Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, October 23, 2026 – Insecurity perception fell to 53.6% in September from 65.4% in June, but remained more than double September 2025’s 24.7%, INEGI reported Friday.
The National Urban Public Security Survey, known as ENSU, recorded an 11.8 percentage-point quarterly decline and a 28.9-point annual increase. INEGI identified both changes as statistically significant at the 95% confidence level.
Puerto Vallarta was also one of only three surveyed urban areas with a statistically significant increase over the year, alongside Mazatlán and Los Mochis.
For residents, the central question is how much reassurance September’s improvement offers after such a sharp deterioration.
The latest result represents a substantial recovery from the June reading, which Vallarta Daily covered in July when nearly two-thirds of adults considered the city unsafe. By September, that proportion had fallen to just over half.
But a year earlier, it was roughly one in four. The quarterly improvement has therefore recovered only part of the ground lost over the past year.
The national comparison adds another dimension. Across the 91 urban areas included in ENSU, 58.1% of adults considered their city unsafe in September, down from 59.8% in June and 63% a year earlier.
Vallarta’s latest figure was 4.5 percentage points below that national urban result. Its annual trajectory, however, ran in the opposite direction: insecurity perception declined across the surveyed urban population while increasing sharply here.
Understanding that difference starts with what residents were asked. The 53.6% figure measures adults’ assessment of whether living in their city is unsafe. It does not mean that 53.6% experienced a crime, or that crime itself increased by the same amount.
For someone deciding whether to walk home after dinner or use a particular ATM, a citywide perception figure provides background rather than an assessment of that route or location. Those are examples of everyday decisions; the headline indicator cannot establish conditions on an individual street or calculate a visitor’s likelihood of becoming a victim.
INEGI collected the latest survey between August 21 and September 11. Its nationwide sample covered 27,300 homes, with results concerning residents aged 18 and older in the selected urban areas.
The municipality has previously acknowledged the challenge of rebuilding confidence.
In an August interview, Mayor Luis Ernesto Munguía González responded to the June results by describing investments in police vehicles, equipment, and officer training.
“We are very clear about the impact security has on a tourist destination,” he said in Spanish.
Munguía cited 120 alert buttons and the reactivation of tourist police as part of his administration’s measures. He also said officers had been instructed to strengthen contact with neighborhood committees and other community groups.
Those comments addressed the earlier survey. This report could not locate a published municipal response specifically addressing September’s results, and ENSU does not establish whether the measures the mayor described caused the latest decline.
For residents assessing the city’s progress, both comparisons remain relevant: confidence improved considerably over three months, while insecurity perception remained well above its level a year earlier. The next quarterly check is scheduled for January 22, 2027, when INEGI plans to release its next ENSU results.
