Southwest Mesa, Mesa, AZ Violent Crime Rates and Maps
Southwest Mesa is a neighborhood of 71,400 residents in Mesa, about 3 miles southwest of downtown · Updated November 2026
How common is violent crime in Southwest Mesa?
Violent crime is high in Southwest Mesa: a B-, with more violent crime than the neighborhoods where 82% of Americans live. Assaults make up 94% of it, and most of those are simple assaults, which involve no weapon and no serious injury. Mesa as a whole grades B for violent crime.
B-
Violent crime CrimeGrade™
Safety score 577 of 1,000More violent crime than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
18% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more violent crime than Southwest Mesa as a whole, and 82% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a violent crime safety score of 860, a CrimeGrade™ of A. Southwest Mesa scores 577.
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 Southwest Mesa, Mesa, AZ at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Southwest Mesa in Mesa, 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 Southwest Mesa
Aggravated assaults run high. Southwest Mesa has aggravated assaults at more than double the US rate: 5.9 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.6 nationally.
How Southwest Mesa compares within Mesa
In Southwest Mesa, 55% of residents live in areas graded A or B for violent crime, 29% in areas graded C and 16% in areas graded D or F. Violent crime grades across Southwest Mesa run from A to F.
55%29%16%
A or B 55%C 29%D or F 16%
Share of residents, by the violent crime CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Southwest Mesa has less violent crime than 1 of the 7 neighborhoods in Mesa. It covers much of the Southwest Mesa area and the West Central and Central Mesa areas.
Is violent crime going up in Mesa?
Reported violent crime in Mesa as a whole has risen 27% since 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 3.8 to 4.8 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7). Violent crime changed little from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
MesaUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments that serve Mesa. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Mesa
Violent, US
2016
+11%
+4%
2017
+9%
+4%
2018
-4%
+0%
2019
+0%
+0%
2020
+5%
+4%
2021
+11%
+6%
2022
+15%
+5%
2023
+17%
+2%
2024
+27%
-4%
Violent crime rates and types in Southwest Mesa
CrimeGrade™ estimates Southwest Mesa has about 27 reported violent crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, about double the rate for the US as a whole and 45% more than Mesa 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 Southwest Mesa, about 94% 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 Mesa
The Mesa Police Department polices Southwest Mesa; these figures cover Mesa as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In Mesa as a whole, 51% of aggravated assaults happen at a home, against 53% nationally. Robberies happen most often at stores and businesses: 38% of them.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Robbery
Stores and businesses (38%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (51%)
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 Southwest Mesa and nearby neighborhoods
Southwest Mesa has more violent crime than 8 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods. The Islands and Heritage District have the least violent crime nearby.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Southwest Mesa. 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, Southwest Mesa has more violent crime than 62% of them.
Tree cover, jobs and walkability in Southwest Mesa
Among the traits that tend to go with violent crime, one sets Southwest Mesa apart: it has tree cover over 2% of the land where people live, against 21% nationally. 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.2% where people liveUS: 21%Lower than for 88% of residents of US city neighborhoods
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more robbery.47 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 67% 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. 53% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.C (34 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 50% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Bars and nightlifeBars, lounges, clubs and casinos. Places with more bars tend to report more assault and robbery.0.5 per 1,000 residentsUS: 0.6Higher than for 62% 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 Southwest Mesa
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, violent crime costs Southwest Mesa about $140 million a year, or $1,956 per resident. The costs that reach a bill, such as medical care, lost work and the justice system, come to about $33 million, or $464 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. Southwest Mesa 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.
