Petty Crime : States with the Highest Levels of it

*From vandalism of property to pocket-picking and purse-snatching, petty crime runs rampant and can take many forms. But which US state reports the highest rates of petty crime?

Top Rated Law has analyzed FBI crime statistics for 7 categories of petty crime across the United States to determine which states and territories are in the rankings for the petty crime capital of the USA.

Top Rated Law - Petty Crime Hotspots — Top Rated Law – Petty Crime Hotspots

1st – District of Columbia

First in the rankings, with 3,671 incidents per 100,000 people, is the District of Columbia. This means that not only is Washington D.C. the capital of the United States, but it is also the number one petty crime capital.

Though D.C. has a population of less than 700,000, there were 24,664 reported incidents of petty crime in 2022, with over half of those being vandalism of property (13,584).

2nd – New Mexico

Next, is New Mexico, with 2,278 incidents per 100,000 people. Of the total 48,141 reported incidents, 24,230 were vandalism of property, 11,449 were shoplifting, and 9,696 were theft from a motor vehicle. However, just 113 were pocket-picking or purse-snatching.

3rd – Washington State

Coming in at a very close third place, with 2,277 incidents per 100,000 people, is the state of Washington. In 2022, there were a total of 177,272 petty crime incidents reported; the most of any state ranking in the top 15. Within this total there were 85,757 reports of vandalism of property, 51,214 incidents of theft from a motor vehicle, and 29,719 incidents of shoplifting. There were also 170 reports of theft from a coin-operated machine.

4th – Delaware

Next up in the rankings is Delaware, with 2,088 incidents of petty crime per 100,000 people. Delaware saw 8,941 reports of vandalism of property, 5,375 incidents of shoplifting, 3,703 reports of theft from a building, and 3,174 incidents of theft from a motor vehicle. Among the population of just 1,018,396, there were 21,268 reported incidents in 2022.

5th – Oregon

Finally, in fifth place in the rankings, with 2,085 reports of petty crime per 100,000 people, is Oregon. There were a total of 88,428 incidents reported, including 37,726 reports of vandalism of property, 24,341 incidents of theft from a motor vehicle, and 19,008 reports of shoplifting. There were also 375 reports of pocket-picking and 397 reports of purse-snatching.