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INTRODUCTION Chongqing is among the areas with the highest rubella incidence rates in China. This study aimed to analyze the temporal distribution characteristics of rubella and establish a forecasting model in Chongqing, which could provide a tool for decision-making in the early warning system for the health sector. METHODOLOGY The rubella monthly incidence data from 2004 to 2019 were obtained from the Chongqing Center of Disease and Control. The incidence from 2004 to June 2019 was fitted using the seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) model and the back-propagation neural network (BPNN) model, and the data from July to December 2019 was used for validation. RESULTS A total of 30,083 rubella cases were reported in this study, with a significantly higher average annual incidence before the nationwide introduction of rubella-containing vaccine (RCV). The peak of rubella notification was from April to June annually. Both SARIMA and BPNN models were capable of predicting the expected incidence of rubella. However, the linear SARIMA model fits and predicts better than the nonlinear BPNN model. CONCLUSIONS Based on the results, rubella incidence in Chongqing has an obvious seasonal trend, and SARIMA (2,1,1) × (1,1,1) 12 model can predict the incidence of rubella well. The SARIMA model is a feasible tool for producing reliable rubella forecasts in Chongqing.