Living in Mexico with Money: Paradise or Hell

Mexico: The country where money decides paradise or hell

Mexico has 127 million inhabitants and a fruta that splits into two depending on who tells it. A Monterrey resident describes a home with luxuries that would sound like a joke in Madrid: foyer, living-dining room larger than a standard apartment, TV room, study, three bedrooms with full baths, and a three-car garage. Another profile, with years in the country, insists that in some areas, you do not walk at night. Both things are true. And they happen in the same territory.

The question of whether Mexico is the worst country in the world has had no single answer for over three years. The reason is simple: it depends on the zip code. And, above all, on the bank account.

Why is Mexico both paradise and hell?

Because the country does not behave the same for everyone. Those with money access homes that in Europe would cost several times more: some calculate that a house here requiring around one million euros can be obtained there for about 200,000. Those without it face something else: low wages, long hours, and housing that has become expensive.

The contrast is not anecdotal. One school of thought argues that with financial resources, you can bypass many of the problems that give the country its fame, from insecurity to legal hassles. This line separates the two versions: that of the affluent visitor who falls in love and that of the one who only sees violence.

Is Mexico worse than India or Iraq?

International comparisons appear from the start. One part of the analysis places India or Iraq as apparently safer destinations with populations considered more honest. The response from the other side is that Mexican crime is concentrated in specific points and that in Guatemala or Honduras the situation would be even worse.

There is no agreement, and probably there never will be: countries the size of a continent are compared with very disparate internal realities. Mexico has 32 states, and not two are alike.

Areas that even residents do not recommend

One of the most useful data points that emerge is the list of territories to avoid. A resident advises against setting foot in Zacatecas, Sinaloa, Coahuila, Guerrero, Michoacán, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and much of Guanajuato and Jalisco. Of the latter, only its capital, Guadalajara, is saved, and they add that Mexico City also requires precautions.

Incivil, several voices agree, is not distributed equally. It concentrates in specific corridors, many near the US border, and leaves vast areas where life proceeds normally. The problem is that this map changes, and no one guarantees that today's quiet area will remain so tomorrow.

Monterrey, Guadalajara, and the upper-class bubble

Not everything is risk. Those living in affluent neighborhoods in Mexico City, Monterrey, or Guadalajara describe a peaceful routine, with infrastructure, leisure, and first-rate services. It is maintained that Mexico has more fortunes than the rest of Latin America combined, and this segment lives in a bubble separate from the country of headlines.

This gap explains why the country generates such opposing narratives. The same territory that houses closed communities with private security contains municipalities where extortion is routine. The distance between the two is not measured in kilometers, but in income.

The average Mexican: low wages and prohibitive housing

The other side brings less friendly numbers. Several testimonies point to long working hours and wages that do not match, with housing artificially inflated until it becomes inaccessible except in areas with little employment. This is compounded by a population having fewer children due purely to cost.

And there is a warning for the future: the country depends on oil and faces demographic aging, two factors that narrow the margin. The potential is there — few countries in the region concentrate so much wealth and productive capacity — but distribution is the problem, not the lack of resources.

What is discussed when the focus shifts to Spain

A derivative of the issue slips into the Spanish conversation: whether the labor force arriving in hospitality is Mexican or not. From one side, hiring migrants is linked to the loss of local jobs; from another, it is responded that most of these workers are not Mexican, but from other nationalities, and that the name does not match what they are supposed to be. The crossing of arguments says more about the Spanish migration debate than about Mexico.

A reading to understand the machinery

To go beyond the headline, Don Winslow's trilogy — The Power of the Dog, The Organización criminal, and The Border — appears as one of the best ways to understand the drug trafficking machinery. They are novels, but are described as a stark reflection of a reality that remains alive.

And a curiosity that summarizes the country: those who defend it most usually have their house paid off, and those who criticize it most usually have to wake up early. Would your opinion of Mexico change if you knew your experience depends, above all, on how much you earn?