The most important economic activities in San Carlos and Granada are agriculture and livestock raising, especially coffee growing. Corn, sugarcane, yucca and beans are also grown in San Carlos while uchuva, lulo, blackberry and granadilla are grown in Granada.
There is little industrial development in either municipality for producing unrefined cane sugar ("panela") or crafts. Granada has a milk refrigeration and storage plant. There is a well-developed service infrastructure in San Carlos and Granada for selling primary products.
According to DANE's last census, the main economic activity in the area is trade, which accounts for 54.55% of the population of San Carlos' activity and 48.33% in Granada, followed by services (25.31% and 33.97%, respectively). Other economic activity is related to industrial development- 11.06% for San Carlos and 6.22% for Granada
