Ranking
Safest Cities in the World 2026
The 25 highest-scoring cities we cover, worldwide. Each score is built for visitors and combines violent crime, theft and scams, how safe it feels to walk at night, traffic deaths, air quality and health care, and natural hazards. Open any city for the numbers, the neighbourhoods and the sources behind its score.
Updated · Scores update with each page
The ranking
Singapore
Singapore is one of the easiest cities in the world to walk around at any hour. Violent crime and theft are rare. What visitors actually deal with is tropical heat, phone and online scams, the occasional overcharge at electronics shops, and alcohol and drug laws that are far stricter than at home.
Score 91, grade AKyoto
Kyoto is one of the safest cities you can visit, with very little violent or street crime. The things to plan for are packed buses and temples, narrow lanes shared with cars, intense summer heat, and earthquake and flood risk in the Kyoto basin.
Score 90, grade ATokyo
Tokyo is one of the safest big cities in the world for visitors, by day and by night. Watch out for drink spiking and inflated bar bills in nightlife districts, and know what to do in an earthquake.
Score 90, grade AHong Kong
Hong Kong is a very safe city for visitors on the street, with pickpocketing and robbery at very low levels. The things to plan for are typhoon season from May to November, phone and online fraud, crowds in nightlife areas, and national security laws that apply to what you say and post.
Score 88, grade AMunich
Munich is one of the safest big cities in Europe, with about 0.6 killings per 100,000 people in 2025 and less than half Berlin's crime rate. The real risks are phone theft at the Oktoberfest and the main station, and a terrorism threat the FCDO calls very likely.
Score 88, grade AOsaka
Osaka is a very safe city for visitors, a little rougher around the edges than Tokyo but with very little violent crime. The things to plan for are nightlife touts and bar bills in Minami, bag theft in crowds, extreme summer heat, typhoons and the long-term risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake.
Score 87, grade ASeoul
Seoul is a very safe city for visitors, including at night and for women travelling alone. Crime against foreigners is rare. The risks worth planning for are packed nightlife streets (the 2022 Itaewon crush killed 159 people), illegal filming, fine dust in spring, and heavy summer rain.
Score 87, grade AStockholm
Stockholm is very safe for visitors, with 0.7 killings per 100,000 people in its police region in 2025 and some of the safest roads and cleanest air in Europe. Gang shootings and bombings are real but stay mostly in suburbs; pickpockets in crowds are the everyday risk.
Score 87, grade ATaipei
Taipei is a very safe city for visitors, with almost no street robbery and busy, well-lit streets late at night. Plan for scooters and turning cars at crossings, a fast-growing fraud problem, typhoons from July to September and earthquakes. Tension with China has not changed travel advice.
Score 87, grade ACopenhagen
Copenhagen is one of Europe's safest capitals, with 6 homicides in 2025 for about 670,000 people and very low road deaths. Pickpockets around the central station and Strøget are the main nuisance. Gang conflicts flare up in Nørrebro now and then but rarely touch visitors.
Score 86, grade AEdinburgh
Edinburgh is one of the safest big cities in Britain, with under 1 homicide per 100,000 people, air close to the WHO guideline and few road deaths. The main risks are pickpockets in the August festival crowds and drunken trouble in the Old Town late at night.
Score 86, grade ASydney
Sydney is one of the safest big cities we cover, with fewer than 1 murder per 100,000 people and street theft at a fraction of its 2016 level. The risks a visitor should plan for are the ocean, the sun and summer bushfire smoke, plus a terrorism threat that the December 2025 Bondi attack made real.
Score 86, grade AMacau
Macau is very safe on the street, with violent crime and road deaths at very low levels. The risks are typhoons and storm surge from May to November, crowds at the main sights, crime around casinos including illegal lending to gamblers, and laws that limit speech and consular help.
Score 85, grade AVienna
Vienna is a very safe city for visitors, with few killings, among the fewest road deaths of any big European city and a calm centre at night. Pickpocketing in crowds and on the U-Bahn is the main nuisance, and the FCDO rates the terrorism threat in Austria as likely.
Score 85, grade AAuckland
Auckland is a low-risk city for visitors, with a homicide rate around 1.5 per 100,000 nationally, clean air and about 2 road deaths per 100,000 people. Theft from hire cars, late-night trouble in the city centre and heavy rain that can flood whole suburbs are the things to plan for.
Score 84, grade BDublin
Dublin is a safe city for visitors, with about 13 killings a year in a region of 1.5 million people and some of the safest roads of any European capital. The catch is the city centre late at night, where assaults and anti-social behaviour have become a national debate.
Score 84, grade BKraków
Kraków is a safe city with very little serious violence, very few road deaths and 79% of residents feeling safe walking alone at night. Visitors mostly meet pickpocketing around the Old Town and stations, overcharging in some bars and clubs, and smog on still winter days.
