Where more motorcycles got stolen in the U.S. in 2019

Those are some of the stats that caught my attention in a report on motorcycle thefts in 2019 in the United States by the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a non-profit organization whose members are mostly insurance companies, vehicle finance companies and others affected by vehicle insurance claims or fraud. The positive news is that 2019 continued a trend of fewer motorcycle thefts nationwide, with 40,830 thefts last year, a decrease of two percent from 2018.

Obviously, most thefts happen in the major population centers, where there are more people and more motorcycles. Using county data rather than city data gives a more accurate view, because it better reflects the larger metropolitan areas (there's a significant difference between the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County). Los Angeles and New York counties remained first and second in the nation in motorcycle thefts, though they saw declines of eight and nine percent, respectively, in 2019. Miami-Dade County in Florida, ranked fourth, also saw an eight percent decline. San Diego County, in third, saw an eight percent increase.

But the big jump among the top counties was San Francisco, with a 29 percent increase in thefts last year. In terms of thefts per capita, that put San Francisco first among the counties where you're most likely to get your motorcycle stolen. New York was second with Baltimore and Denver ranking just behind, in per capita terms. Thefts in Baltimore increased 36 percent last year, rising from 221 to 301, and Denver was up 22 percent, from 286 to 348.

King County, Washington, which includes Seattle, ranked eighth on the list of thefts, but showed the biggest percentage increase, up 40 percent from 360 in 2018 to 505 in 2019.

While you can't miss the 1,423 thefts in Los Angeles County, the most of any county in the country, your motorcycle is actually at more risk in some smaller places. For example, Jackson County, Missouri, which includes Kansas City, only reported 283 thefts, but that represents a per capita rate four times higher than Los Angeles'.

You can also spot other anomalies. Travis County, Texas, which includes Austin, ranked 16th on the list of counties and saw an 11 percent increase in thefts over 2018. Travis County ranks fifth in the state in population but second in motorcycle thefts. I wonder if some bikes were stolen during MotoGP week last year?

At the state level, South Carolina ranks higher in thefts than you'd expect. It's fourth, behind California, Florida and Texas, though it ranks 23rd in population. When I wrote about the NICB report five years ago, the area around Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, was a hot spot for thefts, which makes sense considering the huge numbers of motorcyclists who come to town for rallies every year (except this COVID-19 year). It seems the thieves are still doing their shopping in South Carolina.

You can download the NICB report from their web site. Unfortunately, it only shows statewide statistics and the top local areas where thefts are common, so if you live outside one of those metropolitan areas, you can't really glean any information about the prevalence of thefts where you live.