More than 880,595 vehicles were stolen across the United States last year, an increase of 10.9 percent from the 794,019 vehicles stolen in 2019 according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
The data was published in the NCIB’s annual Hot Spots report, which found that Washington, D.C., Colorado, and California were the three states (or federal districts) with the most vehicle thefts per 100,000 people.
Washington, D.C. had the dubious distinction of taking first place with a rate of 562.98 thefts per 100,000 residents. In Colorado, a rate of 502.12 thefts per 100,000 residents amounted to a total increase of 37 percent. The state’s statistics were driven by its biggest metropolitan statistical area (MSA), Denver, where thefts increased by nearly 50 percent to a total of 21,112 in 2020, up from 14,093 in 2019.
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The MSA with the highest auto theft rate, though, was Bakersfield, California. The area saw 905.41 stolen vehicles per 100,000 residents, making it the city with the most thefts by population for the second year in a row.
The state of California in general, though, is a hotbed. Purely in terms of the total number of vehicles stolen, the state leads the U.S. In 2020 alone Californians reported 187,094 stolen vehicles, more than twice as many as second-place Texas.
“Auto thefts saw a dramatic increase in 2020 versus 2019 in part due to the pandemic, an economic downturn, law enforcement realignment, depleted social and schooling programs, and, in still too many cases, owner complacency,” said David Glawe, president and CEO of the NICB. “For many people, a car is the second largest investment they will ever make behind a home. As such, it is important to take simple steps to protect your investment – lock your car and take your keys, no matter where you live.”
Either way, the rise is still noteworthy since nationwide theft stats had been on a downward trajectory between 2017 and 2019.
