How safe is the market you're buying into?
Graded where you'd live, not by the country number. A national homicide rate buries the gap between the town you're buying in and the city making headlines — so each market is read by destination, against places North-American buyers already know.
Markets scored
Each market is graded by destination. The headline is the spread — the strongest buyer area to the weakest — because in most of these countries that spread is the whole story.
Panama
5 destinations · best → worstPedasí C+ → Panama City D+Panama lands at the lower end of the Americas range — comparable to Costa Rica on crime statistics, while three of four diplomatic advisories rate it routine travel. Concentrated risk; not a generalised one.
Read the Safety Score →C+toD+Mexico
5 destinations · best → worstMérida · Yucatán B+ → San Miguel de Allende · Guanajuato FMexico sits at the low end of the Americas range — a 24.9 per 100,000 homicide rate (2023, UNODC via World Bank) and three diplomatic advisories flagging crime and kidnapping, including UK guidance against all but essential travel to parts of the country. Risk is heavily regional, not uniform.
Read the Safety Score →B+toFCosta Rica
3 destinations · best → worstAtenas / Grecia · Alajuela C → Tamarindo / Nosara · Guanacaste FCosta Rica’s homicide rate climbed to 17.75 per 100,000 in 2023 (UNODC via World Bank), up from 12.91 in 2022 — a material deterioration. US and Canadian advisories flag crime; the UK issues no nationwide warning. The grade reflects the recent rise rather than the country’s older reputation.
Read the Safety Score →CtoFPortugal
Uniform — nationwide gradePortugalPortugal is among the safest markets covered — 0.89 intentional homicides per 100,000 (2023, UNODC via Our World in Data). All three diplomatic advisories sit at their lowest level, with no country-specific safety headline.
Read the Safety Score →B+Spain
Uniform — nationwide gradeSpainSpain has one of the lowest homicide rates covered — 0.60 per 100,000 (2023, UNODC via Our World in Data). US and Canadian advisories flag terrorism rather than ordinary crime; the UK issues no country-specific safety headline.
Read the Safety Score →B+Belize
4 destinations · best → worstCorozal B- → Belize City / San Pedro · Belize District FBelize carries one of the highest homicide rates covered — 28.06 per 100,000 (2022, the latest year UNODC reports via World Bank; no 2023 figure was published). All three advisories flag violent crime, and the UK notes a 30-day State of Emergency in parts of Belize City.
Read the Safety Score →B-toFDominican Republic
2 destinations · best → worstPuerto Plata / Sosúa · 2018 C+ → Punta Cana · La Altagracia · 2018 D-The Dominican Republic sits in the middle of the Americas range — 10.92 intentional homicides per 100,000 (2023, UNODC via World Bank). The US and Canada flag crime; the UK issues no nationwide warning. Comparable to Panama on the crime statistic.
Read the Safety Score →C+toD-Italy
Uniform — nationwide gradeCentre-NorthItaly is among the safest markets covered — a 0.57 per 100,000 homicide rate in 2023 (ISTAT; 334 homicides), corroborated by the UNODC-derived 0.568 for the same year. US and Canadian advisories cite terrorism risk rather than ordinary crime; the UK issues no country-specific safety headline. ISTAT data shows the South modestly above the Centre-North.
Read the Safety Score →B+
We don't publish a score we can't show our work for. National rates come from UNODC; destination grades from official sub-national crime statistics.
One market read, one process explainer, one number to know.
Free, no sponsors. Cross-border property and retirement, written for North American buyers.