puerto rico: I am from NYC and, for a while now, I have been thinking about moving to Puerto Rico and getting a master's degree in Puerto Rican history to get back in touch with my roots. However, I have been hearing that the crime and murder rate on the island and in San Juan has shot way up recently. My parents don't want me to go. Is moving to Puerto Rico a good idea? Or is it too dangerous?|||I could tell you that whoever survives in NYC, could live a life time in Puerto Rico. NYC only has 5 times more crowded than the metro areas of Puerto Rico all together. Meaning you are problably more safe in PR than in NYC. Puerto Rico high crimes are not random, most crimes are internally related to drugs and street life or passionate problems. Its very rare for a random crime to happen in PR, that would be the least crimes situations. If your not related or anything that has to do with drug and street life, then you dont have to worry about safety. USA has more random crimes than PR has had in years. I live in Orlando FL and I tremble everyday with shock and fear of all the news crimes I hear everyday, its horrible. Random crimes such as robbery, house invasions, rapes, killings in schools, and so on. PR is way more safe than Florida, you dont hear a house invasion or killing for robbery every 5 minutes or random rapes situations or school killings. 90% of the crimes in PR are drug related and the other 10% is random, while in the USA 90% of the crimes are random and 10% are related.|||Relative to what/where? In general, it is not a very safe country however there are people who live in communities in PR and who mind there business and never have safety problems there entire lives. The problem is more that you won't know where to go and where NOT to go so you will end up, sooner or later in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even where you live now- if someone came in from another country and didn't know there way around, they could probably find problems. My advice would be to go there first for a month with someone who knows there way around. Visit the University and speak with the students (not just a counselor). Go to some local hang outs and see how comfortable you will be. How many times have you traveled/lived abroad? Also, where you can afford to live is important. You will want to stay in a nicer area of town otherwise, you will run into trouble 100x's faster. It is also not a country where you want to flaunt money, jewelry, etc. Never forget that you are not a local.|||Is as safe as being in New York. Most of the crime is drug related. These are some things to know if you are thinking of moving there...http://www.puertoricoistheplace.com/2011鈥?/a>|||If you're 18, and you have enough money or you can think you can support yourself, then your parents have no business in your decision- you're legally old to move wherever you want. Maybe they are deceived on what the negativism caused by the stupid media in PR. So, lt's get real and leave the news and all the fatalism produced by the local media: San Juan is definitely a dangerous place to live, that's the truth. If you don't live in an expensive area where you'll have to pay about $1,000 or month of rent, you'll be close to the caserios and these places in San Juan are the most dangerous since there is a daily murder in any of them everyday. About 99% of these murders are drug-related and most of the people who are killed are either people who owed money for drug debts, unfaithful people, or the like. But if you are in the middle of a shooting between two rival drug-dealing groups, they won't care. So, if possible, discard San Juan. Fortunately the metro area isn't that big to find something only in San Juan. Stay out of Carolina which happens to be most dangerous suburb out of San Juan. Lots of cacos over there. Towns like Bayamon and Ponce in the south are the next to be the most dangerous. But they have nearby towns that are relatively calm. Puerto Rico isn't as bad as they paint it, the problem is that people here live in such negativity and the government keeps them in this mindset that the USA is way better so that they feel insecure in PR because of misinformation. Puerto Rico has lots of towns, like many rural areas in the USA, that report about one murder per year, and even some don't have any reported murder for more than a year. There is theft, robbery and the like but just happens to be same as in any town in the USA. In fact- let me tell you- I have lived in Humacao, Caguas and Hormigueros, and no real danger; yes I was robbed in 2004, but then again I lived in Virginia and one of my coworkers was robbed of his GPS. In fact I also lived in Fort Myers, FL, and one night I heard a shooting. So... this concept of PR being dangerous is part true and part false. True depending on which areas. San Juan, Carolina, parts of Bayamon and parts of Ponce, discard them. The problem in PR is that there is a lot of drug traffic and because of that, there are a bunch of rival groups which is the main engine for the daily crime, but most of this wave is still confined among them- that is, this is not like Mexico where things have gotten out of hand and now the criminals kill anybody. If you are out of drugs- and by this I mean drug trafficking, and if you are not unfaithful to a love partner here, you can feel just as safe, if not more, than in New York City. So, taking into consideration which places to discard, which are not many, you can come anytime and enjoy the extreme beauty of this island, its beaches, mountains, caves, tropical climate and cultural flavor that you will never get in any of the US. Not even California or Hawaii which are the most similar states to PR can compare to this island.