Ranking
Safest Cities in Latin America 2026
Every city we cover in Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean, from Buenos Aires and Lima to Mexico City, the Cuban beach resorts, Punta Cana, Nassau, Jamaica's resort towns and San Juan in Puerto Rico. Each score is built for visitors and combines violent crime, theft and scams, walking at night, traffic, health and natural hazards. Open any city for the figures and the areas to avoid.
Updated · Scores update with each page
The ranking
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is a low-murder city by Latin American standards, with 78 homicides in 2025 and the fewest robberies in 25 years. Theft is still the catch, with motorbike snatch thieves, the mustard scam and pickpockets in San Telmo, La Boca and the centre. Watch your phone more than your safety.
Buenos Aires safety score: 68 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Santiago de Chile
Santiago is one of the safer big cities in South America for your life, with homicides falling for three years, but street robbery has become more violent. Muggings with knives or guns, fake airport taxis and drink spiking in Bellavista are the risks visitors meet; winter smog and earthquakes come next.
Santiago de Chile safety score: 61 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Cozumel
Cozumel is one of the calmer places on Mexico's Caribbean coast, with no after-dark warning from the UK and few recorded murders. Quintana Roo's data undercount killings, though, and for most visitors the bigger risks are at sea, on the island's roads and in hurricane season.
Cozumel safety score: 60 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Los Cabos
Los Cabos, which takes in Cabo San Lucas, San José del Cabo and the hotel coast between them, has one of the lower murder rates among Mexico's big resorts. Road deaths, unswimmable Pacific beaches and hurricanes such as Odile in 2014 are the bigger risks for most visitors.
Los Cabos safety score: 60 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Puerto Vallarta
Puerto Vallarta is a calm resort by Mexican standards, with moderate murder numbers and fewer road deaths than Cancún or Los Cabos. The catch is organised crime in Jalisco, which in February 2026 kept residents indoors and grounded flights, along with hurricanes and flooding.
Puerto Vallarta safety score: 60 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Oaxaca
Oaxaca City has one of the lower murder rates among the Mexican cities we score, and violence against visitors is rare. Theft, road deaths and polluted air are the everyday risks, while frequent earthquakes and protests that block roads to the airport can upset a trip.
Oaxaca safety score: 59 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Varadero
Varadero is one of Cuba's calmer places to stay, and serious crime against guests on the Hicacos Peninsula is rare. The 2026 risks come from the national crisis instead. Hotels have closed, the airport is largely idle without jet fuel, and medicines and power are short.
Varadero safety score: 59 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Holguín
The Holguín beach resorts of Guardalavaca, Esmeralda and Pesquero are calm, and serious crime against guests is rare. The risks come from eastern Cuba's state after Hurricane Melissa and from the national fuel crisis. The UK says power and water in the east remain severely affected, and medicines are scarce everywhere.
Holguín safety score: 58 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Mexico City
Mexico City is much safer than Mexico's national figures suggest, and the neighbourhoods most visitors use are busy and well policed. Robbery, express kidnapping in street taxis and earthquakes are the risks to plan around.
Mexico City safety score: 58 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Montevideo
Montevideo is calm for most visitors who stay in Pocitos, Punta Carretas or the Centro, but it is not as safe as its reputation. Its homicide rate is far above Buenos Aires, armed robbery is common, and the Ciudad Vieja and port empty out at night.
Montevideo safety score: 58 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Punta Cana
Punta Cana's gated all-inclusive resorts are calm, and the Dominican Republic's murder rate fell to a record low of about 8 per 100,000 in 2025. The real dangers are the roads of La Altagracia province, motorbike taxis, unguarded beaches, card fraud and sexual assaults reported at resorts.
Punta Cana safety score: 58 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Cancún
Cancún's hotel zone is one of the most heavily guarded tourist strips in Mexico, and murders in the city fell by about 40% in 2025. Gang violence downtown, taxi and price scams, fast roads, rip currents and the June to November hurricane season are the risks to plan for.
Cancún safety score: 57 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Cayo Coco
Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo are walled-off resort islands where serious crime against guests is rare. The weak points are distance and the national crisis. Hotels closed in February 2026 for lack of fuel, the clinic on the cay sends serious cases to the mainland, and a Category 5 hurricane hit these cays in 2017.
