The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in El Mirage, AZ
El Mirage is a city of 36,100 in Maricopa County, about 18 miles northwest of downtown Phoenix · Updated November 2026
Is El Mirage, AZ safe?
With an overall CrimeGrade™ of B, El Mirage has moderate crime by national standards. Most US neighborhoods have less: 72% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime. Violent crime grades B and property crime B+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within El Mirage run from A- to C, so check the map below.
B
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 669 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
28% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than El Mirage as a whole, and 72% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. El Mirage scores 669.
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 El Mirage, AZ at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in El Mirage, 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 El Mirage
Thefts from cars happen at homes far more often than nationally. In El Mirage, 71% of reported thefts from cars happen at homes, against 34% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of El Mirage
Most of El Mirage grades well: 87% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across El Mirage run from A- to C; every part of El Mirage has more crime than the typical US neighborhood.
87%13%
A or B 87%C 13%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within El Mirage, the southwest side has the least crime and the north side the most.
Is crime going up in El Mirage?
Since 2019, reported violent crime in El Mirage is up 59% and property crime is down 55%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.4 to 3.8 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 28 to 12 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
El MirageUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves El Mirage. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, El Mirage
Violent, US
Property, El Mirage
Property, US
2016
-10%
+4%
+9%
+15%
2017
+2%
+4%
+3%
+12%
2018
-8%
+0%
-4%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+25%
+4%
-18%
-8%
2021
+58%
+6%
-38%
-10%
2022
+38%
+5%
-48%
-6%
2023
+58%
+2%
-51%
-7%
2024
+59%
-4%
-55%
-15%
Crime rates and types in El Mirage
CrimeGrade™ estimates El Mirage has about 29 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 21% less than the US as a whole and 26% less than Arizona.
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.
The largest share of crime reported in El Mirage is assault, about 41% of the total. It also makes up 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 El Mirage
El Mirage has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In El Mirage, 74% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (74%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (62%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (71%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Homes (54%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (54%)
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 El Mirage compares with nearby cities
El Mirage has more crime than 6 of its 9 nearest cities. Waddell and Sun City West have the least crime nearby.
Two things set El Mirage apart: it has 7 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole, and 3.7 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally. Places like that tend to report less theft and robbery, yet theft runs higher here than that would suggest.
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.7 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 99% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.3.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 96% of US city residents
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. 86% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (13 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 64% of US city residents
Show all 6
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.100% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 92% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.60% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 87% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.3.4% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 81% of US city residents
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 El Mirage
Crime costs El Mirage about $1,289 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 7% more 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 $49 million a year, or $1,349 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$2.5 million
$68
Rape
$1.2 million
$34
Robbery
$250,000
$7
Assault
$5.5 million
$152
Burglary
$480,000
$13
Theft
$1.8 million
$49
Vehicle theft
$1.0 million
$29
Arson
$110,000
$3
Vandalism
$880,000
$24
Total
$14 million
$379
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 El Mirage 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. El Mirage is the other kind of example: few people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks lower than its CrimeGrade™ suggests.
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 El Mirage, AZ average a SchoolGrade of C: 30% of students test proficient, against 26% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in El Mirage on SchoolGrade
