It is very much a working class town with mostly low-middle class housing. Valera is the major business and commerical center for Trujillo state. Valera is about the same size as Merida in population, but it very much feels like an overgrown small town. In fact, at one point during my visit I decided that Valera is Venezuela's version of Mason City, in reference to a town in rural north-central Iowa. Overall, Valera is a very working class city.
Housing is mostly low-middle class and below.
However, Valera's slums appeared more like the poor parts of rural towns in Latin America than like urban slums. Near the downtown, there was a small upscale shopping center that clearly was built for more wealthy patrons, but that was the only sign of upper-middle class or higher that I saw in Valera. I think shows that they are relatively few in number. This is the state capital of Trujillo state and it is about an hour away from Valera on a wonderful four-lane paved highway built during the rule of an earlier president whose wife was from the city. The population is around 50,000.