Cayo Coco safety score: 57 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Cayo Santa María
Cayo Santa María and its neighbours Ensenachos and Las Brujas are resort islands with little crime against guests. The risks are isolation and the national crisis. Many hotels closed from February 2026, the nearest hospital is in Santa Clara on the mainland, and Hurricane Irma hit these cays hard in 2017.
Cayo Santa María safety score: 57 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Cusco
Cusco is safer than Lima, with a homicide rate well below Peru's average, and most visitors leave with nothing worse than a headache. At 3,400 m, altitude is the commonest problem; street theft, scams aimed at lone women and protests that block the Machu Picchu railway are the others.
Cusco safety score: 57 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Guadalajara
Guadalajara is a big, working Mexican city where most visitors have no trouble, with a murder rate close to Puerto Vallarta's. Street robbery is far more common than in the beach resorts, thousands of people have gone missing in the metro area, and in February 2026 organised crime violence halted transport and flights.
Guadalajara safety score: 57 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Panama City
Panama City, the capital of Panama, is fine for visitors who stay in the central districts and use ride apps, but gang killings in its outer suburbs rose sharply in 2025 and muggings happen in busy shopping and tourist areas. Clean tap water and good private hospitals are real strengths.
Panama City safety score: 57 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Playa del Carmen
Most visitors have a trouble-free stay, but gang violence has reached Quinta Avenida, and the official murder count is too low because Quintana Roo files many killings as negligent homicides. The UK advises extra caution downtown after dark, and hurricanes are a real risk.
Playa del Carmen safety score: 57 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Havana
Havana's street crime is modest by Caribbean standards, but muggings and bag snatching are rising with the economic crisis. The bigger problems in 2026 are power cuts that leave streets unlit, a shortage of medicines and a cash-only economy. The UK advises against all but essential travel to Cuba.
Havana safety score: 56 out of 100, grade C (Fair)San Juan
San Juan is manageable for visitors who stay in Old San Juan, Condado, Ocean Park or Isla Verde, but its murder rate of about 25 per 100,000 is above every mainland US city we score except New Orleans. Two tourists were shot dead in nightlife spots in 2025. Roads and June to November hurricanes are the other risks.
San Juan safety score: 55 out of 100, grade C (Fair)São Paulo
São Paulo's murder rate has fallen to one of the lowest of any big Brazilian city, but theft and robbery are everyday risks. Police logged about 250,000 thefts and 98,000 robberies in the capital in 2025, phone snatching is constant, and over 1,000 people died on its roads.
São Paulo safety score: 55 out of 100, grade C (Fair)Quito
Quito is far calmer than Guayaquil and Ecuador's coast, with about 9 homicides per 100,000 people in 2025, but gang killings are rising and street crime is a real risk. Muggings in the old town, express kidnappings in hailed taxis, traffic and volcanoes are what visitors need to plan for.
Quito safety score: 52 out of 100, grade D (Weak)Bogotá
Bogotá is a manageable city for visitors who stay in the north, use ride apps and are careful with strangers, but crime is the real risk. It had about 1,170 homicides in 2025, theft is common, and criminals drug and rob foreigners met through dating apps. The US rates Colombia Level 3.
Bogotá safety score: 51 out of 100, grade D (Weak)Lima
Lima is visited safely by most travellers who stay in Miraflores, Barranco or San Isidro and use app taxis, but crime has grown worse. Homicides in the metro area rose to 11.8 per 100,000 in 2024, extortion gangs drove a state of emergency, and armed robbery, fake taxis and earthquakes are real risks.
Lima safety score: 51 out of 100, grade D (Weak)Medellín
Medellín is far safer than its 1990s reputation, with about 12 homicides per 100,000 in 2025, the lowest in 50 years. The risk for visitors is targeted crime, mostly drugging and robbery after meeting strangers on dating apps or in bars, plus street robbery and busy, deadly roads.
Medellín safety score: 50 out of 100, grade D (Weak)Nassau
Most cruise passengers and resort guests in Nassau, Cable Beach and Paradise Island have no trouble. But nearly all the Bahamas' murders happen on New Providence, about 26 per 100,000, and robberies reach the cruise terminal and resorts, sometimes by day. Unregulated jet skis add risk.
