People ask me all the time, What is it like to live in Costa Rica?

I tell them AWESOME! I live in paradise. “But don’t you miss things about the USA?” I always chuckle at that question. Miss what? Traffic, Smog, noise, snow? Bad attitudes, insane taxes, high cost of living? Daily bombardment of Politics, $20 to park my car and $9 for a Heineken? Nope I don’t miss any of that.

Is Costa Rica Safe?

I get this question probably more often than any other question, and I understand why.  Safety is a big concern and it should be. Compared to the USA, Canada and other big countries Costa Rica has very little serious crime.  Like any city or country, there are good parts and not so good parts, so it depends also a lot on where you live.  San Jose is a major city with over 3 Million people.   Anytime you have that many people in one place there will be crime.  But statistically violent crime is very low in Costa Rica; it is usually what they call property crime or crime of opportunity.  I hate when they use the term Petty Theft, because when someone steals your $1,000 laptop that isn’t petty.