Central Mesa is a neighborhood of 72,800 residents in Mesa, about 4 miles east of downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Central Mesa in Mesa safe?
Crime in Central Mesa is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 70% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Central Mesa. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, B+ against B. Mesa as a whole grades B+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Central Mesa run from A to D+, so check the map below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 697 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
30% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Central Mesa as a whole, and 70% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Central Mesa scores 697.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Central Mesa, Mesa, AZ at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Central Mesa in Mesa, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Central Mesa
Car thefts happen in parking lots and garages far more often than nationally. In Mesa as a whole, 45% of reported car thefts happen in parking lots and garages, against 23% nationally.
How Central Mesa compares within Mesa
Most of Central Mesa grades well: 82% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 2% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Central Mesa run from A to D+; 9% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
82%16%
A or B 82%C 16%D or F 2%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Central Mesa has less crime than 3 of the 7 neighborhoods in Mesa.
Is crime going up in Mesa?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in Mesa as a whole is up 27% and property crime is down 22%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 3.8 to 4.8 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 19 to 15 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 11%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
MesaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Mesa. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Mesa
Violent, US
Property, Mesa
Property, US
2016
+11%
+4%
+22%
+15%
2017
+9%
+4%
+14%
+12%
2018
-4%
+0%
+6%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+5%
+4%
+4%
-8%
2021
+11%
+6%
+6%
-10%
2022
+15%
+5%
-4%
-6%
2023
+17%
+2%
-12%
-7%
2024
+27%
-4%
-22%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Central Mesa
CrimeGrade™ estimates Central Mesa has about 35 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 6% less than the US as a whole and close to Mesa as a whole.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
Assault is the most common crime in Central Mesa, about 49% of everything reported, and it also accounts for the largest share of what crime costs here.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when crime happens in Mesa
The Mesa Police Department polices Central Mesa; these figures cover Mesa as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Mesa as a whole, 53% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 46% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (53%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Parking lots and garages (45%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (46%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (39%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (38%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (51%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Central Mesa compares with nearby neighborhoods
Central Mesa has less crime than 5 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods.
Tree cover, walkability and nightlife in Central Mesa
Two things set Central Mesa apart: it has tree cover over 2% of the land where people live, against 21% nationally, and 0.2 bars and nightlife spots for every 1,000 residents, against 0.6 nationally. Places with little tree cover tend to report more robbery, and it runs high here.
Tree coverThe share of land under tree canopy where people live. Leafy neighborhoods tend to report less robbery.2% where people liveUS: 21%Lower than for 87% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault. 82% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (17 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 79% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Bars and nightlifeBars, lounges, clubs and casinos. Places with more bars tend to report more assault and robbery.0.2 per 1,000 residentsUS: 0.6Lower than for 77% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.31% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 70% of residents of US city neighborhoods
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Central Mesa
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Central Mesa about $1,055 a year per household, 12% less than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $89 million a year, or $1,227 per resident.
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Central Mesa means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Central Mesa, Mesa, AZ average a SchoolGrade of B-: 35% of students test proficient, against 33% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Central Mesa on SchoolGrade
