Probably the safest and easy way is to use brew and then just modify your PATH:

First update brew:

brew update

Next install python:

brew install python

That will install and symlink python3 to python, for more details do:

brew info python

Look for the Caveats:

==> Caveats
Python has been installed as
  /usr/local/bin/python3

Unversioned symlinks `python`, `python-config`, `pip` etc. pointing to
`python3`, `python3-config`, `pip3` etc., respectively, have been installed into
  /usr/local/opt/python/libexec/bin

Then add to your path /usr/local/opt/python/libexec/bin:

export PATH=/usr/local/opt/python/libexec/bin:$PATH

The order of the PATH is important, by putting first the /usr/local/opt/python/libexec/bin will help to give preference to the brew install (python3) than the one is in your system located in /usr/bin/python

Answer from nbari on Stack Overflow
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Python
python.org › downloads › macos
Python Releases for macOS | Python.org
Download macOS installer · Python 3.15.0 - Oct. 9, 2026 · Download macOS installer · Python 3.14.8 - Sept. 30, 2026 · Download macOS installer · Python 3.13.16 - Sept. 30, 2026 · Download macOS installer · Python 3.13.15 - Aug. 5, 2026 · Download macOS installer ·
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/learnpython › how should you install python on mac os?
r/learnpython on Reddit: How SHOULD you install Python on Mac OS?
April 18, 2025 -

What do you think is the best way to install and maintain python and Jupyter lab on Mac in 2025?

It’s a mess on my current machine. Quickly running python in a terminal for a quick job uses a different version with different packages than Jupyter lab. Typing “python3” in the terminal doesn’t default to the most recent. At some point anaconda was installed.

What’s the cleanest way for a new machine to have an organized python environment? 90% of what I do is in Jupyter lab.

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If the website does not automatically detect you are running macOS, select macOS under "Looking for Python with a different OS?". Once the download is finished, run the .pkg to run the installer. Run through the installer, and click Install. Open Finder > Applications > Python 3.x.
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