Score 84, grade BShanghai
Shanghai is very safe on the street, with little violent crime and very high feelings of safety at night. The risks are e-bikes and turning cars, air well above the WHO guideline, late-summer typhoons, tea-house scams and mainland China's legal risks, including exit bans.
Score 84, grade BToronto
Toronto is one of the safest large cities in North America. Homicides nearly halved in 2025 to 45, about 1.4 per 100,000, and traffic deaths are low. Car theft and break-ins worry residents more than visitors, and the main things to watch are disorder on the TTC and around a few downtown corners late at night.
Score 84, grade BDubai
On crime alone, Dubai is one of the safest cities in the world. The 2026 Iran war changed the picture, with strikes that damaged the airport and the Burj Al Arab, so check advisories before you book and again before you fly.
Score 83, grade BMelbourne
Melbourne is a safe city for visitors, with a low homicide rate, good trams and clean air. Car theft and youth robberies and burglaries drove a loud crime debate in 2024–25, though they are now falling. Summer heat, bushfire smoke and spring thunderstorm asthma are the natural risks.
Score 83, grade BAmsterdam
Amsterdam is safe for visitors, with killings rare and falling. The catches are pickpockets around Centraal Station and the Red Light District, street dealers, drunken nights in the old centre, and a cycling culture that punishes pedestrians who step into a bike lane.
Score 82, grade BBeijing
Beijing is one of the safest big cities in the world on the street, and its air has improved from 89.5 µg/m³ of PM2.5 in 2013 to 27 in 2025. The risks are e-bikes and traffic, flash floods in summer, tea-house scams, and the legal risks of mainland China, where travel advice warns of exit bans and detention.
Score 82, grade BBerlin
Berlin is a safe city for visitors with low lethal violence and a calm traffic record. The risks are pickpockets on the U-Bahn and at Alexanderplatz, and a handful of drug-dealing hot spots in Kreuzberg and Neukölln that are best avoided late at night.
Score 82, grade BMadrid
Madrid is one of Europe's safest big capitals for violent crime and a city that stays out late without much trouble. Pickpockets in the centre and on the metro are the main risk, and summer heat is the hazard visitors underestimate.
Score 82, grade B
How the ranking works
Every city has its own page with six scored factors. Violent crime carries 25%, using city homicide and assault rates. Theft and scams count for 20%, walking at night, traffic safety and health and environment for 15% each, and natural hazards for 10%. The list shows the 25 highest scores, sorted from the top, and it changes whenever we update a city page. We do not write scores into this text, because the list always shows the current ones.
A city also inherits a cap from its country: its score cannot be more than 35 points above the conflict and terrorism score on the country page, because missiles and terrorism do not stop at city limits. For almost every city on this list the cap changes nothing. The details are on how we score cities.
What the safest cities have in common
The cities near the top have very little violent crime, often under 1 homicide per 100,000 people a year, and little bag snatching or robbery. People there walk alone at night without much worry, and the surveys behind our night factor say so. Most have low traffic death rates and emergency care that visitors can rely on.
East Asia does especially well: Japanese cities, Singapore, Seoul, Taipei and Hong Kong combine those strengths. European cities near the top, such as Munich, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Vienna and Edinburgh, also have little violent crime but lose more points to pickpocketing in tourist areas. Cities in Australia, New Zealand and Canada gain on clean air and good health care, and Chinese cities and Dubai lose some points on air quality.
What the score does not tell you
A city score is an average for visitors. It does not cover every district, and it cannot predict what happens on one night out. Pickpocketing is still the most common crime against tourists in many cities on this list. Each city page names the areas, scams and hours to watch for; the country page adds the wider picture, and the safest countries ranking covers whole countries.
Questions
What is the safest city in the world?
The city at the top of this list has the highest score we give right now. The leaders are close, and the order among them can change with one update, so treat the top ten as a group of very safe cities. Open the pages to see where each one loses its few points.
Why are so many Asian cities near the top?
Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, Taipei and Hong Kong combine very low violent crime with little street theft and streets that feel safe late at night. Those three factors together carry 60% of the city score. Some Asian cities lose points on air quality or earthquake and typhoon risk instead.
Which city is safest for solo female travellers?
Our walking-at-night factor is the closest measure, because it uses surveys of how safe residents, including women, feel walking alone after dark. The cities on this list score well on it, but each city page names the areas and hours where extra care makes sense.
Is a safe city safe in every neighbourhood?
No. A city score is an average, and even the safest cities have a station area, a nightlife street or a district with more theft. The city pages name those places and what to watch for.
Why is my city not on the list?
This list shows only the top 25 cities we cover. Your city may score lower, or we may not cover it yet. Use the search or the full city list to find it.