Nelson is a community of 212 in Butte County, about 12 miles south of downtown Chico · Updated November 2026
Is Nelson, CA safe?
Yes. Crime is low across most of the US, and lower still in Nelson: an overall CrimeGrade™ of A+, safer than the neighborhoods where 90% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A+ here.
A+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 961 of 1,000Safer than nearly all US neighborhoodsi What this means
90% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Nelson as a whole, and 10% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Nelson scores 961.
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 Nelson, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Nelson, 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
Crime rates and types in Nelson
CrimeGrade™ estimates Nelson has about 90 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than double the rate for the US as a whole and more than double the rate for California.
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 Nelson, about 44% of everything reported.
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.
How Nelson compares with nearby cities
Nelson has less crime than 8 of its 10 nearest cities; only Richvale and Butte Valley have less.
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Nelson about $4,805 a year per household, more than triple 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 $1.4 million a year, or $6,385 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$110,000
$497
Rape
$28,000
$131
Robbery
$6,300
$30
Assault
$100,000
$483
Burglary
$18,000
$87
Theft
$8,300
$39
Vehicle theft
$23,000
$111
Arson
$4,100
$19
Vandalism
$32,000
$152
Total
$330,000
$1,550
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 Nelson 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. Nelson is a good example: many people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks worse 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 Nelson, CA average a SchoolGrade of C+: 35% of students test proficient, against 34% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Nelson on SchoolGrade
