A new report highlights which states are seeing the most car thefts. Illinois finished fifth on the list with a 35% increase from the previous year, marking the largest year over year increase of any state.
The report by National Insurance Crime Bureau looks into the number of car thefts per registered car owner in each state.
“Law enforcement agencies and communities across the United States continue to be plagued by record and near-record levels of vehicular crime as monthly theft totals nationwide consistently exceeded 75,000 in 2022,” the report said. “According to new analysis conducted by the National Insurance Crime Bureau … more than 1 million vehicles were stolen last year, marking a 7% increase over 2021.”
The report said California and Texas had the most reported stolen vehicles in 2022, but Illinois had “the largest increase of any top 10 state with thefts increasing by an estimated 35% between 2021 and 2022.”
Analysis of NICB data by CarVertical, a car consumer website, shows Illinois had nine vehicle thefts per 1,000 registered vehicles, fifth highest rate in the country.
Andrew Perkins, regional vice president of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, had previously said crime can impact how much Illinoisans pay for insurance.
“Crime would factor into it. You mentioned carjacking, and sure, that is one of many factors that goes into it,” Perkins said in February. “It’s all about the percentage of carjackings and the percentage of burglaries.”
A 2022 report by Wirepoints showed that the amount of carjacking incidents has increased year by year.
In that same year, Gov. J.B. Pritzker allocated $250 million to help address the issue.
Even with the extra funding, Illinois has the joint fifth highest rate of vehicle thefts, with nine out of every 1,000 vehicles registered as being stolen, which is tied with New York.
Colorado finished number one in the CarVertical analysis. Other midwestern states such as Missouri and Ohio also found themselves in the top 10.
Greg Bishop contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on The Center Square.
