Downtown Chula Vista, Chula Vista, CA Violent Crime Rates and Maps
Downtown Chula Vista is a neighborhood of 12,500 residents in Chula Vista, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in Downtown Chula Vista?
Downtown Chula Vista grades C+ for violent crime, with more of it than the neighborhoods where 84% of Americans live. Assaults make up 90% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury. Chula Vista as a whole grades A- for violent crime.
C+
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 535 of 1,000More violent crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
16% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than Downtown Chula Vista as a whole, and 84% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. Downtown Chula Vista scores 535.
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 violent crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its violent crime with the people who spend time there, on one national scale, from green for the least to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy downtown or nightlife strip can show red while the homes around it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a solid connection. Compare high speed internet in Downtown Chula Vista, Chula Vista, CA at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Downtown Chula Vista in Chula 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 about violent crime in Downtown Chula Vista
Robberies run high. Downtown Chula Vista has robberies at more than triple the US rate: 2.2 a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.62 nationally.
How Downtown Chula Vista compares within Chula Vista
Most of Downtown Chula Vista grades well for violent crime: 55% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Violent crime grades across Downtown Chula Vista run from B to C-.
55%45%
A or B 55%C 45%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Downtown Chula Vista has less violent crime than 1 of the 14 neighborhoods in Chula Vista. It covers much of the Downtown Chula Vista area.
Is violent crime going up in Chula Vista?
Reported violent crime in Chula Vista as a whole has risen 11% since 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 3.3 to 3.7 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7). Violent crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Chula VistaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Chula Vista. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Chula Vista
Violent, US
2016
-21%
+4%
2017
-9%
+4%
2018
-7%
+0%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
-0%
+4%
2021
+3%
+6%
2022
+7%
+5%
2023
+7%
+2%
2024
+11%
-4%
Violent crime rates and types in Downtown Chula Vista
CrimeGrade™ estimates Downtown Chula Vista has about 26 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about double the rate for the US as a whole and about triple the rate for Chula Vista as a whole.
All violent crime
Assaults
Robbery
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. Violent crime here includes simple assaults, which the FBI's violent crime rate leaves out.
Assault is the most common violent crime in Downtown Chula Vista, about 90% of the total.
Each CrimeGrade™ here compares a violent crime with the people who spend time in an area, not only the people who live there. 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 violent crime happens in Chula Vista
The Chula Vista Police Department polices Downtown Chula Vista; these figures cover Chula Vista as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Chula Vista as a whole, 40% of aggravated assaults happen at a home, against 53% nationally. Robberies happen most often at stores and businesses: 49% of them.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Robbery
Stores and businesses (49%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (40%)
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.
Violent crime in Downtown Chula Vista and nearby neighborhoods
Of the 10 neighborhoods closest to Downtown Chula Vista, 8 have less violent crime. Terra Nova and Sunbow have the least.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Downtown Chula Vista. Beside each violent crime CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with neighborhoods of similar size and density, Downtown Chula Vista has more violent crime than 54% of them.
Transit, nightlife and walkability in Downtown Chula Vista
Among the traits that tend to go with violent crime, two set Downtown Chula Vista apart: it has 1.4 bars and nightlife spots for every 1,000 residents, against 0.6 nationally, and tree cover over 2% of the land where people live, against 21% nationally. Places like that tend to report more assault and robbery, and they run high here.
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Downtown Chula Vista: C (35 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 95% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Bars and nightlifeBars, lounges, clubs and casinos. Places with more bars tend to report more assault and robbery.1.4 per 1,000 residentsUS: 0.6Higher than for 87% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 assault.C+ (48 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 62% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Tree coverThe share of land under tree canopy where people live. Leafy neighborhoods tend to report less robbery.2% where people liveUS: 21%Lower than for 86% of residents of US city neighborhoods
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 violent crime costs Downtown Chula Vista
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs Downtown Chula Vista about $29 million a year, or $2,294 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $6.6 million, or $529 per resident.
Billed cost of violent crime per resident, per year
How CrimeGrade™ works
The violent crime CrimeGrade™ covers murder, rape, robbery and assault, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most, on one scale for the whole country.
It weighs each violent crime against the people who spend time in an area, so a busy downtown is graded on its workers and visitors as well as its residents.
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.
