Many major cities in the United States are seeing massive increases in motor vehicle theft, according to a study by the Council on Criminal Justice. While not every city that reported data to the CCJ saw an increase in car theft, U.S. cities in the first half of 2023 saw a 33.5% increase on average, compared to the same timeframe last year.
Car theft has actually been increasing since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, which is when theft began to surge, and it doesn't show signs of slowing down. Between January-June 2023, car theft is up 104.3% versus the same span in 2019.
Obviously, some cities have it worse than others. For instance, Rochester, New York saw a massive increase of 355% in the first half of 2023 versus 2020. However, St. Paul, Minnesota saw a decrease of 41%. Interestingly, some of the U.S.'s largest, most densely packed cities saw decreases in car theft, such as Denver, Phoenix, Boston, and even Los Angeles.
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