies about a thousand meters outside the commune's polygon, so it is correct to say that the commune reaches its massif, not that it contains it.

3.3 Hydrography

3.4 Soils

There is no published agrological study for Cochrane that would allow giving the soil class property by property: CIREN has only a preliminary study of part of Aysén province. What is documented is the regional picture: in Aysén, ranching takes place on class 4 to 7 soils, and class 3 soils are found almost only where there is irrigation; in Capitán Prat only 243 of the region's 2,819 irrigated hectares are watered. These are soils of volcanic origin, light and rich in organic matter, which the wind carries off when they lose their cover, and in the Cochrane area the tephra from the 1991 Hudson eruption has been identified.

• Advantage: lenga and ñirre forest and coirón and neneo steppe suited to low-stocking extensive ranching; land prices still low for large ranches.
• Limitation: almost everything is dryland. Summer is the dry season (February, 33 mm) and in Capitán Prat 243 ha are irrigated, 8.6 % of the region's irrigation.
• Risk: wind erosion where the grass is lost and damage from volcanic ash, as happened with the Hudson on August 8, 1991.
• Real estate implication: a property's price rarely reflects its soil class, because no one reports it; what is paid for is location and size. It is advisable to request an agronomic assessment before buying a "grassed" ranch.

A low-lying town with moderate rainfall, where frost can occur in the middle of summer.

The Dirección Meteorológica weather station "Lord Cochrane Ad." (196 m, 1.5 km south of town) records a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb), with rain concentrated between May and August. The figures that follow are the 1970-2000 normal, the latest published for the station that could be consulted; the DMC already works with the 1991-2020 normal, but it did not appear for Cochrane.

There is no published series that would support stating a trend for Cochrane: data on sunshine hours, mean wind and days of frost per year were not found for this station and are therefore not included. What can be said is that anyone buying here should assume the climate of the historical normal and ask neighbors what the last winters have been like.

Cochrane was founded twice, and the neighboring valley went from sheep ranch to national park.

1. 1899

   The Baker is first ascended

   The German explorer Hans Steffen goes up the Río Baker and surveys the valley where the ranches would later be leased. (Source: Diario Regional de Aysén, 2021.)

2. 1904

   The Sociedad Explotadora del Baker

   The State leases it 797,500 hectares on the condition that it settle 40 families of colonists and ship production out through the Pacific. Among its partners are Juan Tornero and Mauricio Braun, of the Punta Arenas elite.

3. c. 1909

   The Explotadora's failure

   Fifty-nine of the company's workers die in unclear circumstances, allegedly poisoned to avoid paying them; the name "Isla de los Muertos" comes from these events, today a place in Tortel, not in Cochrane.

4. 1916

   Hobbs, Bridges and the sheep

   The concession passes to the Sociedad Estancia Posadas, of Hobbs y Cía., which hires Lucas Bridges, raised in Tierra del Fuego. Bridges sets up the Bajo Piragua port at the mouth of the Baker.

5. 1927-1929

   The first town and its relocation

   Settlers found a town at Las Latas, next to the Compañía Ganadera Valle Chacabuco ranch. Its shareholders did not want it so close and succeed in having it moved to a valley on the banks of the Río Cochrane. In 1929, with Aysén already a territory, the intendant Luis Marchant creates a land commission and the Explotadora's lease is reduced to the Chacabuco valley.

6. 1931

   First school

   The Cochrane school is created, which Lucas Bridges hands over to the settlers.

7. 17-03-1954

   Pueblo Nuevo is inaugurated

   During the government of Carlos Ibáñez del Campo the town is officially inaugurated, with a post office and ten houses, on land donated by the subdelegate Luis Báez Barra. Residents keep calling it "Pueblo Nuevo". In 1955 three surveyors lay out the blocks and lots.

8. 1960-1984

   Post office, hospital and high school

   In 1960 the post office begins operating, in 1979 the hospital replaces the old rural clinic and in 1984 the Liceo Austral Lord Cochrane is created. Electricity came from the El Traro hydroelectric plant, which had succeeded the diesel engines.

9. 1967

   The Reserva Forestal Lago Cochrane is born

   Supreme Decree 327 creates, on the El Húngaro lands, the reserve that tourists will know as Tamango.

