Is San Juan safe?
Puerto Rico · North America · data updated 2026-09-04
San Juan is a city in Puerto Rico, home to about 681k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 5,323 of 6,168, with a safety score of 48.7 out of 100 - mid-table: neither the data for concern nor the data for reassurance dominates.
- Very high homicide rate23.2 homicides per 100,000 per year (city-measured), about 9× the global city median.
No official source names specific areas to avoid here: travel advisories for Puerto Rico are country-level, and no published dataset covers neighborhood-level crime - so this briefing does not invent it.
How safe is San Juan really?
The most direct evidence is measured in the city itself: San Juan recorded 23 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2024 - roughly 9 times the global city median.
What the travel advisories say
Neither the US State Department nor the UK Foreign Office currently publishes a travel advisory covering Puerto Rico in the feeds this site checks. 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.
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 23 /100kcity-measured, 2024 · ~9× the global city median
- Conflict deaths
- 0within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- no datacountry,
- Human development
- no datacountry,
- Income
- $35,330/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 681kurban centre · 2,791/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- no dataWHO · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 73/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 66/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- no dataTransparency International · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- no dataEU INFORM · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.71Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 7.8 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- 99%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 1.8 doctors /1k3.3 hospital beds per 1,000
All country-level figures shared by every city in Puerto Rico; 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 San Juan that gives 48.7/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
San Juan compared with Santo Domingo
| Measure | San Juan | Santo Domingo | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 48.7 | 60.6 | −11.9 — better for Santo Domingo |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 23 /100k | 8.9 /100k | +14 /100k — better for Santo Domingo |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 0 | 0 | ±0 |
| Income inequality (Gini) | no data | 39.0 | — |
| Human development (HDI) | no data | 0.776 | — |
| Road deaths | no data | 64.6 /100k | — |
| Rule of law | 66/100 | 54/100 | +12/100 — better for San Juan |
| Corruption perceptions | no data | 37/100 | — |
| Air quality (PM2.5) | 7.8 µg/m³ | 13.5 µg/m³ | −5.7 µg/m³ — better for San Juan |
| Natural-hazard risk | no data | 4.4/10 | — |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Country-level rows describe the two countries, not the cities themselves. Full report for Santo Domingo →
Nearby cities
- Salvaleón de Higüey, Dominican Republic 59.2
- La Romana, Dominican Republic 60.4
- San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic 59.3
- Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 60.6
- Baní, Dominican Republic 57.5
- San Francisco de Macorís, Dominican Republic 62.3
- La Vega, Dominican Republic 62.3
- Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic 62.1
See San Juan on the interactive map → · Safest cities in North America → · Full travel briefings →