The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Prescott, AZ
Prescott is a city of 58,500 in Yavapai County and the main city of the Prescott metro area, home to 245,500 · Updated November 2026
Is Prescott, AZ safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A means crime in Prescott is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Prescott sits near the middle: 59% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 41% in neighborhoods with less. Violent and property crime both grade A here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Prescott run from A+ to B, so check the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 876 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
59% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Prescott as a whole, and 41% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Prescott scores 876.
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 Prescott, AZ at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Prescott, 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 Prescott
Aggravated assault stands out among A-graded cities. For the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 1.2 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents; Prescott has 2.8.
Vehicle theft runs low. Prescott has 0.54 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents, a small fraction of the US rate of 2.7.
The safest and least safe parts of Prescott
Every part of Prescott where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Prescott run from A+ to B; 74% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Prescott, the southeast side has the least crime and the south side the most.
Is crime going up in Prescott?
Reported crime in Prescott has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 30% and property crime down 28%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 4.9 to 3.4 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 16 to 11 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, property crime fell 23%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
PrescottUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Prescott. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Prescott
Violent, US
Property, Prescott
Property, US
2016
-16%
+4%
+41%
+15%
2017
-23%
+4%
+36%
+12%
2018
-35%
+0%
+33%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-25%
+4%
-8%
-8%
2021
-10%
+6%
-21%
-10%
2022
-16%
+5%
-14%
-6%
2023
-26%
+2%
-7%
-7%
2024
-30%
-4%
-28%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Prescott
CrimeGrade™ estimates Prescott has about 32 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 15% less than the US as a whole and 21% 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.
Assault is the most common crime in Prescott, about 47% 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 Prescott
Prescott has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Prescott, 56% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 42% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (56%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (26%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (42%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Homes (42%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (34%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Prescott compares with nearby cities
Of the 5 cities closest to Prescott, 4 have less crime. Williamson and Dewey-Humboldt have the least.
Night lighting, transit and walkability in Prescott
Two things set Prescott apart: it has 44% of the land where people live lit at night, against 78% nationally, and 4% of its residents in dense blocks, against 24% nationally. Places like that tend to report less theft and vandalism, and theft runs low here.
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.44% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 89% 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 Prescott: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% 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. 88% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (12 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 69% of US city residents
Show all 6
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.14.0 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 82% 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.4% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 78% 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.4.4% of homesUS: 7.1%Lower than for 69% 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 Prescott
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Prescott about $740 a year per household, 39% 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 $57 million a year, or $983 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$2.3 million
$39
Rape
$700,000
$12
Robbery
$280,000
$5
Assault
$9.8 million
$167
Burglary
$1.0 million
$17
Theft
$2.2 million
$38
Vehicle theft
$480,000
$8
Arson
$68,000
$1
Vandalism
$2.6 million
$45
Total
$19 million
$333
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 Prescott 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 Prescott, AZ average a SchoolGrade of B: 38% of students test proficient, against 35% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Prescott on SchoolGrade
