Almost three-quarters of Mexicans believe their state is an unsafe place to live due to crime, according to the results of the 2026 National Survey of Victimization and Perception of Public Safety (ENVIPE).
The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) conducted the survey at more than 102,000 homes across Mexico between Feb. 16 and April 10. The results were published last Thursday.
The survey found that 74% of adults believe their state is an unsafe place to live due to crime. That figure declined 1.6 percentage points compared to a year earlier.
However, it remains very high at a time when the federal government is touting sharp reductions in homicides and high-impact crimes such as kidnappings, extortion and violent robberies.
Among Mexico’s 32 federal entities, the northern border state of Coahuila stands out as a success story in terms of reducing violence and strengthening residents’ sense that it is a safe place to live.
Where are perceptions of insecurity highest?
According to the ENVIPE 2026 results, 90% of México state residents consider their state an unsafe place to live due to crime. That figure rose 2.2 percentage points compared to 2025.
México state, which includes many municipalities that are part of the greater Mexico City metropolitan area, thus replaced Morelos as the state with the highest percentage of residents who have security concerns. In the first eight months of 2026, México state was the country’s fifth most violent state in terms of total homicides, behind Guanajuato, Baja California, Chihuahua and Sinaloa.
The states with the next highest percentages of residents with security concerns were:
- Morelos: 88.7% (down 1.4 percentage points compared to 2025)
- Tabasco: 87.6% (down 2.2 percentage points)
- Guanajuato: 85.9% (down 2.6 percentage points)
- Zacatecas: 83.3% (down 4 percentage points)
Where are perceptions of insecurity lowest?
According to the ENVIPE 2026 results, the state with the lowest percentage of residents with security concerns is Coahuila. Just over one quarter of Coahuila residents — 27.8% — consider their state unsafe due to crime.
That figure declined 9.9 percentage points in the space of a year, allowing Coahuila to replace Baja California Sur as the state with the lowest proportion of residents with security concerns.
The states with the next lowest percentages of residents with security concerns were:
- Yucatán: 35.5% (down 4.1 percentage points compared to 2025)
- Aguascalientes: 41% (down 8 percentage points)
- Querétaro: 44.6% (down 12.5 percentage points)
- Baja California Sur: 49.2% (up 11.8 percentage points)
In a report about the latest ENVIPE results, Televisa’s news division N+ said that 15 years ago, Coahuila was one of Mexico’s most violent states due to the presence of organized crime groups such as Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel.
N+ reported that after the security “crisis” in Coahuila — epitomized by events such as the 2011 Allende massacre — the presence of federal security forces was beefed up and a “joint strategy” for the state was drawn up.
“Mega military barracks were built … and there were purges of local police forces,” N+ reported, referring to the dismissal of officers in cahoots with organized crime.
Eduardo Guerrero, a security consultant, told N+ that “the case of Coahuila is exceptional.”
What has been achieved in the past 15 years is a “great feat,” he said, referring to the reduction in violence in the northern state.
N+ noted that there were more than 1,100 homicides in Coahuila in 2012 before highlighting that the state registered just 100 murders in 2025, the lowest annual figure on record.
Javier Oliva Posada, a professor and researcher at the National Autonomous University, told N+ that the reduction in violence in Coahuila is not just due to government “force and the show of force.”
He mentioned crime “prevention and deterrence programs” and the “training” of local police forces as factors that have contributed to the reduction in violence.
Coahuila has obtained the enviable designation of “safest state in Mexico” under the leadership of Governor Manolo Jiménez Salinas, who has been in office since December 2023. Coahuila is one of just two states currently governed by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which for most of the 20th century was Mexico’s predominant political force.
Jiménez said last week that he and his fellow coahuilenses felt “very proud” to be able to say that “Coahuila is the safest state in Mexico.”
¡Coahuila el estado más seguro de México! 🇲🇽🤠💪🏼 #PaDelante #APasosDeGigante #ENVIPE #INEGI pic.twitter.com/0JTGoOD45C
— Manolo Jiménez Salinas (@manolojim) September 10, 2026
He attributed the achievement to “great teamwork” and pledged to continue “protecting” the state.
“We’re going to keep working on security every day with more prevention, proximity, intelligence and force,” said Jiménez, who acknowledged close coordination between his administration and the federal government and its security forces.
The governor also said that “more police cars, more barracks, … more weapons, more cameras and more training” are coming to Coahuila.
“In this way, we’re going to continue strengthening the greatness of this beautiful state of Coahuila de Zaragoza,” he said.
Additional ENVIPE data
Among the other data points derived from the 2026 ENVIPE were the following:
- At least one member of 11.7 million households was a victim of a crime in 2025. That number is equivalent to 28.5% of all households across Mexico.
- A total of 23 million adults were victims of crimes in Mexico last year. There were 23,473 victims per 100,000 adult residents, a slight reduction compared to 2024.
- Mexico City recorded the highest crime victimization rate last year (34,930 victims per 100,000 adult residents). Chiapas recorded the lowest rate (13,462 victims per 100,000 adult residents).
- Fraud was the most common crime committed in Mexico last year (8,290 cases per 100,000 adult residents) followed by extortion and muggings.
- INEGI estimates that a total of 33.8 million crimes were committed in Mexico in 2025. Just 9% of those crimes were reported to authorities. Authorities opened investigations into 73.5% of reported crimes. All told, 93.4% of crimes committed in Mexico last year were either not reported or not investigated.
- INEGI said that the total estimated insecurity and crime-related cost for Mexican households in 2025 was 267.3 billion pesos (US $15.57 billion). That amount — equivalent to 1.06% of GDP, according to INEGI — includes economic losses due to crime, expenditure on measures aimed at preventing crime and medical costs associated with being a victim of a crime.
- The Mexican Navy is considered Mexico’s most trustworthy security authority, with 89.5% of ENVIPE respondents saying they had confidence in it. The Mexican Air Force ranked second (88.9%), followed by the Mexican Army (87%), the National Guard (79.4%) and the Federal Attorney General’s Office (64.6%).
- Traffic police are considered Mexico’s least trustworthy security authority, with just 45.8% of ENVIPE respondents saying that they had confidence in them. Municipal police forces are seen as the second least trustworthy security authority, with 57.1% of respondents saying that they had confidence in them.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
