The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Nogales, AZ
Nogales is a city of 22,200 in Santa Cruz County, about 60 miles south of downtown Tucson · Updated November 2026
Is Nogales, AZ safe?
Mostly, yes. Crime in Nogales is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A-, but most US neighborhoods are safer still: Nogales has more crime than the neighborhoods where 60% of Americans live. Violent crime grades A- and property crime B+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Nogales run from A+ to C, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 777 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
40% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Nogales as a whole, and 60% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Nogales scores 777.
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 Nogales, AZ at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Nogales, 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 Nogales
Car thefts run high for an A-graded city. Nogales has 7.6 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 0.93.
Burglary at about double the US rate. Nogales has 4.4 burglaries a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.4 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Nogales
Low crime is the norm across Nogales: 93% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Nogales run from A+ to C; 19% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
93%
A or B 93%C 7%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Nogales, the east side has the least crime and the south side the most.
Is crime going up in Nogales?
Reported crime in Nogales has risen since 2019: violent crime is up 11% and property crime up 18%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.0 to 2.3 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 30 to 36 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
NogalesUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Nogales. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Nogales
Violent, US
Property, Nogales
Property, US
2016
+51%
+4%
-17%
+15%
2017
+5%
+4%
-6%
+12%
2018
+0%
+0%
+1%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-5%
+4%
-5%
-8%
2021
-0%
+6%
+8%
-10%
2022
+19%
+5%
+17%
-6%
2023
-11%
+2%
+30%
-7%
2024
+11%
-4%
+18%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Nogales
CrimeGrade™ estimates Nogales has about 48 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 29% more than the US as a whole and 20% more 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.
Theft is the most common crime in Nogales, about 43% 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 Nogales compares with nearby cities
Nogales has the most crime of its 5 nearest cities.
Two things set Nogales apart: it has 17.4 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 3.5 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft, and it runs high here.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.17.4 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 93% of US city residents
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.3.5 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 91% 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. 82% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (17 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 54% of US city residents
Show all 6
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.10.1% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 86% of US city residents
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Nogales: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% of US city residents
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.82% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 69% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Nogales on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
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 Nogales
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Nogales about $1,789 a year per household, 48% 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 $47 million a year, or $2,123 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$4.0 million
$180
Rape
$420,000
$19
Robbery
$200,000
$9
Assault
$2.6 million
$118
Burglary
$880,000
$39
Theft
$2.4 million
$106
Vehicle theft
$2.6 million
$116
Arson
$39,000
$2
Vandalism
$830,000
$37
Total
$14 million
$627
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 Nogales 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 Nogales, AZ average a SchoolGrade of D+: 27% of students test proficient, against 18% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in Nogales on SchoolGrade
