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First of all one can turn any statistic to fit his or hers believes by highlighting certain numbers to fit the message the person wants to deliver. I can not say much about CR crime since I do not live there as of now (will be one day) but living in the states since 1967 I sure can give you an eye full. Living in NYC till 1992: 6 times car burglary (windows smashed, radio ripped out etc)one attempted theft of car (VW steering column totally destroyed) one new car stolen ( they found the shell of my Cherokee Chief) several vandalism to cars and property (example: someone did throw paint remover all over my minivan) theft of lawnmower locked up in shed, wife had purse stolen twice, attacked on subway ones, damage to cars while parked etc. Moved to West Palm Beach to get away from those scumbags and guess what: not much better! Only 3 vandalism so far, twice threaten with violence, but a certain area in WPB alone had this year already 11 murder, 4 shootouts at nightclubs. My wife and I now always packing our “piece” and we feel like the Wild West is still present.
Fa cit: DO NOT TELL ME THERE IS LAW AND ORDER IN THE US! We will take CR any time (that means living there of course)!Agreed senta – 100%
For thos VIP Members who did not read the article at
“According to data obtained from the Source: U.S. FBI, Crime in the United States, annual. From Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2006. The following cities have a much higher murder rate per 100,000 inhabitants than San José, Costa Rica.”
Los Angeles – 17.3
Houston – 12.5
Philadelphia – 18.9
Phoenix – 12.6
Dallas – 15.8
Las Vegas – 11.9
Detroit 41.8
Indianapolis – 13.9
Jacksonville – 11.7
Columbus – 11.3
Memphis -22.5
Milwaukee – 18.3
Washington DC – 45.9
New Orleans – 53.1
Kansas City – 18.5
Atlanta 34.9
Oakland – 26.1
St. Louis – 31.4
Pittsburgh – 13.7
Cincinnati – 21
Tampa – 11.7
Buffalo – 14.6
Newark – 23.3
San José, Costa Rica – 9.2In which city would you prefer to live??
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comSadly, all of these statistics are open to serious skepticism. For one thing, crime reporting by localities in the U.S. to the FBI is totally voluntary. Not all cities participate. What’s more, not every locality uses the same terminology or definitions. So, just exactly which cities have the higher rates of (say) housebreaking? And how are those definitionally different from burglaries? From breaking and entering?
What’s more, not all crime is reported, even by the police. Many rapes are thought to go unreported, for example. And crime reporting is typically lower in areas where the populace has less confidence in the police to apprehend the perpetrators. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen; just means it’s not reported. Even some murders are not reported as such by those jurisdictions that do report.
Bottom Line: Keep your doors locked and stay out of bad neighborhoods.
I agree with David: America has an amazing way with words describing a crime or other things, for example a missile which can bring death and destruction and it is called a “Peacemaker” I rest my case.
Don’t know if you remember this, but I used to work in the industry…..
luckily got out of that pretty fast. The previous name was the “MX” missile; “When you care enough to send the very best, MX”. Guess that sounded way to hawkish and “Peacemaker” sounds so much better when you’re killing people.CC
Senta Etal,
Crime in Costa Rica compared to the United States.
There has been a flurry of statistics flouted about on these things and here are some of the problems.
US cities, especially downtown areas do not reflect life in most of the United States. Although the statistics for US crime in cities is higher than in Costa Rica few people in the US live in homes with walls toped with razor wire and steel security bars on every window and door. You DO ocassionaly see this in MAJOR US cities but it is not so prevelant as in San Jose.
Rural and smalltown USA is much more peaceful and secure. For all my life in the US I have been able to leave the keys in my cars, leave doors unlocked, leave valuables out in the open. I have never had an automobile broken into and never worry about where I park. Millions of US citizens live without fear of crime their entire lives.
Even in rural Costa Rica you have gates, burglar bars and all the realestate gurus (including Scotto) warn you not to leave your home unattended for an extended time. Guards or grounds keepers are a requirement.
In the US my parents used to have a vacation home on a lake where it was remote but within 100 feet of a well traveled public road. Over a twenty year period they only lived there about 50% of the time and never worried about breakins. There were no burgler bars and the locks were marginal. That is life for most non-urban US citizens (even in the “crowded” Eastern corridor).
The majority of crime in Costa Rica is theft (thus all the burgler bars). The reason for the prevelence of propery crime is poverty and the low wages which are also one of the reasons people want to move there, it costs less to live there. As long as there is this huge difference in wealth there will always be property crime. The same is true in the US. The poor flock to cites thinking there are more opportunities and find less. Drugs are also a more prevelent problem in US cites and drive up crimes of all sorts but especialy property crime.
To put things in perspective a friend in Costa Rica pointed out that I should be more careful about leaving my new digital camera laying about, even at his home. Although he trusted his employees, that camera represented a year’s wages for most of his workers and could be a great temptation. He prefered we did not flaunt our comparitive wealth and he was right. In the US that same camera might be a target but it would only pay for a drug addict’s “fix” for a few days, not let him feed his family for a year. . .
A friend from Chile told me a story about when he first moved to the US. He was invited to a subburban backyard barbeque. While there he looked into the open garage and the wall covered with tools. He thought he worked with his host but did not understand all these tools. He asked the host what other business he was in. The host did not quite understand the question and my friend did not quite believe the answer of “none”. My friend said that in Chile he would have been rich to have that many tools and would have had many employees working for him to use those tools! Here it was just the typical middle class homeowner collection of rarely used tools proudly displayed on the garage wall. . .
Most of us that plan to move to Costa Rica for retirement or other reasons are immensely rich compared to the average Tico. The simple things we think of a normal necesities of life are extravagances for many of these people. However, if the economic standard of living was the same as in the US we would not be moving there. . .
You could list dozens of urban places in the US and without having been there I could tell you they are not a place most US citizens would want to live. I could also give you a list of thousands of places with low crime and peaceful living. And perhaps YOU would not want to live in those places because there is no public transportation, no Kosher deli or YMCA within walking distance, no daily Fed-Ex pickup, no night clubs and no pizza delivery. Most of the US lives without night clubs, bars, live theater and world class museuems. If you want these things then where you live is YOUR choice and it will come with higher crime. The places YOU chose to live are no worse than similar places anywhere else in the world.
I know if I move to Costa Rica I will lose some of the safety and security I have now. But I will gain the lack of winter, cooler summer, the ablity to live well on a modest retirement, have a nicer home than I can afford in the US and even have a full time housekeeper!
The only problem I see with Costa Rica is that it is a very small country and the problems of urbanization may quickly overtake the entire country. AND, If the economy improves too much it will not be as economical a place to live. . . Maybe I need to look at Tonga again. . 😉
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