Is Choluteca safe?
Honduras · North America · data updated 2026-09-04
Choluteca is a city in Honduras, home to about 136k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 5,904 of 6,168, with a safety score of 37.8 out of 100, placing it clearly below the global midpoint.
Emergency 911 (ambulance, fire, police)
- US State Department: Reconsider travelOfficial travel advisory level 3 of 4 for Honduras, updated 2024-12-09.
- Very high homicide rate23.92 homicides per 100,000 per year (national rate), about 9× the global city median.
- High income inequalityGini 45.7 puts Honduras in the most unequal quarter of countries - the strongest structural predictor of city violence in this dataset (street crime and robbery tend to track it).
Deadliest recorded locations nearby
- CEFAS women's prison in Tamara, outside of the capital city of Tegucigalpa46 deaths · 1 event
UCDP-recorded organized-violence deaths within 100 km of Choluteca, 2022-2024, at the locations the source itself names. Conflict deaths, not street crime.
How safe is Choluteca really?
No published homicide figure exists for Choluteca itself, so the national rate stands in: Honduras recorded 24 homicides per 100,000 people in 2024 - roughly 9 times the global city median. The city itself may be safer or more dangerous than its country's average. That matters because income inequality is the strongest structural predictor of city violence in this dataset, and Honduras's Gini of 45.7 puts it in the most unequal quarter of countries - conditions under which street crime and robbery tend to be a real concern.
Choluteca also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 53 deaths from organized violence within 100 km across 5 events in 2022-2024 - a factor crime statistics alone would miss. The deadliest recorded locations in that radius were CEFAS women's prison in Tamara, outside of the capital city of Tegucigalpa (46 deaths).
What the travel advisories say
The US State Department currently rates Honduras at level 3 of 4 - "Reconsider travel" (updated 2024-12-09). The UK Foreign Office publishes travel advice for Honduras without any avoid-travel warning in force. Both advisories are country-level: no official source publishes verified neighborhood-level crime guidance for individual cities, which is why this page reports named areas only where an official source names them.
What to watch out for in Honduras
Terrorism in Honduras · Political situation · Protecting yourself and your belongings · ATM crime · Violent attacks against vehicles · Scams · Personal ID and travel documents · Illegal drugs and prison sentences · LGBT+ travellers · Money · Scuba diving accidents · Road travel · Driving conditions · Air travel · +2 more
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Honduras — country-level, not specific to Choluteca. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 24 /100knational rate, 2024 · ~9× the global city median
- Conflict deaths
- 53within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 45.7country, 2024
- Human development
- HDI 0.645country, 2023
- Income
- $7,270/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 136kurban centre · 3,890/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 16.1 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 56/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 37/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 22/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 5.8/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.56Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 30.7 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- 66%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 0.5 doctors /1k0.5 hospital beds per 1,000
- Malaria
- 0 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only
Natural hazards in Honduras
- Earthquake
- 8.1/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Tsunami
- 6.4/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Flood
- 5.4/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Drought
- 4.9/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Cyclone
- 4.6/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Honduras as a whole, not Choluteca specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Honduras (as of 2025).
All country-level figures shared by every city in Honduras; none of them affect the safety score.
How the score works
One fixed, calibrated mix for every city: 40% homicide · 25% peace · 25% equality · 10% HDI. Homicide and conflict deaths are measured outcomes; income inequality carries the structural share because it predicts real city violence far better than national income (which is shown above but scored at zero). Each factor maps to 0-100 against fixed anchors, missing data drops out and is never estimated, and cities with data behind less than half the weighting get “no data” instead of a score. For Choluteca that gives 37.8/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Choluteca compared with Tegucigalpa
| Measure | Choluteca | Tegucigalpa | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 37.8 | 39.8 | −2.0 — better for Tegucigalpa |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 24 /100k | 18 /100k | +5.7 /100k — better for Tegucigalpa |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 53 | 52 | +1 — better for Tegucigalpa |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Honduras, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Tegucigalpa →
Nearby cities
- Chinandega, Nicaragua 59.3
- Tegucigalpa 39.8
- Esteli, Nicaragua 59.3
- León, Nicaragua 59.3
- San Miguel, El Salvador 58.0
- Comayagua 37.7
- Matagalpa, Nicaragua 59.3
- Managua, Nicaragua 57.5
See Choluteca on the interactive map → · Safest cities in North America → · Full travel briefings →