San Diego Auto theft

San Diego · Auto theft · updated 2026-11-12

In 2025, the latest complete year, San Diego police open data recorded 4,249 auto theft incidents, 5.6% of all 76,420 incidents reported in the city that year and down 21.0% from 2024. That is about 303 per 100,000 residents, compared with 486 per 100,000 across the 56 US cities on TheCrimeMaps.com with complete 2025 data that list this crime type. So far in 2026, 2,980 auto theft incidents have been published.

Auto theft in San Diego by year

YearIncidentsPer 100Kvs prior year
2026 (year to date)2,980——
20254,249303down 21.0%
20245,381383down 18.0%
20236,566468up 4.4%
20226,287448up 3.2%
20216,090434up 28.5%
20204,741338—

Year rows reflect the months published by the source; partial years are labelled and never compared or turned into rates. Full archive: 36,294 auto theft incidents.

Neighborhoods with the most auto theft (2025)

  1. Otay Mesa 528 incidents
  2. Pacific Beach 210 incidents
  3. San Ysidro 186 incidents
  4. North Park 131 incidents
  5. Mira Mesa 109 incidents
  6. University City 107 incidents
  7. Otay Mesa West 91 incidents
  8. East Village 90 incidents

Neighborhood names as published by the police feed; counts are not adjusted for population.

Questions

How many auto theft incidents were reported in San Diego in 2025?

4,249, according to San Diego Police Department open data as mapped by TheCrimeMaps.com.

Is auto theft going up or down in San Diego?

Reported auto theft was down 21.0% in 2025 compared with 2024, and down 32.4% compared with 2022 (falling over three years).

Where does this data come from?

Source: San Diego Police Department open data. TheCrimeMaps.com groups each published offense into a crime type; counts are police-reported incidents, not convictions, and some reports are reclassified or removed by the source later.

Other crime types in San Diego

← San Diego crime map · Auto theft across the US

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