Level of crime | 66.59 | High | |
Crime increasing in the past 3 years | 82.20 | Very High | |
Worries home broken and things stolen | 55.51 | Moderate | |
Worries being mugged or robbed | 51.51 | Moderate | |
Worries car stolen | 41.15 | Moderate | |
Worries things from car stolen | 54.50 | Moderate | |
Worries attacked | 39.83 | Low | |
Worries being insulted | 21.33 | Low | |
Worries being subject to a physical attack because of your skin color, ethnic origin, gender or religion | 13.99 | Very Low | |
Problem people using or dealing drugs | 48.61 | Moderate | |
Problem property crimes such as vandalism and theft | 66.24 | High | |
Problem violent crimes such as assault and armed robbery | 57.76 | Moderate | |
Problem corruption and bribery | 72.92 | High |
Safety walking alone during daylight | 83.05 | Very High | |
Safety walking alone during night | 42.44 | Moderate |
Contributors: 119
Last update: December 2022
These data are based on perceptions of visitors of this website in the past 3 years.
If the value is 0, it means it is perceived as very low, and if the value is 100, it means it is perceived as very high.
Crime in Celaya | 30.90 miles |
Crime in Queretaro (Santiago de Querétaro) | 41.39 miles |
Crime in Guanajuato | 49.49 miles |
Crime in Salamanca | 54.16 miles |
Crime in Irapuato | 64.42 miles |
Crime in Yuriria (Yuririhapundaro) | 71.56 miles |
Crime in Morelia | 116.64 miles |
Crime in San Luis Potosi | 121.65 miles |
Crime in Tuxpan | 144.00 miles |
Crime in Cuautitlan Izcalli | 146.04 miles |
"The town of Celaya is a defacto hell-hole. It is called the "The most Violent City in the World" by the Rio Times. Do you know how far it is from SMA? 35 miles." (https://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/rio-politics/mexicos-celaya-is-the-most-violent-city-in-the-world-according-to-report/)
"Current SMA homicide (reported) is on track to be over 120 in 2020. That is 120 per 100,000. The murder rate in the US is 5.
SMA murder rate is twice that of the highest murder rate city in the US.
(ss John Aston on Sep 03, 2020:, below)
"According to the San Miguel Times last July, "70 murders [occurred] in less than 10 months in San Miguel de Allende', which translates to about 90/yr, or about the 120 rate as per 100,000 (as per KL on Mar 28, 2020:)
For all crimes, property and violent, in the US, only 25% are solved. I suspect it is way lower in Mexico and SMA, as with the crimes reported rate, as well.
Criminals, generally, like to be unseen, by witnesses, during their activity. So, it is of no surprise that many folks have not seen it. That would be the norm.
Stay safe, don't be ignorant. Stay informed.
we talk daily of what is happening in SMA. Sure there is crime like any city in the USA. There is daily muggings in California, Texas and Seattle. And yes there is crime, however the crime wave is not what many of you make it out to be. As Americans we are our own worst enemy when we spread lies and create insecurity in SMA. We are guests here and no one promised us a crime free paradise. When you find a crime paradise let us all know. In the meantime love SMA or go home.
We started off in Puerto Vallarta. We liked it. But, humidity, being a sort of party town, these things turned us off. Not that we're against moving there. We just want to 1st explore central Mexico before deciding.
October of 2019 we hit the city of Guanajuato for a week. We loved it. We did come across a couple of seedy moments. One included a cab driver that kept insisting we're rich. It got very uncomfortable. We felt like we were about to get robbed. Luckily, we did not. We made him drop us off at a near by bodega. Another time we noticed the same guy showing up at this place we liked to eat at. It didn't matter what time or day. We showed up and then minutes later so would he. It seemed like more than just a coincidence. Our AirBnB host did tell us that crime is on the rise in the city. That gangs are pushing meth. Another cab driver did tell us that security is a concern and to be careful.
Now we're off to San Miguel. We were hoping, like Puerto Vallarta, that a large expat community would offer at least some kind of confidence in security. But, reading article after article, comment after comment, we're left with a feeling of uneasiness. I'm honestly thinking about seeing if Aeromexico will let us change our flight to Puerto Vallarta and just cancelling out trip to San Miguel. We don't want to give up on certain parts of Mexico, or just forget about moving to Mexico. We love the country, people, culture, food, etc. But, no amount of political correctness will allow me to put us in harms way.
We even contacted our AirBnB host and asked her what she knows about these issues in San Miguel. She told us the consulate was having a meeting and would ask about these issues.
Her reply on 1/25/20:
"Didn't learn to much from the Consulate meeting yesterday. Just that our state here is a level 2 out of 4 for safety in Mexico. They didn't discuss extortion or crime, just that Gringos should report these issues to the consulate so they can keep track of any incidents. Also said we gringos are guests in this country, eventho many of us are paid residents, and have no control over the Mexican government. I had hoped for more info but that's all we got"
I'm not sure what kind of answer I was expecting. But this reply doesn't help. Seems like the local government is trying to downplay the increases in criminal activity.
Any comments on what we should do?
Sadly, not only do you have to worry about cartels in San Miguel, the locals have to worry about the police.
Makes me realize numbers are being mis-reported/minimized by the police and other officials so as not to scare the tourists away. Apparently the 5 bars that closed down last month in order to avoid extortion by the cartels didn't report it to the police because they were afraid the police had informants/cartel members in the ranks. Crime numbers are not accurate. I wont be going back to SMA any time soon, sadly.
The last census states the population of San Miguel is 132,397 with 62,034 living in the town proper and the rest scattered in small communities, some as small as 50 ppl. It is silly to compare that with cities in the U.S. with populations and areas 10 or 20 times that of San Miguel de Allende.
I have vacationed in Mexico over the last 25 years at least 25 times to cities and small towns across Mexico. One of the reasons is the people of Mexico which I have found to be nothing but kind, gentle, welcoming and friendly. I also love the beauty of Mexico, it’s coastal as well as mountain regions. This is why I planned to retire in San Miguel. I wanted to live out the rest of my days in this beautiful country and try to give back something for all the pleasure I and my children had experienced in all the time we spent there.
I was researching and planning for months and was finally ready for my exploratory trip to check it out for myself and find my place to live.
I was so excited I joined a couple of Facebook groups and would read the news of the day in the local and national papers every few days and could hardly wait to get there.
I then started reading about it not being safe to travel the main highway at night because of carjackings, then there were some home invasions with people being beaten, shootings, local businesses having to pay the cartels to do business and many other things. I was saddened and extremely disappointed and finally made the extremely tough decision to cancel my plans.
I know the government, locals and some expats play down the violence because if tourists stop coming it is bad for everyone. I don’t want to hurt the people of Mexico that have been so good to me. But I am not going to lie about it.
I hope and pray that President Obrador along with help from his allies can do something to make the country safe again for the people of Mexico and all of us around the world that love to visit and live in the beautiful country of Mexico.
If that happens before our planet burns up, I would love to retire there. But not now.
If you are an "international traveler" staying at a nice hotel, that might not feel like a big deal, or if you live inside the gringo bubble. But What about the people who have nothing to compare with? No where else to go? Y'all talking like nothing is happening just because it didn't happen to you. Authorities hiding it because affects tourism. Not fair, not cool.