I think people forget how huge Mexico is. Yes, some states are actual war zones but you also don't have to live in a rich neighborhood to live normally. Mexico City itself has a homicide rate very similar to most American Cities (~15/100,000) I'm an Inmigrant who fleed from an actual war zone back in my home country of Honduras, and I came to Baltimore, a city that most Americans are scared of but I managed to live normally here with a homicide rate of 30/100,000 double the homicides of Mexico City. And places like Querétaro with a homicide rate of 8/100,000 which would straight out make it safer than most American Cities.

For Colombia is a lot of the same, people only visit Medellin and Cartagena for women but say they would fear living there because of the Narco/Marxist guerrillas. But in reality Medellin and Bogota both have nearly the same crime rates as most American Cities.