Cuenca rated the safest city in South America three months after designation for best quality of life

In a new survey by the global database service Numbeo, Cuenca has been rated the safest city in South America with populations of 500,000 and higher. The honor follows the city’s April designation for having the best quality of life.

According to the Numbeo survey, Cuenca’s low crime rate is based partly on cultural traditions and family connections.

The survey considered 14 categories in ranking the region’s cities, including perception of overall crime, concern for personal assault, concern for home break-ins, concern for auto theft, and security conditions in the past three years.

In notes on its survey results, Numbeo noted that Cuenca has remained “relatively untouched” by the violence affecting other Ecuadorian cities, such as Guayaquil and Manta. “In fact, overall crime has fallen in Cuenca in the past three years while it has increased in other areas of the country,” Numbeo reported. “Our research shows that the high level of security in the city is due, in part, to cultural traditions and strong family connections in the sierra region of southern Ecuador.”

Numbeo said that although its ratings are based on crowdsourced data, crime statistics confirm its analysis. “In the past two years, Cuenca has had the lowest murder rate of all mid-sized and large cities in South America, as well as the lowest rate for other violent crimes,” it said. In 2024, Cuenca’s murder rate was 2.4 per 100,000 residents, in contrast to a rate of over 40 per 100,000 in Guayaquil.

Through the first six months of 2025, Cuenca’s murder is 1.4 per 100,000.

In April, Numbeo rated Cuenca number one for quality of life in South America. The survey was based on six criteria: purchasing power, pollution, cost of housing in relation to income, overall cost of living, security, health care, transportation and climate.

After Cuenca, other cities rating high for safety in the Numbeo survey were: Florianópolis, Brazil, Medellín, Colombia, Montevideo, Uruguay, Asunción, Paraguay and Brasilia, Brazil.