City Travel Stats

Playa del Carmen

Mexico · Latin America & Caribbean

60Safety indexModerate
2US flagU.S. State DeptLevel 2 · Increased caution
2CA flagGlobal Affairs CanadaLevel 2 · Increased caution
2GB flagUK FCDOLevel 2 · Increased caution
2AU flagSmartraveller (AU)Level 2 · Increased caution
5/5metric categories covered
Open comparison
20.63°, -87.07°
Regional locator · ring ≈ the figure's geographic unit

The safety picture

A plain-language read of the sourced figures below

Playa del Carmen scores 60 out of 100 in our composite index, placing it safer than roughly a quarter of the cities we score.

Its homicide rate is 12.3 per 100,000, about 7.7 times the median for the cities we track. That rate covers the wider municipality and was calculated by us from a raw count and a population, so it is an upper bound and any single area could differ. Recorded robbery is 55.4 per 100,000, again for the municipality and derived by us; police data counts only reported incidents, so read it as a floor. All four governments we track hold Mexico at their second advisory level, increased caution, and each flags pickpocketing and scams for visitors. In a national survey, 41.3% of residents said they feel safe walking alone after dark, a figure for the country rather than the city.

Safety dimensions

Larger area = more concern
Violent crimeRobbery & theftTravel advisory
Violent crime25
Robbery & theft10
Travel advisory33
The radar shows the three sourced, comparable risk measures (homicide, robbery, the strictest travel-advisory level). Tourist petty-crime signals are a different kind of measure — how often advisories mention them — so they are shown as rows under Tourist-specific incidents, not as radar axes.

Homicide / general violence

Intentional homicides (per 100,000)
12.3/100k
Figure is for Solidaridad (municipality), wider than Playa del Carmen itself.
Rate computed by project-atlas: 41 (count, 2025) ÷ 333800 population (INEGI — Censo de Población y Vivienda 2020, 2020) × 100k.

Primary source: SESNSP — Incidencia delictiva municipal

Where this sits on the scaleHigh
01·3·8·20·40 /100k
Among tracked citiessafer than 16% of tracked cities
12.3/100k
0/100k safest101.2/100k

Robbery (police-recorded)

Robbery (per 100,000)
55.4/100k
Police-recorded robbery undercounts true incidence — Mexico has a high share of unreported crime (cifra negra), more so for robbery than homicide. Read this as recorded robbery, not total robbery.
Figure is for Solidaridad (municipality), wider than Playa del Carmen itself.
Rate computed by project-atlas: 185 (count, 2025) ÷ 333800 population (INEGI — Censo de Población y Vivienda 2020, 2020) × 100k.

Primary source: SESNSP — Incidencia delictiva municipal

Where this sits on the scaleGuarded
040·120·250·400·600 /100k
Among tracked citiessafer than 59% of tracked cities
55.4/100k
0.4/100k safest3097.8/100k

Travel advisories

U.S. State Department
2US flagU.S. State DeptLevel 2 · Increased caution

Primary source: U.S. Department of State — Mexico Travel Advisory

Global Affairs Canada
2CA flagGlobal Affairs CanadaLevel 2 · Increased caution

Primary source: Global Affairs Canada — Mexico Travel Advice and Advisories

UK FCDO
2GB flagUK FCDOLevel 2 · Increased caution

Primary source: UK FCDO — Mexico travel advice

Smartraveller (Australia)
2AU flagSmartraveller (AU)Level 2 · Increased caution

Primary source: Australian Government (DFAT Smartraveller) — Mexico travel advice

Perceived safety

How safe people say they feel, from official population surveys — a separate signal, not part of the Safety Index.
Feel safe walking alone at night
National survey
41.3%feel safe
41.3% of people surveyed · Mexico · 2024
Survey figure is for Mexico (country), wider than Playa del Carmen itself.

Primary source: UN SDG 16.1.4 — feel safe walking alone at night (UNODC)

Tourist-specific incidents

How often government travel advisories mention each — a source-consensus signal, not a risk rate.
Pickpocketing & petty theft in travel advisories
3 of 3 advisories mention this
project-atlas count: 3 of 3 reviewed government advisories mention this. A source-consensus signal, not a measured risk rate.

Primary source: Global Affairs Canada — Mexico travel advice (Safety and security)

Scams & fraud in travel advisories
3 of 3 advisories mention this
project-atlas count: 3 of 3 reviewed government advisories mention this. A source-consensus signal, not a measured risk rate.

Primary source: Global Affairs Canada — Mexico travel advice (Safety and security)