Nassau safety score: 50 out of 100, grade D (Weak)Tulum
Tulum is a small, fast-growing beach town where most visitors have a good trip, but gang shootings have reached a restaurant and a party venue used by visitors, and its murder rate for its size is well above Cancún's. Roads, limited hospital care and hurricanes add to the risk.
Tulum safety score: 50 out of 100, grade D (Weak)Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro can be visited safely, but it needs more care than most cities on our list. Robbery is common in tourist areas, and gun violence linked to gangs and police operations can spill close to where visitors go.
Rio de Janeiro safety score: 48 out of 100, grade D (Weak)San José
San José, Costa Rica's capital, is fine for a short stay if you use official taxis or ride apps, but crime has risen fast. Its canton had the most homicides in the country in 2025, the council declared an emergency over insecurity, and theft around downtown bus terminals and markets is common.
San José safety score: 48 out of 100, grade D (Weak)Falmouth
Falmouth, the cruise port town in Trelawny on Jamaica's north coast, has the lowest murder rate of the island's resort parishes, at about 11 per 100,000 in 2026. The usual Jamaican advice not to walk at night applies, reported rapes rose, and Hurricane Melissa flooded the town's hospital in 2025.
Falmouth safety score: 46 out of 100, grade D (Weak)Cartagena
Most visitors stay in the old city, Getsemaní and Bocagrande and meet nothing worse than pushy vendors and inflated bills. But the city has one of Colombia's highest homicide rates, drugging via dating apps is real, and police are fighting sexual exploitation networks that recruit tourists.
Cartagena safety score: 45 out of 100, grade D (Weak)Ocho Rios
Ocho Rios is a cruise port and resort town where most visitors see Dunn's River Falls, a beach and their hotel, and rarely any crime. St Ann's murders fell 36% in 2026 to late October, but the parish rate is still about 22 per 100,000, break-ins rose, and the usual advice not to walk at night applies.
Ocho Rios safety score: 44 out of 100, grade D (Weak)Negril
Negril is calmer than Montego Bay or Kingston, and murders in Westmoreland, the parish that holds most of it, fell 28% in 2026 to late October. But the rate is still about 19 per 100,000, many visitors stay in small, lightly guarded places, and the nearest public hospital is still being rebuilt after Hurricane Melissa.
Negril safety score: 43 out of 100, grade D (Weak)Kingston
Kingston is safer than it was even a year ago, with murders down about 29% in 2026 so far, but it remains one of the most violent capitals in the Americas. Visitors who stay in New Kingston and take the Humming Bird route from the airport usually have no trouble; gang violence is concentrated in named inner-city areas.
Kingston safety score: 42 out of 100, grade D (Weak)Tijuana
Tijuana recorded about 1,230 homicides in 2025, down from 1,809, and 2026 is running lower again, but that is still one of the highest rates of any big city in the Americas. Most violence is between gangs in outlying neighbourhoods; visitors face robbery, police extortion and dangerous roads.
Tijuana safety score: 42 out of 100, grade D (Weak)Montego Bay
Most visitors fly into Montego Bay, stay in guarded resorts and never see trouble. But St James, the parish around the city, is bucking Jamaica's fall in murders, with 54 killings by late October 2026, up 17%. The main hospital is still recovering from Hurricane Melissa.
Montego Bay safety score: 40 out of 100, grade D (Weak)
Which cities are on the list
The rule is the region most people mean by Latin America and the Caribbean: every city we cover in Mexico, the seven countries of Central America, the twelve countries of South America and the island nations of the Caribbean. We add San Juan, because Puerto Rico is a Caribbean island even though it belongs to the US, and it is on no other city ranking. Resort areas such as the Cuban cays Cayo Coco and Cayo Santa María count as one destination each. The Mexican cities also have their own ranking.
How the order is built
Each city has six scored factors: violent crime 25%, theft and scams 20%, walking at night, traffic safety, and health and environment 15% each, and natural hazards 10%. The list sorts those scores from the highest down and changes whenever we update a city page. A city's score also can never be more than 35 points above its country's conflict and terrorism score; in this region that cap changes no result. The details are on how we score cities.
