California is known for a lot of amazing things. It is home to Hollywood and some of the largest tech firms in the world. From snowcapped mountains to year-round desert sun, California has something for everyone. Unfortunately, one additional thing California has become known for is a car thief’s paradise.
In 2018, USA Today published an article identifying where cars were most likely to get stolen for each state. It identified the vehicle theft rate at a whopping 751.4 per 100,000 residents in California. The most popular car stolen was the Honda Civic. In addition to this, Redding was the metro area that had the most car thefts.
While USA Today did not single out California in its list, Forbes recently did. It named the 10 top U.S. cities for car thefts and California took half the spots. It appears that Redding no longer takes the lead for car thefts in the more updated statistics. Still, it ranks not just among the highest in the state but the entire country. Here are the California cities in the order from most per-capita car thefts to least:
- Bakersfield – 6,748
- Modesto – 3,428
- Redding – 1,037
- Stockton – 4,287
- Vallejo – 2,404
Naturally, car theft is most popular in urban areas. California is home to several of America’s largest cities, including San Jose, San Diego and Los Angeles. Residents reported the theft of 5,160, 11,091 and 53,928 cars, respectively, in each for 2018.
Some people might believe that high-tech Teslas and sleek Audis are the ones catching people’s eyes. Instead, older vehicles are the ones most often targeted. Some of the preferred models include Toyota Camry, Honda Civic and Ford F-150.