10. 1970-1975

    From department to provincial capital

    On October 26, 1970 the commune leaves the Chile Chico Department and joins the new Baker Department; with the regionalization of 1974-1975 it becomes the capital of Capitán Prat province. The decree creating the commune could not be located and is therefore not cited.

11. 1980s

    The Carretera Austral reaches Cochrane

    Work resumed in 1976 with the Cuerpo Militar del Trabajo. A secondary source places the arrival in Cochrane in 1988; the date could not be confirmed with a primary source.

12. 08-08-1991

    The Hudson ash falls

    The eruption of the Hudson volcano, the second most intense in Chile's history after that of Quizapu in 1932, covers a good part of Aysén in ash. The specific effect on Cochrane's ranching is not documented; an identifiable layer of tephra was left in the area.

13. 2004

    The Estancia Valle Chacabuco is sold

    Conservación Patagónica, of Kristine McDivitt and Douglas Tompkins, buys the former ranch (from 69,000 to 90,000 ha depending on the source) from its Belgian owner.

14. 2011-2014

    HidroAysén approved and annulled

    Five power plants on the Baker and the Pascua, 2,750 MW. Baker 1 would have flooded the El Manzano suspension bridge, 25 km north of Cochrane. On June 10, 2014 the Committee of Ministers revokes the permit (Agreement 23).

15. 2017-2019

    The valley becomes a park

    In December 2017 the donation of 21 properties is accepted; on January 29, 2018 President Bachelet signs the Red de Parques decrees in Cochrane; on February 28, 2018 the ZOIT "Provincia de los Glaciares" is published; on December 11, 2018 the Diario Oficial creates Parque Nacional Patagonia (304,527.75 ha) and CONAF has administered it since April 30, 2019.

16. 20-01-2022

    The new hospital is inaugurated

    President Piñera inaugurates the new Hospital de Cochrane, of some 5,000 m², which replaces the one built in the 1960s and 1970s.

One in four cochraninos identifies as belonging to an Indigenous people, and the town was settled by horsemen from Argentina and Magallanes.

In the 2024 Census, 847 people (24.5 %) declared themselves as belonging to an Indigenous people, compared with 29.0 % in the region and 11.4 % in the country. In 2017 the figure was 19.6 %, but the question changed between censuses and the rise should not be read as a real change. The breakdown by people from the 2024 Census was not published for the commune when this edition closed; in 2017 the majority group was Mapuche.

The mix shows in the calendar more than in the streets: the Encuentro Costumbrista, which the municipality calls the oldest in Aysén and reached its XXV edition in 2025, has in the municipality a costumbrista park with a rodeo ring and a Chilean-style racetrack; and each October the Festival de la Escarcha brings together music and accordions. The search found no registered Indigenous lands or Indigenous development areas in the commune, but there is no public registry that rules them out either: before buying a large ranch it is advisable to ask CONADI.

7.1 Population and growth

7.2 Age structure (2024 Census)

The commune lost 32 people between 2017 and 2024 (the BCN prints the change without a sign: it is a decline of 0.9 %). Aging is faster than the country's: the Elderly Index rose from 45.1 to 65.0 in seven years, and the sex ratio fell from 119.8 to 106.0: there are still more men than women, but the gap has narrowed. School enrollment followed the same path: from 807 students in 2023 to 740 in 2025.

Of the 3,458 inhabitants, 2,703 live in the urban area and 755 in the countryside: 0.09 people per rural square kilometer. Buying a parcel in Cochrane is not settling on the edge of a town: it is buying real isolation. The 2024 Census figure for households and dwellings in the commune had not been published when this edition closed; in 2017 there were 1,243 households, 24.4 % of them single-person, and 1,771 dwellings of which 71.8 % had residents present.

8.1 Poverty and social indicators (CASEN and Social Household Registry)

The reading that emerges from the table runs against intuition: Cochrane appears less poor than the region and the country, but has worse access to basic services than both (15.8 % of people, versus 12.4 % and 12.9 %). A plausible explanation is the dispersion of the countryside: the 2020 PLADECO documents rural sectors without electricity, drinking water or sewerage. The Casen 2024 methodology changed and its figures are not comparable with those of 2022: one should not write that poverty "fell" or "rose". Reports of violent crimes are low (613 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2025, versus 1,003 in the country), although those for domestic violence rose from 374 to 773 between 2024 and 2025.

