FBI Finds Motor Vehicle Theft Steadily Increasing in United States

Car thefts in the United States steadily increased during the past five years, according to new data from the FBI.

From 2019 to 2023, the nationwide rate of motor vehicle theft incidents rose from 199.4 incidents per 100,000 people to 283.5 incidents.

In strict numbers, there were 308,888 motor vehicle thefts reported to the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) in 2019 and 789,444 in 2023.

The jump is partly related to increased crime rates and partly due to increased reporting. Non-federal U.S. law enforcement agencies are not required to share crime data with the NIBRS. But the number of agencies voluntarily participating increased notably in that five-year period to 14,039 agencies covering a population of 278,449,430 people out of the approximately 333,290,000 people who live in the United States. For this reason, the FBI prefers to report theft rates as incidents per 100,000 people to allow for more accurate year-over-year comparisons.

The majority of vehicles stolen were automobiles (78.1 percent), followed by trucks (12.2 percent) and other vehicles (8 percent).

Southern U.S. states had the most reported incidents of motor vehicle theft, with 40.8 percent of incidents from 2019 to 2023. The West had the highest rate of incidents—390.2 per 100,000 people in 2023. The theft rates in the Midwest and West decreased slightly from 2022 to 2023.

When were vehicles reported stolen? It depends—in 2023, July had the highest number of vehicle thefts reported, but in 2020 and 2021, December was the top month for thefts. The time of day seems largely consistent though, with most thefts occurring in the evening, especially from 8 p.m. to midnight.

Where were vehicles stolen? In all five years, more vehicle thefts occurred at residences than at any other location, with 256,733 incidents in 2023 alone. Highways, streets, roads, alleys, and sidewalks were the second most reported location, followed by parking lots and garages.

Who is stealing cars? From 2019 to 2021, the rate of adult offenders (people older than the age of 18) rose and juvenile cases fell, but the FBI reported that this trend reversed from 2021 to 2023. In 2023, 201,176 incidents were committed by adults, and 46,106 incidents were committed by juvenile offenders. More than three-quarters of known offenders were male, and the vast majority were white (601,642 offenders).