South Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ Violent Crime Rates and Maps
South Phoenix is a neighborhood of 24,400 residents in Phoenix, about 4 miles south of downtown · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in South Phoenix?
South Phoenix grades B- for violent crime, with more of it than the neighborhoods where 84% of Americans live. Assaults make up 87% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury. Phoenix as a whole grades C for violent crime.
B-
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 544 of 1,000More violent crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
16% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than South Phoenix 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. South Phoenix scores 544.
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 South Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in South Phoenix in Phoenix, 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 South Phoenix
Robberies run high. South Phoenix has robberies at more than triple the US rate: 3.4 a year per 1,000 residents, against 0.62 nationally.
How South Phoenix compares within Phoenix
Violent crime varies widely across South Phoenix: 38% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 23% in areas graded D or F. Violent crime grades across South Phoenix run from A to F.
38%39%23%
A or B 38%C 39%D or F 23%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
South Phoenix has less violent crime than 12 of the 19 neighborhoods in Phoenix. It covers much of the Ahwatukee area and the South Mountain and Central Phoenix areas.
Is violent crime going up in Phoenix?
Reported violent crime in Phoenix as a whole has risen 13% since 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 7.0 to 8.0 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7). Violent crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
PhoenixUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Phoenix. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Phoenix
Violent, US
2016
-5%
+4%
2017
+9%
+4%
2018
+4%
+0%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
+21%
+4%
2021
+20%
+6%
2022
+17%
+5%
2023
+12%
+2%
2024
+13%
-4%
Violent crime rates and types in South Phoenix
CrimeGrade™ estimates South Phoenix has about 33 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than double the rate for the US as a whole and 35% more than Phoenix 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 South Phoenix, about 87% 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.
Violent crime in South Phoenix and nearby neighborhoods
South Phoenix has less violent crime than 8 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods; only Ahwatukee and Baseline-Hardy have less.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from South Phoenix. 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, South Phoenix has more violent crime than 67% of them.
Among the traits that tend to go with violent crime, two set South Phoenix apart: it has tree cover over 1% of the land where people live, against 21% nationally, and 115 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report more robbery, and it runs high here.
Tree coverThe share of land under tree canopy where people live. Leafy neighborhoods tend to report less robbery.1% where people liveUS: 21%Lower than for 92% of residents of US city neighborhoods
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more robbery.115 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 90% 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. 83% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (15 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 83% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.22% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 78% 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 South Phoenix
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs South Phoenix about $91 million a year, or $3,726 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $19 million, or $793 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. South Phoenix 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.
