US motor vehicle theft offenses, 1985 to 2025
US motor vehicle theft offenses stood at 50,354 in 2025, up 2.5% on the previous period.
Law enforcement agencies in United States reported 50,185 motor vehicle theft offenses in 2025-12, up 2.5 percent from the year before. The window spans 1985-01 to 2025-12, with the high at 222,275 (1997-12) and the low at 42,316 (2011-02).
How it is measured
The offense is defined as the theft or attempted theft of a self-propelled road vehicle. Counts come from the FBI's Crime Data Explorer, which aggregates the monthly reports police agencies submit to the national crime statistics program; the chart sums them to years so trends read over seasonality. Reported crime is not total crime: it counts what victims reported and agencies recorded, and agency participation shifts over time, most sharply around the 2021 transition to the NIBRS reporting system, which temporarily lowered coverage.
What the curve shows
Vehicle theft is unusually well reported because insurance claims require a police report, so its trend is cleaner than other property crime. Within a consistent reporting era the trend is meaningful; across eras, level comparisons need the coverage caveat in mind.
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