“The murder rate in New Orleans is close to 50 per 100,000; therefore it is not safe for you to buy a farm in Wyoming and live there.â€
Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? When Americans hear such a statement about their home country, they recognize its absurdity immediately. Yet, when big news sources (or government travel advisories) make similar statements and implications about Mexico, Americans don’t catch on to how ridiculous they really are.
One of the first concerns many Americans have about buying Mexico real estate and living in Mexico is safety. With news reports that focus on and harp on violence in Mexico, it’s not surprising. However, as Lonely Planet recently pointed out, Mexico may actually be safer for Americans than their home country. While the article focuses on tourism, it is very useful for those considering living here.
The following are some highlights from the Lonely Planet article:
- Disney World, Orlando, saw 7.5 murders per 100,000 residents in 2010; this is higher than Cancun or Puerto Vallarta, with rates of 1.83 and 5.9 respectively (Cancun real estate and Puerto Vallarta real estate buyers can rest assured that they’re probably safer than in Florida!)
- Popular destinations like the Bahamas, Belize and Jamaica have far higher homicide rates (36, 42 and 52 per 100,000).
- 4.8 Americans per 100,000 were murdered in the US in 2010; 120 Americans of the 5.7 million who visited Mexico last year were murdered, which is a rate of 2.1 of 100,000 visitors in Mexico, which is less than half the US national rate.
- Texans are twice as safe in Mexico, and three times safer than in Houston. 5 per 100,000 Texans were homicide victims in 2010. Houston was worse, with a rate of 6.8 – over three times the rate for Americans in Mexico.
- Although New Orleans broke its own tourism record last year with 8 million visitors, it has close to triple Mexico’s national rate.
- Most of Mexico is NOT on the State Department’s travel warning.
- The warning does not include many popular destinations such as Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, the Riviera Nayarit, Cancun, Cozumel and Tulum.
- 13 states are fully free from the State Department’s warning, including Baja California Sur, Yucatan, Mexico City, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guanajuato and others.
- Oaxaca state has a smaller murder rate than Pennsylvania (Oaxaca’s 4.39 per 100,000 to Pennsylvania’s 5.2). Oaxaca state, not on the US travel warning, is famed for its colonial city, Zapotec ruins and emerging beach destinations like Huatulco.
- As the US State Department says, ‘millions of US citizens safely visit Mexico each year.’
(Read the full article at Lonely Planet.)
The point of the article is that big media doesn’t always present all the facts. Their job is to sell news. It’s also that Mexico is a huge country, and just because one part is unsafe doesn’t mean another part can’t be very safe. The same is true about the United States or Canada. People buying Mexico real estate can do a bit of homework and be confident that they will be safe in their new home – perhaps even safer than where they’re living in the U.S. or Canada.
TOPMexicoRealEstate.com; Mexico’s Leading Network of Specialists for Finding and Purchasing Mexican Properties Safely