What the top cities have in common
Buenos Aires and Santiago lead because few people are killed there: 2.5 Homicide rateThe number of people killed on purpose each year for every 100,000 residents. It is the most comparable crime figure between countries.More in the glossary in Buenos Aires in 2025, and about 6.3 in the Santiago region. Both lose points to theft. The calmer Mexican resorts, such as Cozumel and Los Cabos, come next, held back by roads and hurricanes.
The Cuban resorts are close behind, but for an unusual mix of reasons. Crime against guests at Varadero, Holguín and the cays is rare and the roads are quiet, yet hotels have closed for lack of fuel, medicines are short and the clinics on the cays send serious cases to the mainland. Their health scores are among the lowest on the list. Havana adds power cuts that leave streets unlit.
Why some cities are lower
Theft is the everyday risk across the region. São Paulo has a low murder rate for a big Brazilian city, but police logged about 250,000 thefts in 2025. In Bogotá and Medellín, criminals drug and rob foreigners met through dating apps.
Violent crime decides the bottom of the list. Cartagena recorded 40.5 Homicide rateThe number of people killed on purpose each year for every 100,000 residents. It is the most comparable crime figure between countries.More in the glossary in 2025 and the canton of San José about 40. Tijuana is near 60. In Jamaica, murders fell across the island in 2026, but St James, the parish around Montego Bay, went the other way, with 54 killings by late October, up 17%. Kingston, Negril and Ocho Rios are close to it. Rio de Janeiro loses on robbery in tourist areas and on gun battles between gangs and police.
What the score does not tell you
The order says where a visitor is most likely to get hurt or robbed. It does not show whether your flight will run, as in Cuba in 2026, or how quickly a hurricane season can close a resort, as Hurricane Melissa did in Jamaica in 2025. In most cities on this list, the violence is concentrated in neighbourhoods visitors never see. The simplest protection is the same everywhere: use app rides or booked taxis, keep your phone out of sight on the street and be wary of new contacts who suggest a second venue.
Questions
What is the safest city in Latin America?
Buenos Aires is at the top of this list. It had 78 homicides in 2025, about 2.5 per 100,000 people, and the fewest robberies in 25 years. Santiago de Chile and Mexico's calmer resorts, such as Cozumel, Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta, come next. In all of them, theft is a bigger risk for visitors than violence.
What is the safest city in South America?
Buenos Aires, followed by Santiago de Chile. Both have far lower murder rates than most big cities on the continent. Phone and bag theft is the catch, from motorbike snatch thieves and pickpockets in Buenos Aires to street robbery that has become more violent in Santiago.
Is Cuba safe to visit right now?
Crime against visitors at the resorts of Varadero, Holguín and the cays is rare, and Havana's street crime is modest by Caribbean standards. The problem is the national crisis. Hotels have closed for lack of fuel, power cuts leave streets dark, medicines are short and Visa and Mastercard cards do not work. The UK advises against all but essential travel to Cuba.
Is Jamaica safe for tourists?
Most visitors stay in guarded resorts and never see trouble. Jamaica's murders fell by about a quarter in 2026, but parish murder rates around Montego Bay, Kingston and Ocho Rios are still far above most cities we score, and the usual advice is not to walk around at night. Falmouth's parish has the lowest rate of the resort areas.
Is Medellín safe for tourists?
Far safer than its 1990s reputation, with about 12 Homicide rateThe number of people killed on purpose each year for every 100,000 residents. It is the most comparable crime figure between countries.More in the glossary people in 2025, the lowest in 50 years. The risk for visitors is targeted crime, mostly drugging and robbery after meeting strangers on dating apps or in bars. The US rates Colombia Level 3, reconsider travel.
Is San Juan, Puerto Rico safe?
It is manageable for visitors who stay in Old San Juan, Condado, Ocean Park or Isla Verde. But its murder rate of about 25 per 100,000 is above every mainland US city we score except New Orleans, and two tourists were shot dead in nightlife spots in 2025.
Which Latin American cities are the most dangerous for visitors?
On our list, Montego Bay, Tijuana, Kingston, Negril and Ocho Rios are at the bottom, with Cartagena, Falmouth, San José in Costa Rica and Rio de Janeiro just above them. Most violence in these cities happens between gangs in neighbourhoods visitors rarely see, but robbery and the roads still reach tourists.