Car theft is an unfortunate reality of the world in which we live. While authorities usually recover nearly half of all stolen vehicles within a couple of days, that still doesn’t diminish how unpleasant it can be. Nor does it make up for how pervasive the problem is across the U.S. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s (NICB) data, thieves stole just over 3.5 million vehicles nationwide from 2020 to 2024. On a positive note, there was a significant 17% reduction nationwide from 2023 to 2024, which is great. However, that still leaves the country with 850,708 thefts, with a handful of metro areas proving to be notable hot spots. You’re probably expecting Los Angeles and San Francisco to be among those, and you’d be right, but what other cities rank highly for car thefts?
We’ve compiled a list of the core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) that had the most reported car thefts in 2024, based on data provided to us by the NICB. Note that we’re not implying anything about the safety or quality of life in these cities. This is purely about the total number of vehicle thefts — nothing more, nothing less. We’ll also discuss theft rates (i.e., thefts per 100,000 inhabitants), but that metric hasn’t impacted how we sorted the cities. Is your city on the list? Only one way to find out.
Atlanta, Georgia
The first CBSA of this baker’s dozen of criminality is the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro area, which is the state of Georgia’s only representation here. As will become a trend across all the following CBSAs, the Atlanta area recorded a pleasing 20% drop in thefts between 2023 and 2024, with 2024’s 15,894 thefts a significant decrease from the 19,815 that the NICB recorded for 2023. Thefts in the Atlanta CBSA accounted for about 67% of the 23,495 recorded in the entire state — 750 of which were Hyundai Elantras, the most-stolen vehicle nationwide in 2024.
Residents — or anyone who has a soft spot for Atlanta — can find some extra solace in the fact that it also has one of the lowest theft rates of the cities on this list. Its population of around 6.4 million makes for just 252 thefts per 100,000 people. This gives it the honor of being one of only two cities on this list with a theft rate of around 250, and one of three below 300.
Miami, Florida
Despite being one of the most populated states in the U.S., with an estimated 23.37 million inhabitants as of 2024, Florida only has one CBSA that makes it onto this list, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach CBSA. It’s roughly 6.4 million inhabitants suffered 16,317 thefts in 2024, with 8,530 of those occurring in Miami-Dade County proper. Both CBSA and county-level thefts saw major drops from 2023, though, with 18% and 20% drops from 20,014 and 10,627 thefts, respectively. Things are definitely looking up for the Sunshine State in terms of vehicle thefts, at least…