Despite constant security alerts, the number of North Americans coming to live in Mexico is increasing by 90%. 42% reside in “dangerous” cities.
Despite the constant security alerts issued by the governments of the United States and Canada in recent years, the number of temporary and permanent residents of these nationalities has increased by 90 percent since 2020, according to statistics from the Unit of Migration Policy (UPM) of the Ministry of the Interior.
In addition, the figures show that Americans and Canadians pay little attention to the warnings from their respective governments, since of the 25,000 new residents in the country last year, 42 percent decided to live in entities that their own governments consider unsafe for travel.
Canadian Sarah Murphy moved to Mexico two years ago to fulfill her childhood dream of living in a country other than her own. She took advantage of the covid-19 pandemic and the facilities of her remote work as a graphic designer to give herself time to meet at least a dozen Mexican states in order to "be adopted by Mexican culture."
Before planting roots in Mexico City, she visited states such as Sinaloa, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Morelos, and Nayarit, which are on the list of dangerous areas for the Canadian government; however, she accepts that these alerts have little to do with her experience as a tourist in the country.
“I know that there are places where you have to be more careful, but that does not mean that the entire state has security problems, nor does it mean that you have to avoid the entire state of Sinaloa, for example, but there may be some areas that I should avoid, and that's fine with me,” she explained.
She added that she has never had any major problems "and I am a single traveler."
"I feel very safe here, I feel very protected in this city. My phone was stolen two years ago, but other than that everything has really been great, I feel very good here," Sarah explained.
A similar scenario has been experienced by Samuel Burleigh, an American journalist, and translator who came to the country's capital in 2015 to work as an English teacher at the Anglo-American and who now translates texts for a media outlet based in China.
“All my American friends tell me that Mexico is a dangerous country, they ask me why I live here, but in the seven years that I have been living here nothing has happened and when I went to Brazil in just seven days I suffered several things. Maybe it's a luck thing and every country has its dangers, even my country of birth (USA )”, assured Samuel.
Scott Wermie, a sales manager for Century21 real estate is dedicated to getting houses and apartments to foreign people in Lake Chapala, Jalisco, the governments of Canada and the United States create a "fear factor" with travel alerts they issue each year.
“If you compare the violence in Mexico with that of the United States, there are very proportional numbers; This indicates that there is a fear factor created by scaring Canadians and Americans: 'don't come to Mexico, it's very violent.' But you have to do your research and find out what is fact and what is fiction,” he assured.
The security that foreign residents presume in the country, as well as the facilities for remote work that allow them to live a more comfortable standard of living than in their country of birth, have caused an explosive increase in migrants to our country, mainly Canadians.
Canadian boom
The figures from the UPM indicate that during the last two years, Canadians with a temporary or permanent stay grew 144 percent since they went from 2,442 cases in 2020 to adding 5,961 cases at the end of last year and two-thirds are located in beach locations.
The most striking place for Canadians is Playa de Carmen, Quintana Roo, where the Mexican authorities count 807 residents, followed by Bahía Banderas, Nayarit, with 593 cases, and Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, with 573 in the last year. Nayarit and Jalisco both have travel warnings issued by the Canadian government.
In addition, among the preferred municipalities are areas such as Mazatlán, Sinaloa (263); Merida, Yucatan (252); La Paz, Baja California Sur (236) and Chapala, Jalisco (227); places that alone add up to a figure greater than or similar to the 262 new Canadians residing in Mexico City.
Sarah is part of that small group that left behind the beaches and tourist areas to settle in the capital of the country, specifically in the Narvarte neighborhood to be able to live a life more similar to that of a Mexican in their daily life and with a certain distance of the high costs of the rent that is paid in popular neighborhoods of the city.
“I think (the Narvarte neighborhood) offers a little more of the real Mexican experience. In La Condesa and Roma, there are many foreigners, and there is nothing wrong with that, but I came to Mexico for a reason: to be accepted by the culture and experience it a little more. That would be the main reason, in addition to the cost of rent, because in those neighborhoods it is very expensive.”
It has been easy for Sarah to carry out her work remotely and make new friends thanks to the fact that she joined a group of cyclists who help her to discover new places in the country and who have become her close nucleus of friends.
“My experience in Mexico has been absolutely incredible. It has truly exceeded my expectations in every way. It is a warm and welcoming country, very supportive. My friends have been amazing, they invited me into their homes and introduced me to their families; I think that's the most amazing experience you could have. I took the risk and it was the best decision I've ever made," Murphy said.
Surge of Americans
In the case of US residents, the UPM figures reveal that the group has grown 78.6 percent since 2020 and that the municipalities that host the largest number of new"ex-pats" are Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, with 1,373 people; Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, with 1,173 and San Miguel de Allende in Guanajuato with 1,094.
Scott Wermie points out that the surge in Americans is largely due to political discontent in the country and inflation threatening to dilute the savings that older people have built up over the past decades; In addition, Mexico offers safe and paradisiacal places to live.
“There is some political unrest in the United States and people are moving, the American dream no longer exists and inflation is hitting their life savings hard, so they are flying to Mexico in search of a better economic situation and all of this is accompanied by great weather and amazing society,” said Scott Wermie.
In addition to the beach and retirement destinations that are highly sought after by Americans, Mexico City has become one of the preferred places for this population in recent years. Currently, there are 2,854 new residents in the capital, which means that in just two years the number of Americans has doubled.
Given the significant growth of the foreign population in the capital, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador classifies this phenomenon as something positive for the country, despite the problems reported by the gentrification suffered by the inhabitants of the colonies who have decided to create a real estate offer based on dollars.
Last year alerts
UNITED STATES
Do not travel: Colima, Guerrero, Michoacán, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas
Consider traveling: Baja California, Chihuahua, Durango, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Morelos, Sonora.
CANADA
Avoid non-essential travel: Chihuahua, Colima, Coahuila, Durango, Guerrero, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas.
