The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Sierra Vista, AZ
Sierra Vista is a city of 40,200 in Cochise County and the main city of the Sierra Vista metro area, home to 125,600 · Updated November 2026
Is Sierra Vista, AZ safe?
Yes, crime in Sierra Vista is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A-. Because most US neighborhoods are safe as well, Sierra Vista sits near the middle: safer than the neighborhoods where 47% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A- here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Sierra Vista run from A+ to B, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 820 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
47% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Sierra Vista as a whole, and 53% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Sierra Vista scores 820.
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 Sierra Vista, AZ at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Sierra Vista, 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 Sierra Vista
Vehicle theft runs low. Sierra Vista has 0.93 car thefts a year per 1,000 residents, less than half the US rate of 2.7.
The safest and least safe parts of Sierra Vista
Every part of Sierra Vista where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Sierra Vista run from A+ to B; 41% 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 Sierra Vista, the south side has the least crime and the west side the most.
Is crime going up in Sierra Vista?
Reported crime in Sierra Vista has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 18% and property crime down 27%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.6 to 2.2 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 23 to 17 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Sierra VistaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Sierra Vista. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Sierra Vista
Violent, US
Property, Sierra Vista
Property, US
2016
-23%
+4%
+32%
+15%
2017
+70%
+4%
+34%
+12%
2018
-11%
+0%
+13%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-30%
+4%
-13%
-8%
2021
-12%
+6%
-39%
-10%
2022
+8%
+5%
-27%
-6%
2023
-15%
+2%
-26%
-7%
2024
-18%
-4%
-27%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Sierra Vista
CrimeGrade™ estimates Sierra Vista has about 34 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 8% less than the US as a whole and close to 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 makes up about 42% of crime reported in Sierra Vista. Assault is less common but costs more, because each one does more harm.
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.
The Sierra Vista Police Department counts vandalism differently from the national definition, so CrimeGrade™ makes its own vandalism estimate.
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 Sierra Vista
Sierra Vista has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Sierra Vista, 61% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 40% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (61%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Homes (54%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Homes (40%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (36%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (47%)
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 Sierra Vista compares with nearby cities
Sierra Vista has the most crime of its 7 nearest cities.
One thing sets Sierra Vista apart: it has 26 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report less theft and robbery, yet theft runs higher here than that would suggest.
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 Sierra Vista: F (3 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.26 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 77% 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. 90% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D- (12 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 70% 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.8.3% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 74% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.12.0 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 70% 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.6% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 70% 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 Sierra Vista
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Sierra Vista about $766 a year per household, 36% 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 $39 million a year, or $973 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$2.2 million
$55
Rape
$450,000
$11
Robbery
$310,000
$8
Assault
$5.3 million
$131
Burglary
$590,000
$15
Theft
$3.0 million
$74
Vehicle theft
$570,000
$14
Arson
$130,000
$3
Vandalism
$1.2 million
$30
Total
$14 million
$341
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 Sierra Vista 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 Sierra Vista, AZ average a SchoolGrade of C+: 33% of students test proficient, against 28% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Sierra Vista on SchoolGrade
