U.S. Car Theft Statistics 2026 — State & County Financial Impact Analysis
The first nationwide county-level ranking of vehicle theft risk and financial loss per resident, based on FBI data and real vehicle value modeling.
National Statistics:
- National average financial loss per 1,000 residents: $58,953
- Highest state by per-capita theft cost: DC
- Highest county by theft rate: Medina, TX
- County with highest estimated total dollar loss: Los Angeles, CA
To see state specific data, navigate to state specific pages here.
Interactive Map: The True Cost of Car Theft in America, County by County
Use the interactive map below to explore theft rate, financial loss per capita, and total estimated theft value for every U.S. county.
Top states by Financial Loss per 1,000 residents
| Rank | State | Financial Loss Per 1,000 People | Thefts Per 1,000 People | Total Financial Loss Due to MVT | Total Motor Vehicle Thefts | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DC | $148,071 | 7.9 | $103,983,003 | 5,582 | 702,250 |
| 2 | NM | $124,703 | 4.7 | $265,649,565 | 10,040 | 2,130,256 |
| 3 | CO | $118,447 | 4.9 | $705,644,793 | 29,274 | 5,957,493 |
| 4 | NV | $109,345 | 4.8 | $357,281,524 | 15,599 | 3,267,467 |
| 5 | MD | $96,590 | 4.2 | $604,966,252 | 26,007 | 6,263,220 |
| 6 | WA | $96,463 | 4.4 | $767,672,308 | 34,634 | 7,958,180 |
| 7 | HI | $93,353 | 3.8 | $134,993,802 | 5,533 | 1,446,065 |
| 8 | MO | $92,438 | 4.0 | $577,317,528 | 24,889 | 6,245,466 |
| 9 | CA | $89,045 | 3.9 | $3,511,151,641 | 153,077 | 39,431,263 |
| 10 | TX | $85,784 | 3.3 | $2,684,263,355 | 103,880 | 31,290,831 |
| Nationwide | $58,953 | 2.5 | $19,882,608,181 | 850,236 | 337,262,635 |
While most reports stop at state data, this analysis ranks over 2,500 counties to identify hyper-local theft hotspots and financial burden concentrations. To see all counties, use the map above.
Top counties nationwide by Financial Loss per 1,000 residents
| Rank | County, State | Financial Loss Per 1,000 People | Thefts Per 1,000 People | Total Financial Loss Due to MVT | Total Motor Vehicle Thefts | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Medina, TX | $3,013,332 | 116.6 | $167,598,499 | 6,486 | 55,619 |
| 2 | Loving, TX | $1,076,668 | 41.7 | $51,680 | 2 | 48 |
| 3 | Martin, TX | $758,387 | 29.3 | $3,927,686 | 152 | 5,179 |
| 4 | Rockwall, TX | $708,959 | 27.4 | $97,158,550 | 3,760 | 137,044 |
| 5 | Cass, MO | $508,023 | 21.9 | $57,850,051 | 2,494 | 113,873 |
| 6 | Platte, MO | $481,506 | 20.8 | $54,509,872 | 2,350 | 113,207 |
| 7 | St. Louis city, MO | $342,427 | 14.8 | $95,775,004 | 4,129 | 279,695 |
| 8 | Osage, OK | $336,491 | 13.6 | $15,645,161 | 634 | 46,495 |
| 9 | Clay, TX | $315,475 | 12.2 | $3,385,045 | 131 | 10,730 |
| 10 | Denver, CO | $292,722 | 12.1 | $213,400,060 | 8,853 | 729,019 |
| Nationwide | $58,953 | 2.5 | $19,882,608,181 | 850,236 | 337,262,635 |
Theft Loss Concentration
- Top 5% of counties account for 76.4% of national losses
- Top 10 counties account for 21.5% of national theft value
- 90.2% of counties fall below national average
Browse state-specific data
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Methodology
Theft & financial loss calculations
Motor vehicle theft (MVT) can create large financial losses, but those losses are not the same in every state. To estimate county-level theft-related financial loss, we combined FBI theft counts from 2024 (latest available dataset) with state-specific consumer vehicle value metrics.
We first measured motor vehicle theft counts using FBI Crime Data Explorer (CDE) data (offense code MVT). Because FBI agency geography is not always reported as a single county, we aggregated agency-level theft counts into county-equivalent totals using a documented standardization process.
Next, we estimated financial loss by applying a state-level average vehicle value proxy to each county's theft count. This means every county in a state uses the state-specific vehicle value metric, while differences across counties are driven by theft volume.
Average vehicle values by state calculations
Used vehicle prices are not the same across states, so we estimated a comparable state-level average listed price using MarketCheck's popular/cars data and a weighted aggregation method.
For each jurisdiction (50 states plus Washington, DC), we used the top 50 popular used car models based on sales data in that specific state provided by Marketcheck USA.
We then calculated one state-level average price as a weighted mean of model-level trimmed means:
Average Used Car Price (state) = sum(trimmed_mean * listings_count) / sum(listings_count)
This gives more influence to models with more listings in that state and avoids a simple unweighted average across the 50 models.
Final calculations
Estimated Financial Loss = Motor Vehicle Thefts * State Average Vehicle Value (state-specific)
Loss per 1,000 people = Estimated Financial Loss / County Population * 1,000
To standardize across places of different sizes, we used U.S. Census county-equivalent population estimates for 2024.
For map output and rankings, we excluded rows that could not be reliably mapped to a county-equivalent FIPS code or were missing required inputs (such as population or a state value metric). National rank is based on estimated financial loss for the selected year (highest loss = rank 1). Prior-year rank uses the same method for the prior year.
This is a modeled estimate of theft-related vehicle value loss, not reported insurance payouts or claim settlements.
Sources: FBI Crime Data Explorer (CDE) API, U.S. Census county population estimates, marketcheck.com
About Zilocar
Zilocar is an automotive data platform that provides vehicle history reports to help consumers make informed decisions when buying used cars. Using a vehicle's VIN, Zilocar aggregates data from public and industry sources—including DMV records, insurance databases, auctions, and recall data—to reveal information such as accidents, title brands, ownership history, odometer readings, and theft records. The platform offers free VIN decoding and detailed paid reports designed to increase transparency and reduce risk in the used-car market. For more information, please visit zilocar.com.
For Editors & Media
- Source: Zilocar Research, U.S. Car Theft Financial Impact Study 2026
- URL: https://zilocar.com/research/car-theft-statistics
- Data available upon request in a spreadsheet format.
- [email protected]