8.2 Economic activity (SII) and municipal finances (SINIM)

The business structure is that of a service town: most are micro-enterprises in commerce, lodging and construction, and agriculture has 62 businesses but only 20 salaried employees, because they are family-run operations with no payroll. Formal employment depends on the State. Between 2023 and 2024 reported salaried employees fell from 598 to 475 and those in public administration from 267 to 102; the SII assigns each business its tax domicile and there is no official explanation for the drop, so the two figures should be read as a range and not as a trend.

Land in Cochrane is worth three different things: grass, proximity to town and scenery. Only the first is productive, and it is the one that is shrinking.

9.1 Natural-grassland ranching

Ranching is what gave rise to the town —sheep of the Explotadora del Baker, of the Chacabuco valley ranch and of the settlers— and it remains the productive use of the land, on coirón and natural grassland, almost all of it dryland: in Capitán Prat 243 of Aysén's 2,819 irrigated hectares are watered. The commune-level breakdown of the 2021 Agricultural Census (holdings, head of livestock, area) could not be extracted from the INE when this edition closed, so the livestock figures are regional; the only commune-level data is from the SII: 62 agriculture, ranching and forestry businesses, with only 20 salaried employees.

Cattle counts holdings of 10 head or more and sheep of 60 or more, per the Census criterion. The decline is one third in fourteen years; in 2007 the average cattle holding in the region had 88 head, and most holdings in the region are small or medium. It is the floor that sustains the price of a ranch, and it is a floor that is sinking.

9.2 The State and commerce: the economy that pays payrolls

In 2023 public administration (the municipality, the hospital, the high school and the services with tax domicile in the commune) reported 267 of the 598 salaried employees: 44.6 %; in 2024 the SII recorded 102 of 475, a drop with no official explanation. Commerce, with 115 to 121 businesses depending on the year, is the largest sector by number of businesses and by private employment (145 to 156 employees). Between them they explain why a town that loses population keeps adding businesses (from 426 in 2021 to 519 in 2024): they are service micro-enterprises, not salaried employment.

9.3 Other economic pillars

• Tourism: 96 lodging and food-service businesses in 2024, employing 63 salaried workers. Parque Nacional Patagonia recorded 16,453 visitors in 2024 and 4,766 in 2023 (CONAF via Subturismo, 2026), far below the roughly 367,000 of Torres del Paine in 2024: these are the visitors who pass through CONAF ticketing, not the total of those who fly-fish or arrive at the lodges.
• Construction and road works: 62 businesses and 67 salaried workers in 2024. Workers of the public-works firms are part of the town's floating population (Servicio País, 2024-2025).
• Energy: HidroAysén planned five power plants on the Baker and the Pascua (2,750 MW) and its permit was annulled in 2014. Today the town receives power from the General Carrera medium-sized system, generated mostly with diesel (around 70 %, according to Edelaysen), and in 2025 the Ministerio de Energía selected Cochrane for pre-feasibility studies of a community solar park, with some 100 beneficiary families estimated.
• Mining: the SII records two businesses and six employees in mines and quarries in 2023; the operations registered by SERNAGEOMIN in the commune could not be verified.
• Fruit trees and vegetable gardens: a Río Colonia listing highlights the soil's capacity to produce fruit trees and vegetables; there are no commune-level figures for greenhouses or beekeeping (the region has 1,587 hives, 1.2 % of the country).

10.1 Available properties and property types

The land market in Cochrane is thin. On October 27, 2026 there were 32 lots and plots located in Cochrane on Yapo and 13 plots on ChilePropiedades, with many duplicates between portals; of the 32 on Yapo, 18 had been created in 2023 or 2024 and only 13 in 2026. Eighteen are posted by brokers and fourteen by their owners. Mercado Libre requires login and PortalTerreno has no listings in the commune; houses barely pass through portals. Among the advertisers are Ahumada Propiedades (the central lot steps from the plaza), Hobbins Propiedades (90 ha in El Manzano), Nexxos Chile (the "Patagonia Baker" subdivision) and Corretaje Carretera Austral.

Produncan Lands currently has two properties in the commune, both in the Baker corridor: the Lotes en Río Baker, El Manzano subdivision (ten 5,000 m² parcels with their own property roll (rol), 300 m from the river and 30 minutes from Cochrane; seven remain) and the Campo El Maitén, Río Baker (104.9 hectares with 3 km of riverfront, next to the confluence with the Nef, expandable to 416 ha).

