Six out of ten Mexicans over 18 years of age—67.4 percent of women and 54.1 percent of men—feel unsafe in the cities where they live, according to the latest study undertaken by the National Urban Public Safety Survey (ENSU).
The least safe city in Mexico, the study revealed, is Fresnillo in Zacetecas, where 95.4 percent of residents said they felt unsafe. Next on the list is Ciudad Obregón in Sonora (92.3 percent), followed by the city of Zacatecas (92.1 percent), Uruapan in Michoacan (91.5 percent), the Mexico City suburb of Naucalpan de Juárez in Estado de Mexico (87.3 percent), and Toluca in Estado de Mexico (86.2 percent).
The safest cities were the Mexico City borough (delegación) of Benito Juárez (only 15.8 percent of residents said they felt unsafe), Piedras Negras in Coahuila, (19.7 percent), San Pedro Garza (part of the Monterey metropolitan area) in Nuevo Leon (20.8 percent), the Mexico City borough of Cuajimalpa in Morelos (21.4 percent), Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco (22.5 percent) and the Pacific coast port of Los Mochis in Sinaloa (24.1 percent).
Just over 70 percent of citizens surveyed during the third quarter of 2023 said they felt unsafe while at ATMs, 64.2 percent on public transportation, 55.4 percent in banks, and 54.1 percent while walking on the street.
Almost half of people aged over 18 years said they no longer wore jewelry or watches, or carried the minimal amount of cash on their persons, out of fear of experiencing some kind of assault. In addition, 42.8 percent of parents said they did not allow their children to walk unaccompanied on the streets.