Per person
Wyoming #1
California has more car thefts than anywhere else in the U.S. Is it the riskiest place to park?
The count is real. But a bigger place has more of almost everything, including car thefts. To compare risk, divide by how many people live there.
Motor vehicle thefts, 2024
California
153,048
thefts, the most of any state
Washington, D.C.
5,579
thefts, about 1/27 as many as California
Per 100,000 people
2× the risk
D.C. 794, California 388
Counting thefts
Total vehicles stolen in 2024
Counting thefts per person
Vehicles stolen per 100,000 residents in 2024
A total mostly tells you how big a place is. California has 56 times as many people as Washington, D.C., so it would have far more car thefts even if the risk were the same. Divide by the number of residents and the ranking flips: a car in D.C. was about twice as likely to be stolen.
The same trap shows up in any comparison of totals between groups of different sizes: crimes by city, accidents by car brand, complaints by airline, cases by county. Before comparing two totals, ask how big each group is, and look for the number per person.
What "most" ranking have you seen that might just be a ranking of the biggest places?
The numbers behind both charts
| Place | Vehicles stolen | Residents | Per 100,000 residents |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 153,048 | 39,431,263 | 388 |
| Texas | 103,844 | 31,290,831 | 332 |
| Washington, D.C. | 5,579 | 702,250 | 794 |
| Vermont | 424 | 648,493 | 65 |
Vermont and D.C. have about the same number of residents, but D.C. had 13 times as many thefts. That's the comparison totals can make fairly: places of similar size. Rates here are calculated from FBI theft counts and Census population estimates. The National Insurance Crime Bureau, using its own data, also ranks D.C. first and California second for theft rate in 2024.
Another way crime rankings flip: which crimes get counted
| State, 2024 | Violent crime per 100,000 | Property crime per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Washington | 326, below the U.S. average | 2,467, 3rd highest of the 50 states |
| Oregon | 331, below the U.S. average | 2,388, 4th highest |
| Maine | 100, the lowest | 1,142, 5th lowest |
| U.S. average | 359 | 1,760 |
Count only violent crime and Washington and Oregon look better than average. Count property crime, like car theft and burglary, and they're near the bottom. "Safest states" and "safest cities" lists each choose which crimes to count and how much weight to give each one, so the same place can land near the top of one list and near the bottom of another. Before trusting a ranking, check what it counted, and whether it divided by population at all.
Same trap, different product: which state buys the most Ford F-150s?
Wyoming, per person. Texas, in total. Wyoming has the highest share of F-150s among its vehicles, but Texas is so much bigger that it has far more F-150 owners. Neither answer is wrong; “most” changes when the measure changes.
Total owners
Texas #1
Top 3
LowerHigher
F-150 share not reported
| Rank | State | F-150 share | Other measure |
|---|
Only states with a reported F-150 share can be ranked by these measures. States where another vehicle ranked first are listed separately because the F-150 share was not reported in the source data.
Related exhibits
Sources: FBI Crime Data Explorer, 2024 motor vehicle thefts by state (via Insurance Information Institute); U.S. Census Bureau, July 1, 2024 population estimates; National Insurance Crime Bureau, "Vehicle Thefts in United States Fell 17% in 2024."; USAFacts, "Which states have the highest and lowest crime rates?" (FBI 2024 violent and property crime rates). Ford F-150: iSeeCars.com used-vehicle study (1–5 year old vehicles) for vehicle popularity and market share; U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2023 estimates for state populations. “Estimated total owners” is population × reported share, not a directly measured sales count. States where another vehicle ranked first are gray because the F-150 share was not reported there.