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Previous studies have described the association between calf circumference (CC) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). We aim to evaluate the associations between CC and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in patients with CKD stages 3-5. Data on CKD were sourced from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2004. The population was stratified into three groups based on their CC tertile. Kaplan-Meier method with log-rank tests for significance was used for survival analysis. Weighted Cox proportional hazards regression models were employed to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) for cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. The potential nonlinear relationship between CC and mortality was assessed using restricted cubic spline (RCS) models. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were conducted to strengthen the results. A total of 1166 patients were eventually included in this study. After a mean follow-up of 127.78 months, a total of 922 all-cause deaths were recorded, with 515 of them attributed to cardiovascular diseases. The Kaplan-Meier curve indicated a significant difference in overall survival between the three groups (log-rank test, P < 0.0001). Compared to the CC > 38.5 group, participants in the CC < 35.0 group had HR of 2.05 (1.44, 2.93) for all-cause mortality and 1.58 (0.75, 3.33) for cardiovascular mortality, respectively. We observed a significant nonlinear relationship between CC and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality (P-nonlinear < 0.05). Subgroup analysis further validated our results and demonstrated that the impact of CC on prognosis varies according to distinct characteristics. Sensitivity analyses yielded similar results for both all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. A reduced CC is correlated with a poorer prognosis in CKD stages 3-5 patients, suggesting its potential utility as an innovative prognostic marker.