10.2 Average price by property type (indicative, October 2026)

Prices are asking prices, not closing prices, and the sample per tier is small: they serve to order magnitudes and not to appraise. The price per hectare falls more than twentyfold between the 5,000 m² parcel (about $31 million per ha) and the ranch of more than 700 ha ($1.1 to $1.5 million per ha): it is an almost perfect volume discount, and no one pays per hectare of ranch what they pay per hectare of lifestyle parcel.

10.3 What determines price in Cochrane

Cochrane has no zoning plan: what governs is rural land, a national park and a tourism designation.

There is no Communal Zoning Plan (PRC) in force (BCN, 2025 and 2026 reports: "not applicable"; SINIM 2023-2025). The municipality said in July 2025 that it has been working on it since 2002 and that it did not move forward because MINVU never resolved the observations; the Seremi de Vivienda reported that the Corecivyt planned to fund preliminary studies in 2026 for Cochrane, Tortel and Guaitecas. The current status of those studies could not be verified. In Aysén only three of ten communes have a zoning plan: Aysén, Cisnes and Coyhaique.

Without a zoning plan there are no risk areas declared by a planning instrument. The risks that are documented are operational: river floods that cut passage in Los Ñadis, roads that close with snow, frozen pipes in town and the volcanic ash of the 1991 Hudson, whose tephra remained in the soil of the area. The search found no declared urban wetlands (Law 21,202), historic zone or national monument within the commune.

The most important protection is the park's. The "Reserva Nacional Tamango" cited in older guides no longer exists: it was the Reserva Forestal Lago Cochrane (Supreme Decree 327 of 1967) and since the 2018 decree it has been a sector of Parque Nacional Patagonia, which CONAF has administered since April 30, 2019; today entry is with the park ticket. The areas that circulate for that reserve (6,900, 6,925 and 8,352 ha) do not match one another.

Without a zoning plan, Cochrane has no official neighborhoods: it has a town of blocks laid out in 1955 around the Plaza de Armas and countryside organized around Ruta 7 and the valleys. The table lists the areas where there are listings or verified properties, from nearest to farthest.

Operational information that rarely appears in descriptions of a commune and that determines whether a parcel is habitable.

For those settling on a parcel in Cochrane, the critical distance is not to the hospital but to the second hospital.

The commune's public health depends on the Servicio de Salud Aysén, and primary care is provided by the hospital itself: the July 2026 DEIS registry lists no CESFAM, CECOSF, rural clinic or SAMU in the commune. The Fonasa-validated population registered for primary care was 3,047 people in December 2025.

The hospital serves Capitán Prat province and Bertrand and Guadal, some 5,000 people in total. There is a shortage of specialists and the 2020 PLADECO reported that births were not handled in the commune: mothers were referred to Coyhaique before the due date. The new hospital includes a delivery room, and whether it is used today could not be verified. The commune's general mortality was 6.7 per thousand in 2023 (5.6 in the region and 6.1 in the country), with a birth rate of 8.84 per thousand.

15.1 School education

Cochrane has two schools with enrollment, both of the Servicio Local de Educación Pública (formerly municipal), plus two preschools. There are no rural schools or subsidized private schools. Enrollment fell from 807 students in 2023 to 740 in 2025 (−8.3 %): 86 in early childhood education, 407 in primary, 205 in youth science-humanities secondary and 42 in adult secondary.

The Bicentenario high school is the commune's best educational news: in 2° medio (Grade 10) it exceeds the region by 15 points in reading and 20 in mathematics, and the country by 11 and 18. By contrast, 4° básico (Grade 4) reading (269) falls below the region and the country (276). These are preliminary results from a high school with 205 regular secondary students, so a single year can swing considerably.

15.2 Higher education

There is no university campus or technical training center with a verified presence in the commune; the 2020 PLADECO lists as a need a technical training center for tourism and drinking water. Those who study after secondary school must go to Coyhaique, or farther.

Cochrane is the gateway to two of the sectors of Parque Nacional Patagonia that lie within its territory —Tamango and Valle Chacabuco— and the base for reaching the San Lorenzo massif and the great rivers of the Baker. The table lists what is less than a day's travel away, with the road distance from the plaza and the estimated time where there is no official data.

