Where to stay in Medellín: safety and affordability

Our selections

Selected using our crime evidence and publicly advertised rents.

Compare seven places using recorded incidents, area rent benchmarks and nearby amenities. Crime evidence carries 75% of the index and rent 25%. Lower is better.

Neighborhood evidence: January–December 2022, the last complete annual coverage. Recent 2025–2026 neighborhood reports are partial and are not used in this ranking.

Rent research reviewed: 2026-11-04

Four more places to compare

Questions to ask before booking a hotel or rental

• What is the street address and which entrance will I use? If a rental listing hides the address, ask what location information the host can share before payment.
• How will I arrive and return at the times I expect? Check current journey options separately; this crime map does not calculate routes.
• What do recent guest reviews say about noise, access and check-in? Confirm late-arrival arrangements with the property.
• Do the price, cancellation terms and location fit my trip? A lower map score should not decide the booking on its own.

What the map can tell you

The reports describe mapped areas, not individual hotels or rental properties. Historical records and reporting coverage cannot establish whether a particular stay will be safe. Colors are relative activity measures, not personal probabilities. Use them alongside current local information and your accommodation checks.

Higher-budget comparisons

These areas have the highest average advertised rents among our selections. Compare their crime indices too: a higher price does not establish safety.

Laureles · Rent index: 53.8 /100 · Crime evidence index: 56.8 /100

Manila · El Poblado · Rent index: 48.9 /100 · Crime evidence index: 52.4 /100

How the index works

Compare the walk from each property to your planned transport stop and confirm arrival arrangements. A listing saying El Poblado or Laureles can cover several smaller mapped sectors.

All three indices run from 0 to 100; lower is better within this city. The crime index is the severity-weighted mean of the three category indices below. Combined index = 75% crime index + 25% rent index. Equal scores are ties; names determine display order.

Rent index = 100 × (1 − lowest eligible area mean in this city’s selections ÷ this area’s mean). We use a publisher’s apartment mean where available; otherwise, the arithmetic mean of at least three distinct advertised apartments. These small samples are not representative market averages. Apartments vary in size, furnishing and condition. Cached observations may be older than the review date; advertised prices are not signed rents or confirmed availability. Publisher sample sizes and averaging dates are not always disclosed.

This guide uses a fixed three-category basket and the map’s severity weights. The map’s all-report index has a broader scope. Published category indices already adjust for period length and area size. The snapshot below is frozen; the live map may contain newer reports.

Theft × 7 · Bodily injury × 8 · Homicide × 10

Missing rent or a required crime input leaves a place unranked, never scored as zero. Scores are not risk probabilities or proof of safety. Small score gaps are not reliable differences, and scores do not compare cities.

Separately quoted charges are excluded; inseparable included charges remain in the advertised price. These all-size apartment benchmarks are not matched-quality comparisons, nightly hotel rates or holiday-rental quotes. Confirm the total cost and availability before booking.

Nearby places describe the wider setting, not door-to-door walking routes. Check journeys and opening arrangements before booking.

2022-01–2022-12