Baja California Sur recorded 314 intentional homicides between 2021 and 2026, an 80% decline from the 1,494 cases logged during the previous state administration. Attorney General Antonio López Rodríguez presented the figures at a public conference led by Governor Víctor Castro Cosío on May 28.
The drop in homicides places BCS as the second-safest state in Mexico by homicide rate. The state also ranks eighth lowest nationally in overall crime incidence, according to the attorney general’s presentation.
Declines Across Multiple Crime Categories
The improvement was not limited to homicides. López Rodríguez reported decreases in robbery, sexual crimes, and vehicle theft during the same five-year period, though he did not provide specific percentages for each category. National data from Mexico’s security system has consistently ranked BCS among the states with the fewest homicide victims. In a federal report from late 2025, Baja California Sur appeared alongside Yucatán, Durango, and Coahuila at the bottom of national homicide tallies.
The attorney general also pointed to gains in prosecution. Criminal cases brought to trial increased by 73% compared to the prior administration, and oral trials achieved a 96% conviction rate.
Government-Sourced Data Deserves Context
These figures come directly from the state government at the close of Castro Cosío’s term and should be read with that in mind. Independent verification of state-level crime statistics in Mexico typically relies on data published by the Secretariado Ejecutivo del Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Pública (the executive secretariat of the national public safety system). The Statista database, drawing on those federal records, shows that BCS homicides peaked in 2018 with 244 cases in a single year, a period that fell within the prior administration’s tenure.
The contrast with Baja California to the north remains stark. Baja California recorded 3,225 homicides in 2021 alone and continues to carry a U.S. State Department “Level 3: Reconsider Travel” advisory. Baja California Sur holds a “Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution” designation, the same level assigned to most of Mexico’s tourist-oriented states.
For BCS, the 80% reduction represents a return to relative calm after a violent surge tied to cartel conflicts that spiked between roughly 2017 and 2020. Communities across Los Cabos, La Paz, and Loreto bore the brunt of that violence.
The figures were first reported by Colectivo Pericu.