Top 10 Cities for Car Theft All on the West Coast

Colum Wood
by Colum Wood

U.S. auto thefts may be at their lowest rate in 40 years, but if you’re a resident of Fresno, CA there’s a good chance you’re in disbelief. That’s because Fresno holds the title of the number one city for car thefts.

In a report issues by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), Fresno has risen from fifth in the nation last year with a spike in car crime totaling of 7,559 vehicles stolen as compared to 5,875 in 2009. Fresno leads its California neighbor Modesta, which placed second in the NICB study, by a significant margin averaging 812.4 car thefts per 100,000 people.

Third place on the list belongs to yet another California city, Bakersfield. In fact, eight of the top 10 cities for car theft are in the Golden State, with the remaining two also on the West Coast in Washington State.

So far this year vehicle theft rates are down significantly, dropping 7.2 percent over the year before. It that number holds, 2011 will prove to have the lowest vehicle theft rate since 1967.

Hit the jump for a list of the Top 10 Cities for Car theft in 2010:

  • Fresno, Calif.
  • Modesto, Calif.
  • Bakersfield-Delano, Calif.
  • Spokane, Wash.
  • Vallejo-Fairfield, Calif.
  • Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville, Calif.
  • Stockton, Calif.
  • Visalia-Porterville, Calif.
  • San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif.
  • Yakima, Wash.
Colum Wood
Colum Wood

With AutoGuide from its launch, Colum previously acted as Editor-in-Chief of Modified Luxury & Exotics magazine where he became a certifiable car snob driving supercars like the Koenigsegg CCX and racing down the autobahn in anything over 500 hp. He has won numerous automotive journalism awards including the Best Video Journalism Award in 2014 and 2015 from the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Colum founded Geared Content Studios, VerticalScope's in-house branded content division and works to find ways to integrate brands organically into content.

More by Colum Wood

Comments
Join the conversation
Next