California is known for its beaches and sunshine. But this time the Golden State has taken a title that no one covets, calling home 9 out of the top 10 “hot spots” for car theft.
According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, California cities—especially those in the Central Valley—top the list of metropolitan cities with the highest rates of stolen cars.
Bakersfield, California came in at #1 with a rate of 725 car thefts per 100,000 residents last year. The City of Fresno came in at #2, followed by Modesto, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Stockton-Lodi Region, and Redding.
Spokane, Washington, which came in at #7, was the only city on the list outside of California. The Vallejo-Fairfield region, San Jose, and Yuba City rounded out the top 10.
The numbers were almost as bad back in 2012 when eight out nation’s 10 auto theft hot spots were found to be in California.
“California has always had the most auto thefts since we have been taking statistics starting in the early 1960s,” said bureau spokesman Frank Scafidi. “That is because it has many more vehicles than any other state in the country.”
Scafidi mentioned other factors as well, including the preservation of older cars as a result of milder weather, the existence of large ports which facilitate smuggling, and California’s close proximity to the border.
California topped the list of stolen automobiles nationwide with 176,745 vehicle thefts in 2013. It was followed by Texas (69,664), Florida (38,195), Washington (28,123), and Illinois (26,302).
Read more about the rankings and see a complete list here.