Is Cologne safe?
Germany · Europe · data updated 2026-09-04
Cologne is a city in Germany, home to about 1.1M people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 2,086 of 6,168, with a safety score of 77.5 out of 100, placing it clearly above the global midpoint.
Emergency Ambulance 112 · Fire 112 · Police 110
No official source names specific areas to avoid here: travel advisories for Germany are country-level, and no published dataset covers neighborhood-level crime - so this briefing does not invent it.
How safe is Cologne really?
No published homicide figure exists for Cologne itself, so the national rate stands in: Germany recorded 0.9 homicides per 100,000 people in 2024 - well below the global city median. The city itself may be safer or more dangerous than its country's average. Germany's income inequality is middling (Gini 33.7) - in this dataset inequality predicts city violence better than any other structural factor, so this neither raises nor lowers the picture much.
Cologne also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 3 deaths from organized violence within 100 km across 1 events in 2022-2024 - a factor crime statistics alone would miss.
What the travel advisories say
The US State Department currently rates Germany at level 2 of 4 - "Exercise increased caution" (updated 2025-05-12). The UK Foreign Office publishes travel advice for Germany 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 Germany
Terrorism in Germany · Protecting yourself and your belongings · Counterfeit currency · Personal ID · Illegal drugs · Hiking · Winter sports · Road travel · Low emission zones
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Germany — country-level, not specific to Cologne. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 0.9 /100knational rate, 2024
- Conflict deaths
- 3within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 33.7country, 2022
- Human development
- HDI 0.959country, 2023
- Income
- $78,140/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 1.1Murban centre · 3,948/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 3.8 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 68/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 85/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 77/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 2.4/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.87Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 8.8 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- 100%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 4.5 doctors /1k7.6 hospital beds per 1,000
Natural hazards in Germany
- Flood
- 7.8/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Earthquake
- 3.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Drought
- 1.3/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Germany as a whole, not Cologne specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Germany (as of 2025).
All country-level figures shared by every city in Germany; 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 Cologne that gives 77.5/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Cologne compared with Bonn
| Measure | Cologne | Bonn | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 77.5 | 77.5 | ±0.0 |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 0.9 /100k | 0.9 /100k | ±0.0 /100k |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 3 | 3 | ±0 |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Germany, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Bonn →
Nearby cities
- Bonn 77.5
- Wuppertal 77.5
- Dusseldorf 77.5
- Mönchengladbach 77.5
- Krefeld 77.5
- Hagen 77.5
- Essen 77.5
- Aachen 77.5
See Cologne on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Europe → · Full travel briefings →