Parque Nacional Patagonia comprises 304,527.75 hectares across the communes of Chile Chico and Cochrane (Agreement 22 of 2018 of the Council of Ministers for Sustainability) and absorbed the former Reserva Forestal Lago Cochrane (Tamango) and the Reserva Nacional Lago Jeinimeni. The emblematic fauna is the South Andean deer: in 2007 Tamango was estimated to hold between 40 and 60 individuals, and the Ruta de los Parques states that about 10 % of Chile's South Andean deer live in the park; there is no recent verified census. In the Chacabuco valley the most abundant herbivore is the guanaco, and there are pumas with GPS collars, condors and Darwin's rheas.

17.1 Road network

Ruta 7 (Carretera Austral) is the only road that crosses the commune. It is paved from Coyhaique to Villa Cerro Castillo (about 98 km) and gravel from there to Cochrane. In 2026 the MOP began paving 16.2 km between Bahía Murta and Puente El Belga, in the commune of Río Ibáñez; within Cochrane, the Confluencia–Puente Chacabuco stretch was 15 % complete in April and the Cruce El Maitén–Puerto Guadal stretch obtained toma de razón (Comptroller's clearance). The government's goal is to have the route between Puerto Montt and Cochrane (more than 780 km) continuously paved by 2030; figures for how much of the Carretera Austral is paved today do not match across sources, ranging between 45 % and 58 %.

17.2 Airfield

The Lord Cochrane airfield lies northwest of town, next to the Chilean-style racetrack, and serves private flights and air taxis. Regular commercial flights could not be verified: the nearest commercial airport is Balmaceda, 262 km away, where Sky and LATAM operate.

17.3 Land transport

• Bus terminal: the municipal terminal dispatches to Coyhaique with a daily morning departure (Acuario 13, Don Carlos and Águilas Patagónicas, according to Ruta de los Parques), and to Caleta Tortel, Villa O'Higgins and Chile Chico. Current frequencies and fares were not verified.
• Transport to the park: there is no public transport to Tamango or to Valle Chacabuco; without your own car you have to hire a transfer.
• Winter: Ruta 7 stays open all year with caution; roads to other localities require chains and the park circuits close from April to October.

18.1 Tourism development

The most important instrument is the Zona de Interés Turístico "Provincia de los Glaciares" (Decree 94 of the Ministerio de Economía, published on February 28, 2018), which groups Tortel, Cochrane and O'Higgins and sets a 2030 vision of a sustainable destination with "untamed nature" and "millennial ice". The decree recognizes as traditional the Ruta del Huemul and the Desafío San Lorenzo, and as attractions the ice fields, sport fishing, the Ruta de los Troperos, the Baker and the Carretera Austral. The region is promoted under the "Aysén Patagonia" brand, and Cochrane is one of the gateways to the Ruta de los Parques de la Patagonia. No communal tourism development plan (PLADETUR) was found to cite.

Tourism numbers are meager: Parque Nacional Patagonia recorded 7,562 visitors in 2020, 4,766 in 2023 and 16,453 in 2024 (CONAF and Subsecretaría de Turismo), but they count only those who pass through park ticketing. In 2016 Cochrane was among the three localities in Aysén with the most adventure-tourism services registered by Sernatur. Current figures for arrivals, beds and overnight stays in the commune could not be verified.

18.2 Tourist attractions in the commune

• Tamango: four kilometers from the plaza, it is the park sector closest to town; the South Andean deer that appears on the national coat of arms takes refuge there.
• Valle Chacabuco: the valley of the former ranch, now a park, with a visitor center and a lodge with a restaurant.
• Laguna Esmeralda: seven kilometers away; view of the ice of the Campo de Hielo Norte and base for the ascent of the Cordón Esmeralda.
• Lago Cochrane / Pueyrredón: 460 m maximum depth, shared between Chile and Argentina.
• Glaciar Calluqueo and Monte San Lorenzo: the glacier can be walked with registration at the ranch; the summit of San Lorenzo, at 3,706 m, was first climbed on December 17, 1943 by the Italian Alberto De Agostini with Alejandro Hemmi and Heriberto Schmoll.
• Río Baker: Chile's highest-volume river; fly fishing on the Baker, the Cochrane and Lago Brown.

