Chattanooga Metro Area Among Worst In Country For Auto Theft

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By Samuel Stebbins [24/7 Wall St. via The Center Square] –

Motor vehicle theft, one of the most serious offenses tracked by the FBI, is on the rise in the United States. There were a total of 810,400 motor vehicle thefts nationwide in 2020, the most in over a decade.

Motor vehicle theft can be either the theft or attempted theft of a vehicle, such as a car, truck, ATV, or motorcycle. Some experts attribute the rising rates of vehicle theft to the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to vehicles sitting unattended and unused for longer than usual. Additionally, vehicle theft is often committed for monetary gain, and the pandemic sent unemployment soaring and left many Americans struggling financially.

While motorists nationwide now face a greater risk of vehicle theft than they have in many years, in some parts of the country, car owners are far more likely to be victims of car theft than in others.

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The Chattanooga metro area, which covers parts of Tennessee and Georgia, has one of the highest motor vehicle theft rates in the United States. According to data from the FBI, there were 2,923 vehicle thefts in the metro area in 2020, or 514 for every 100,000 people – far higher than the motor vehicle theft rate nationwide of 246 per 100,000 people.

Motor vehicle theft – along with larceny and burglary – is one of three criminal offenses that comprise the property crime category. Due in large part to the higher than average vehicle theft rate, the overall property crime rate in the metro area also exceeds the comparable national rate. There were 3,070 property crimes reported for every 100,000 people in the metro area in 2020, compared to 1,958 per 100,000 nationwide.

All crime data used in this story is from the FBI’s 2020 Uniform Crime Report. Limited data was available in the 2020 UCR for areas in Alabama, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, though these states were not excluded from our analysis. Only metro areas for which the boundaries defined by the FBI match the boundaries defined by the U.S. Census Bureau were considered.

Rank	Metro area	Vehicle thefts per 100k people, 2020	Total vehicle thefts, 2020	Total property crimes per 100k people, 2020
1	Bakersfield, CA	839	7,537	3,106
2	Denver, CO	734	22,011	3,303
3	Albuquerque, NM	663	6,120	3,654
4	Fairbanks, AK	644	212	4,152
5	Pueblo, CO	640	1,078	N/A
6	San Francisco, CA	604	28,575	3,008
7	Yuba City, CA	594	1,039	2,440
8	Salt Lake City, UT	544	6,785	3,817
9	Billings, MT	543	998	3,472
10	Tulsa, OK	535	5,378	3,110
11	St. Joseph, MO-KS	531	663	3,541
12	Odessa, TX	518	876	2,957
13	Chattanooga, TN-GA	514	2,923	3,070
14	San Jose, CA	506	10,058	2,227
15	Vallejo, CA	502	2,243	2,391
16	Merced, CA	485	1,346	2,146
17	Salem, OR	480	2,098	2,854
18	Portland, OR-WA	472	11,845	2,678
19	Seattle, WA	457	18,428	3,157
20	Los Angeles, CA	448	58,823	2,095
21	Memphis, TN-MS-AR	445	6,001	3,719
22	Amarillo, TX	440	1,168	3,043
23	Riverside, CA	435	20,222	1,985
24	Yakima, WA	426	1,067	2,725
25	Omaha, NE-IA	420	4,012	2,281
26	Santa Maria, CA	413	1,837	1,986
27	Fresno, CA	409	4,072	2,481
28	Rapid City, SD	406	584	2,971
29	Pine Bluff, AR	404	350	3,048
30	Kalamazoo, MI	404	1,074	3,307
31	Florence, SC	404	828	3,601
32	Joplin, MO	403	725	3,532
33	Lubbock, TX	400	1,297	3,682
34	Anchorage, AK	394	1,202	3,405
35	Oklahoma City, OK	393	5,613	2,916
36	Visalia, CA	388	1,802	2,025
37	Colorado Springs, CO	385	2,896	2,653
38	Columbia, SC	382	3,234	3,272
39	Sioux Falls, SD	381	1,040	2,524
40	Modesto, CA	381	2,091	1,974
41	Stockton, CA	380	2,897	2,333
42	Greeley, CO	378	1,251	2,163
43	Houston, TX	374	26,877	2,617
44	Las Vegas, NV	370	8,564	2,047
45	St. Louis, MO-IL	369	10,327	N/A
46	Hanford, CA	368	557	1,654
48	Midland, TX	368	688	2,168
47	New Orleans, LA	368	4,686	2,755
49	Santa Cruz, CA	367	998	2,266
50	Macon, GA	367	842	2,746