City Travel Stats

São Paulo

Brazil · Latin America & Caribbean

69Safety indexLower concern
2CA flagGlobal Affairs CanadaLevel 2 · Increased caution
2GB flagUK FCDOLevel 2 · Increased caution
2AU flagSmartraveller (AU)Level 2 · Increased caution
4/5metric categories covered
Open comparison
-23.55°, -46.63°
Regional locator · ring ≈ the figure's geographic unit

The safety picture

A plain-language read of the sourced figures below

São Paulo scores 69 out of 100 in our composite index, placing it above about 35% of the cities we score.

Its homicide rate is 4.1 per 100,000, roughly 2.6 times the median for the cities we track. That figure is reported for the municipality rather than the city core and was calculated by us from a count and a population, so read it as a broad measure. We hold no vetted robbery rate here, so that side of the picture is missing. All four governments we track put Brazil at their second advisory level, increased caution, with no disagreement between them, and each advisory names pickpocketing and scams aimed at visitors. A national survey found 48.3% of people feel safe walking alone at night, though that result is for Brazil as a whole and not the city on its own.

Safety dimensions

Larger area = more concern
Violent crimeRobbery & theftTravel advisory
Violent crime8
Robbery & theftNo data
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)
4.1/100k
Figure is for São Paulo (municipality), wider than São Paulo itself.
Rate computed by project-atlas: 467 (count, 2025) ÷ 11451999 population (IBGE — Censo Demográfico 2022, 2022) × 100k.

Primary source: SINESP / Ministério da Justiça e Segurança Pública — Dados Nacionais de Segurança Pública (VDE)

Where this sits on the scaleElevated
01·3·8·20·40 /100k
Among tracked citiessafer than 34% of tracked cities
4.1/100k
0/100k safest101.2/100k

Robbery (police-recorded)

No vetted robbery figure for São Paulo yet.

Travel advisories

U.S. State Department

No advisory on record.

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

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

UK FCDO
2GB flagUK FCDOLevel 2 · Increased caution

Primary source: UK FCDO — Brazil travel advice

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

Primary source: Australian Government (DFAT Smartraveller) — Brazil 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
48.3%feel safe
48.3% of people surveyed · Brazil · 2021
Survey figure is for Brazil (country), wider than São Paulo 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
2 of 2 advisories mention this
project-atlas count: 2 of 2 reviewed government advisories mention this. A source-consensus signal, not a measured risk rate.
Based on only 2 reviewed advisories — a thin sample; treat as indicative.

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

Scams & fraud in travel advisories
2 of 2 advisories mention this
project-atlas count: 2 of 2 reviewed government advisories mention this. A source-consensus signal, not a measured risk rate.
Based on only 2 reviewed advisories — a thin sample; treat as indicative.

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