Is Santos safe?
Brazil · South America · data updated 2026-09-04
Santos is a city in Brazil, home to about 1.0M people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 4,719 of 6,168, with a safety score of 56.7 out of 100, which lands it in the middle band of the ranking.
Emergency Ambulance 192 · Fire 193 · Police 190 or 911
- UK FCDO advises against all but essential travel to parts of this country5 named areas - see "areas to avoid" below.
- High income inequalityGini 50.3 puts Brazil 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).
Areas the UK FCDO advises against visiting country
- Amazonas State
- along the Amazonas (Amazon) River and its tributaries west of the town of Codajás and east of the town of Belém do Solimões in Amazonas State
- along any part of the Itaquaí River in Amazonas State
- along any part of the Japurá River or its tributaries in Amazonas State
- along the Rio Negro (Black River) and its tributaries north or west of the town of Barcelos in Amazonas State
Named in the official UK travel advice for Brazil (in full or in part - the advisory lists exact boundaries and exceptions). These are country-level warnings and may be far from Santos.
How safe is Santos really?
The most direct evidence is measured in the city itself: Santos recorded 4.9 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2024 - close to the global city median. That matters because income inequality is the strongest structural predictor of city violence in this dataset, and Brazil's Gini of 50.3 puts it in the most unequal quarter of countries - conditions under which street crime and robbery tend to be a real concern.
Santos also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 1 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 Brazil at level 2 of 4 - "Exercise increased caution" (updated 2025-05-28). The UK Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to parts of this country, naming 5 specific areas - listed above with the official advisory linked for exact boundaries and exceptions. 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 Brazil
Terrorism in Brazil · Protests and civil unrest · Favelas · Theft and robbery · Criminal Kidnapping · Scams · Sexual assault and drink spiking · Methanol poisoning · Child sexual abuse · Parental child abduction · Carjacking · Organised crime and militias · Personal ID · Illegal drugs and trafficking scams · +12 more
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Brazil — country-level, not specific to Santos. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 4.9 /100kcity-measured, 2024
- Conflict deaths
- 1within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 50.3country, 2024
- Human development
- HDI 0.786country, 2023
- Income
- $22,670/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 1.0Murban centre · 7,187/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 16.0 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 57/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 49/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 35/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 4.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.63Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 13.4 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- 89%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 2.4 doctors /1k2.5 hospital beds per 1,000
- Malaria
- 4 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only
Natural hazards in Brazil
- Flood
- 7.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Drought
- 4.5/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Brazil as a whole, not Santos specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Brazil (as of 2025).
All country-level figures shared by every city in Brazil; 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 Santos that gives 56.7/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Santos compared with Sao Paulo
| Measure | Santos | Sao Paulo | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 56.7 | 56.7 | ±0.0 |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 4.9 /100k | 4.9 /100k | ±0.0 /100k |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 1 | 1 | ±0 |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Brazil, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Sao Paulo →
Nearby cities
- Praia Grande 56.7
- Sao Paulo 56.7
- Jacareí 58.7
- Francisco Morato 56.7
- Sao Jose dos Campos 58.7
- Jundiaí 58.7
- Bragança Paulista 47.3
- Itu 53.4
See Santos on the interactive map → · Safest cities in South America → · Full travel briefings →