Salvadoran boys grow up in an environment in which males are encouraged to display machismo, or toughness and courage. This attitude is evident when men gather together in comradeship and can also influence their behaviour as husbands and fathers. By contrast, girls and are expected to be modest and gentle. As the primary caregivers, women are responsible for caring for the home, cooking and raising children. Some women begin to have children at a young age, often in their teens, and fatherless families are a growing concern. Although family size has dropped in recent years, families are still large by Canadian standards, particularly in rural areas.

War and high unemployment have changed the traditional Salvadoran family. In the countryside, men are often forced to leave their families in search of work on plantations, in cities or in other countries. Sometimes the entire family must move seasonally to find work. In cities, both parents may work outside the home. The war also changed traditional female roles, since women participated alongside men as political activists and combatants. Because of male fighters dying during the war, about one-quarter of households are now headed by women, many of whom must work outside the home to provide family income, in addition to their duties at home.

Salvadoran society is extremely polarized in terms of income level and lifestyle, a situation that has persisted throughout the country’s history. In cities, wealthy neighbourhoods called colonias residenciales resemble California suburbs, protected by high walls and security systems. However, half of all Salvadorans live in poverty; only recently has the country experienced an emerging middle class. The poorest urban dwellers often live in barrancos, ravines or riverbeds, in shacks made of tin or cardboard. Other families rent one-room apartments in buildings with communal facilities.

Villages and towns are built around a central plaza, where there are shade trees and areas for relaxing. Until the 2001 earthquakes, the most common type of rural home was a rancho, a simple one or two-room house made of branches woven together and covered with mud, with dirt floor and thatched or tile roof. Many of these homes collapsed in the earthquake and are being replaced with sturdier homes made of materials such as cement blocks.