18.3 Museums and culture

• Centro Cultural de Cochrane: it has a 2022-2027 Management Plan and is the institutional space of local culture.
• Municipal library: San Valentín 554, with free wifi.
• Artisan market and museum: the Ruta de los Parques lists them among the town's services; their hours were not verified.
• The embroiderers of the Baker: a living craft, with a 2019 documentary and a 2021 gathering of 18 embroiderers that ended with a textile mural.

18.4 Food and dining

Cochrane's cuisine is that of ranching Patagonia. No locally documented dining offer was found from reliable sources, beyond a business directory that lists about 16 restaurants and 50 lodgings, with no year.

• Cordero al palo: a typical Aysén dish, roasted over embers on an iron spit, with potatoes, rice or salad and pebre.
• Gaucho culture: the Ruta de los Parques describes the territory as "gaucho", with truco and chamamé.

18.5 Nature and the outdoors nearby

• Ruta del Huemul: 30 km trek between Valle Chacabuco and Tamango.
• Fly fishing: on the Baker, the Cochrane and Lago Brown.
• Boat trip and snorkeling on the Río Cochrane: about $40,000 per group of eight plus entry, in the 2025-26 season.
• Cochrane Patagonia Trail and Carrera Aventura San Lorenzo: mountain races, with new editions announced for 2027.
• Park campgrounds: Tamango ($6,000 per person) and the three in Valle Chacabuco ($8,000 per person), from October to April.

18.6 Calendar of events and traditions

What anyone who is going to live in Cochrane, not just visit it, needs to know.

19.1 Sport and identity

• Estadio Municipal Luis Gómez Triviño: natural grass and stands.
• Gimnasio Municipal: covered, with a parquet court; the 2020 PLADECO rated it in fair condition.
• Estadio Aoniken: grass field.
• Rodeo ring and Chilean-style racetrack: in the municipality's costumbrista park.
• Rural clubs: clubhouses and fields on loan (comodato) in the countryside sectors.

19.2 Shopping and supplies

The offering is that of a town of 2,700 urban inhabitants: minimarkets around the Plaza de Armas, the largest of them on the plaza itself, a pharmacy, a gas station, a mechanic's shop and an ATM that guides describe as the last one on the Carretera Austral heading south. The SII records 115 commerce businesses in 2024. For what is not available, the reference city is Coyhaique, 331 km away.

19.3 Where to handle paperwork

19.4 Cost of living and practical considerations

• There is no published commune-level cost-of-living index; what is documented are the costs of isolation: firewood (in Aysén, 18.3 m³ per household per year) and freight from Coyhaique, 331 km away.
• Town water can run short for weeks in winter (Servicio País, 2024-2025); in the countryside you must count on a well, spring or water truck.
• The gravel Ruta 7 and the weather close secondary roads in winter; anyone living in the countryside should have provisions and firewood for several weeks.
• Health care is low-complexity: specialists and, according to the 2020 PLADECO, births are handled in Coyhaique.
• Reports of violent crimes are lower than in the region and the country (613 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2025 versus 1,003 in the country).

An honest reading of the territory. A sound investment decision also requires knowing what doesn't work.

22.1 Sources consulted

22.2 Methodology note and data currency

• The SIMCE 2025 results (as of July 15, 2026) and the CASEN 2024 figures are preliminary, estimated by small area with a new methodology that is not comparable with that of 2022.
• Could not be verified and therefore was not written: the law or decree creating the commune; the 2024 Census breakdown by Indigenous people; 2024 Census households and dwellings by commune; the 2021 Agricultural Census by commune; the urban limit and risk areas; scheduled flights; bus frequencies and fares; the cost of a rural electrical connection; the price of liquefied gas; sunshine hours, wind and frost days; soil class by sector; and which lands are in a border zone.
• The commune's area has several official figures (8,560 to 8,662 km²); the document uses that of the BCN 2026, 8,599.5 km².
• The name "Cochrane" is documented for the river and the lake, not as a direct tribute by the town to Thomas Cochrane; who named the lake could not be established.
• The price ranges for the real estate market are indicative, come from asking prices on portals and do not constitute an appraisal. Each property must be evaluated individually.
• This document does not constitute legal or tax advice.
• Cut-off date of this edition: October 2026. It is recommended to review the indicators in sections 7, 8 and 10 annually.