Is It Safe to Live in Mexico?

If you are considering buying a home or moving to Baja, there is a pretty good chance someone has asked you this question:

“But is Mexico safe?”

We hear it all the time.

And we understand why. If your impression of Mexico comes primarily from news reports in the United States or Canada, it can be difficult to reconcile those headlines with the life people are actually living here.

Those of us who live in Mexico often experience a very different Mexico than the one our friends and family see on the evening news.

Now there is some interesting data to back that up.

What Foreign Residents Say About Living in Mexico

Mexico News Daily recently published the inaugural results of its Expat Safety Perceptions Index (ESPI), a quarterly survey designed specifically to measure how foreign nationals living in Mexico feel about their personal safety.

That distinction is important.

This wasn't a survey asking people what they think about Mexico based on national crime statistics or news coverage. It asked foreign residents how safe they actually feel in the communities where they live.

The survey included 773 foreign residents living in 29 of Mexico's 32 states, including Baja California Sur. More than half of respondents had lived in Mexico for at least six years, and more than three-quarters had been here for at least three years.

The result?

Mexico received an average personal safety score of 88.97 out of 100.

That is a remarkably strong number, especially considering the perception of Mexico that often exists outside the country.

Many Foreign Residents Actually Feel Safer in Mexico

Perhaps even more interesting was what happened when respondents compared their lives in Mexico with the places they previously lived in their home countries.

On average, respondents reported feeling safer in the Mexican community where they currently live than where they most recently lived back home.

For those of us who have made Baja our home, that finding probably isn't terribly surprising.

There is something about daily life here that is difficult to explain until you experience it yourself.

You know your neighbors. People look out for one another. You recognize the people working at your local market and restaurants. You wave to people on the road. You become part of a community.

That doesn't mean crime doesn't exist.

It does.

Mexico is a large and complicated country, and safety varies dramatically from state to state and community to community, just as it does in the United States and Canada.

But that nuance is often missing from the conversation.

The Mexico You See in the News Isn't Always the Mexico You Live In

One of the most fascinating findings from the survey involved foreign media coverage.

Respondents were asked how accurately they believed foreign media portrays Mexico, with 100 representing "completely accurate."

The average score was just 26.55 out of 100.

That disconnect is something we have experienced personally.

A violent event occurring hundreds or even thousands of miles away can suddenly become "Mexico" in a headline.

But Mexico is enormous.

Living in a small community in Baja California Sur is a very different experience from living in a major border city, just as living in a beach town in California is different from living in downtown Chicago.

Location matters.

Community matters.

And local knowledge matters.

What About Actual Experiences With Crime?

The survey also asked respondents about their own experiences rather than just their perceptions.

More than four out of five respondents said neither they nor anyone in their immediate household had been a victim of crime in Mexico during the previous 12 months.

Among those who had experienced crime, petty theft involving things like phones, wallets or bags was by far the most commonly reported incident.

Another interesting finding involved bribery. Approximately 85% of respondents said they had not been asked to pay a bribe to a police officer or government employee during the previous year.

Again, none of this suggests that Mexico is crime-free or that travelers and residents shouldn't take reasonable precautions.

It simply adds something that is often missing from the discussion: the experience of the people who actually live here.

What Is It Like Living in Baja California Sur?

This is where we can speak from experience.

Baja California Sur was one of the six states with the largest number of respondents in the Mexico News Daily survey, and it is also where we live, work and spend our everyday lives.

For us, life in Baja isn't a vacation.

It's grocery shopping, meeting clients, walking properties, checking construction sites, going out for dinner, driving Highway 19, watching the sunset and running into the same people everywhere we go.

It's normal life.

And yes, we feel comfortable living here.

That doesn't mean we stop paying attention. We use the same common sense here that we would anywhere else. We pay attention to where we're going, understand the areas we're traveling through and listen to local information.

The difference is that we don't evaluate our life here based on a headline about something that happened somewhere else in a country of more than 130 million people.

Our Advice If You're Thinking About Moving to Baja

If you're considering moving to Baja California Sur, buying property in Baja, retiring in Mexico or spending part of the year here, don't rely exclusively on either extreme.

Don't assume everything you've heard about Mexico is true.

But don't assume there are zero risks either.

Instead, talk to people who actually live in the community you're considering.

Spend time here.

Drive the neighborhoods.

Go to the grocery stores and restaurants.

Talk to homeowners.

Ask what everyday life is actually like.

And most importantly, understand the specific area where you're thinking about buying.

There is no single answer to the question, "Is Mexico safe?"

A much better question is:

"What is it actually like to live in the part of Mexico I'm considering?"

That's a conversation worth having.

Thinking About Living in Baja?

We moved to Baja because we wanted a different kind of life, and somewhere along the way, Baja became home.

Today, we help other people figure out whether that life might be right for them too.

If you're considering Cerritos, Pescadero, Todos Santos or anywhere along the Pacific side of Baja California Sur, we're always happy to talk honestly about what it's like to live here, including the good, the things that take some getting used to, and the things we wish someone had explained to us before we made the move.

Because buying a home in Baja isn't just about real estate.

It's about understanding the life that comes with it.

Source: Mexico News Daily, MND Expat Safety Perceptions Index, Q1 2026.