Montreal is voted the safest city in Canada and is in the top 3 in the world

Updated in August 2026. The ranking analyzed in this post is from Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, based on 2022 data. The good news is that the latest official numbers confirm the trend: on July 22, 2026, Statistics Canada released 2025 data showing that Canada's Crime Severity Index dropped by 5% (to 75.01), the second consecutive annual decline. Quebec was well below the national average, at 61.55 (compared to 64.83 in 2024). Homicides in the country fell by 16%, the largest annual reduction since 1986, and the rate of break-ins fell for the third consecutive year. In other words: Montreal's safety is not just the impression of an enthusiastic resident — the data backs it up.

No wonder Montreal has become so expensive to live in

No other Canadian city made the list of safe cities, although Canada as a whole placed in the top 10 of the safest countries.

If you have plans to visit Montreal, this is undoubtedly great news. I personally tested this safety in 2017 by comparing it to other cities in Canada and saw that it was a major factor in my decision to immigrate.

Read also: “8 things you must do on an exploratory trip to Canada before immigrating”

When compared to other cities worldwide, Montreal only lost to Reykjavik, Iceland, and Copenhagen, Denmark.

In terms of safe countries, there were some surprise changes to the list this year. New Zealand fell from second to tenth place, Canada fell from third to sixth, and Ireland dropped from eighth to 12th.

Some places became even more dangerous

Some of the biggest drops were Japan (from 5 to 19), Costa Rica (from 15 to 31) and, unfortunately, Brazil, which fell from 25 to 42.

Ireland and the UK dropped out of the Top 10, while the Netherlands and Denmark secured the top spots after entering the Top 15. In fact, Scandinavian countries took four of the top 10 spots, with Norway and Sweden also ranking at the top of the list.

Read also: “Montreal Neighborhoods: Get to know the 4 regions of this island and their contrasts”

The ranking analyzed survey responses from nearly 2,000 travelers who visited the destinations, along with third-party data on safety considerations, such as safety for underrepresented groups, climate emergencies, and health measures.

For this year’s list, researchers consulted the U.S. State Department, The Economist, safety app creator GeoSure Global, Vision of Humanity, Numbeo, and Global Finance magazine.

The 15 safest cities in the world are:

1. Reykjavik
2. Copenhagen
3. Montreal
4. Amsterdam
5. Seoul
6. Singapore
7. Tokyo
8. Berlin
9. London
10. Sydney
11. Barcelona
12. Honolulu
13. Rome
14. Dubai
15. Paris

The 15 safest countries are:

1. Netherlands
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Australia
5. Norway
6. Canada
7. Germany
8. Sweden
9. Switzerland
10. New Zealand
11. Spain
12. Ireland
13. United Arab Emirates
14. United Kingdom
15. Belgium

The original ranking can be found in the official safest destinations report by Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection.

Is Montreal truly a safe city?

In my opinion, yes. After almost five years living here, I can say that the level of safety for a city the size of Montreal is truly surprising. As the father of two teenage daughters, I felt very at ease seeing them walk the streets at night and use public transportation. I didn’t feel the same in Toronto, for example.

Of course, not everything is perfect. Like any big city, it is normal to expect problems to occur, but these are far from being compared to Brazil, even in the neighborhoods considered poorer.

You won’t see armed robberies here to take your cell phone or car, but in poorer neighborhoods, you might see petty theft of packages left at the door, bicycles, or even cars broken into to take belongings left in plain sight. Again, nothing compared to Brazil.

Still on the subject of cars, there is a very curious fact in Montreal. Car models such as Honda CR-V, Lexus RX Series, Ford F-150 Series, Honda Civic, Toyota Highlander, RAM 1500 Series, Honda Accord, GMC Silverado, and Sierra 1500 are among the few models where theft and total loss actually occur, as they serve a black market for cars that are dismantled and exported to third-world countries with guaranteed sales.

I even thought this didn’t happen here, but I saw it happen to a friend who had her Honda CR-V stolen from her work parking lot in broad daylight. For this reason, these cars have prohibitive insurance costs in Canada and must use location tags.

Read also: “How to find cheaper rentals in Montreal”

The city has also been considered in some rankings as very safe for women walking alone. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve seen women in short clothes walking comfortably at night without all that tension. The extremely low tolerance level for street harassment is a true weapon for women in Montreal.

One of the reasons I believe carries the most weight in this is the sheer forcefulness of the police, considered one of the most repressive and intolerant in Canada. Whether this is right, I don’t know, but I can say it works, because criminals are terrified when they see the police nearby.

Just out of curiosity, I will exemplify how high this level of safety is by comparing data from my hometown, Recife, in Pernambuco, with Montreal, my current home in the province of Quebec. For those who like statistics, I’ll let you know right away that the comparison takes into account absolute data, since, coincidentally, the two cities have a very close population size.

Read also: “How newcomers to Canada can protect themselves against fraud”

Well, Recife (with approximately 1.66 million inhabitants) recorded an average of 10 (ten) homicides per day in 2022. Montreal (with approximately 1.78 million inhabitants), on the other hand, recorded 47 (forty-seven) homicides in the entire year of 2022. As I said, it is likely that you made the right choice with Canada. Not to mention that Montreal is the second most populous city in Canada, with the status of a major urban metropolis in North America.

Final thoughts

Since the topic of safety is always a controversial one, there will always be those who disagree simply because some have already had negative experiences in the city. I lived until I was 43 in Recife (one of the most violent metropolises in Brazil) and went through all kinds of violence you can imagine, from simple petty robberies to having guns pointed at my head at least twice in my life and, as hard as this may seem, I always dealt with it in a balanced way to avoid taking a free bullet.

Living in a large urban center like Montreal may not exactly be a walk in the park for many, but I can guarantee that here you still have a little peace. How long this will last I don’t know, but for now, my family and I can enjoy it.

Read also: Top 10 safest cities in Canada according to Statistics Canada.

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See you in the next post! 😉