There were nearly 8 million property crimes in 2009, including figures for burglary, larceny theft, and motor vehicle theft. Larceny theft involves the successful or attempted taking of property from another; it includes shoplifting, pocket-picking, purse-snatching and bicycle theft. Burglary involves the unlawful entry into a structure such as a home or business. The summer months (June, July, August and September), have the most property crimes, followed by December.

Period	Burglary (1)	Larceny-theft	Motor vehicle theft	Total property crime
Jan.-Dec.	1,869,765	5,397,426	709,384	7,976,575
Jan.	144,227	402,015	60,146	606,388
Feb.	118,218	354,216	50,587	523,021
Mar.	144,538	443,917	60,722	649,177
Apr.	146,333	428,092	56,047	630,472
May.	155,944	455,838	58,937	670,719
June.	161,702	497,588	62,468	721,758
Jul.	170,504	487,613	62,847	720,964
Aug.	169,490	485,564	62,451	717,505
Sep.	167,788	490,612	61,079	719,479
Oct.	163,811	458,746	58,625	681,182
Nov.	160,797	427,809	56,251	644,857
Dec.	166,413	465,416	59,224	691,053

(1) The States of Alabama, Florida, and Minnesota did not provide monthly breakdowns for offense and are not included in the monthly variation.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation.

There are the greatest number of burglaries in the summer months of July, August, and September, followed by December.

(1) The states of Alabama, Florida, and Minnesota did not provide monthly breakdowns for offense and are not included in the monthly variations.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reports defines property crime as larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and burglary. These crimes involve the unlawful taking of money or property without the use of force or threat of force against the victims. Larceny theft involves the successful or attempted taking of property from another; it includes shoplifting, pocket-picking, purse-snatching and bicycle theft. While the theft of motor vehicles is a separate offense category, the thefts of motor vehicle parts and accessories are considered larceny. Burglary involves the unlawful entry into a structure such as a home or business. The burglary rate for renters was about 50 percent higher for renters than owners from 2003 to 2007, according to a 2010 Bureau of Justice Statistics report. Home burglaries accounted for 74 percent of burglary offenses in 2010, according to the FBI. According to a 2010 Bureau of Justice Statistics special report, the risk of burglary was higher for renters than for owners whether or not someone was home based on 2003-2007 data. The report is posted on the Web at http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/vdhb.pdf

NUMBER AND RATE OF PROPERTY CRIME OFFENSES IN THE UNITED STATES, 2001-2010 (1)

	Burglary		Larceny-theft
Year	Number	Rate	Number	Rate
2001	2,116,531	741.8	7,092,267	2,485.7
2002	2,151,252	747.0	7,057,379	2,450.7
2003	2,154,834	741.0	7,026,802	2,416.5
2004	2,144,446	730.3	6,937,089	2,362.3
2005	2,155,448	726.9	6,783,447	2,287.8
2006	2,194,993	733.1	6,626,363	2,213.2
2007	2,190,198	726.1	6,591,542	2,185.4
2008	2,228,887	733.0	6,586,206	2,166.1
2009	2,203,313	717.7	6,338,095	2,064.5
2010	2,159,878	699.6	6,185,867	2,003.5

	Motor vehicle theft		Total property crime (2)
Year	Number	Rate	Number	Rate
2001	1,228,391	430.5	10,437,189	3,658.1
2002	1,246,646	432.9	10,455,277	3,630.6
2003	1,261,226	433.7	10,442,862	3,591.2
2004	1,237,851	421.5	10,319,386	3,514.1
2005	1,235,859	416.8	10,174,754	3,431.5
2006	1,198,245	400.2	10,019,601	3,346.6
2007	1,100,472	364.9	9,882,212	3,276.4
2008	959,059	315.4	9,774,152	3,214.6
2009	795,652	259.2	9,337,060	3,041.3
2010	737,142	238.8	9,082,887	2,941.9

(1) Rate is per 100,000 inhabitants.
(2) Property crimes are the offenses of burglary, larceny-theft and motor vehicle theft.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reports.

TOP TEN U.S. METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREAS WITH HIGHEST MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT RATES, 2010

Rank	Metropolitan Statistical Area (1)	Vehicles stolen	Rate (2)
1	Fresno, CA	7,559	812.40
2	Modesto, CA	3,878	753.81
3	Bakersfield, CA	5,623	669.70
4	Spokane, WA	2,673	586.35
5	Vallejo-Fairfield, CA	2,392	578.69
6	Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, CA	11,881	552.83
7	Stockton, CA	3,779	551.43
8	Visalia-Porterville, CA	2,409	544.80
9	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	22,617	521.68
10	Yakima, WA	1,266	520.49

(1) Metropolitan statistical areas are designated by the federal Office of Management and Budget and usually include areas
much larger than the cities for which they are named.
(2) Ranked by the rate of vehicle thefts reported per 100,000 people based on the 2010 U.S. Census Population Estimates.
Source: National Insurance Crime Bureau.

Rank	Year/make/model
1	1994 Honda Accord
2	1995 Honda Civic
3	1991 Toyota Camry
4	1999 Chevrolet Pickup (Full size)
5	1997 Ford F-150 Pickup
6	2004 Dodge Ram Pickup
7	2000 Dodge Caravan
8	1994 Acura Integra
9	2002 Ford Explorer
10	1999 Ford Taurus

Source: National Insurance Crime Bureau.

ARSON

Arson, the act of deliberately setting fire to a building, car or other property for fraudulent or malicious purposes, is a crime in all states.

Church arsons, a major problem in the 1980s, have dropped significantly. Intentional fires in religious and funeral properties fell 82 percent from 1,320 in 1980 to 240 in 2002, the last time such figures were tracked. Structural fires in houses of worship caused $102 million in property damage from 2004-2008, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

INTENTIONALLY SET FIRES, 2001-2010

	Structures		Vehicles
Year	Number of fires	Property loss ($ millions) (1)	Number of fires	Property loss ($ millions)
2001	45,500	$34,453 (2)	39,500	$219
2002	44,500	919	41,000	222
2003	37,500	692	30,500	132
2004	36,500	714	36,000	165
2005	31,500	664	21,000	113
2006	31,100	755	20,500	134
2007	32,500	733	20,500	145
2008	30,500	866	17,500	139
2009	26,500	684	15,000	108
2010	27,500	585	14,000	89

(1) Includes overall direct property loss to contents, structures, vehicles, machinery, vegetation or any other property involved in a fire.
Does not include indirect losses, such as business interruption or temporary shelter costs.
(2) Includes the events of September 11, 2001, which accounted for $33.44 billion in property losses.
Source: National Fire Protection Association.

In 2010 property loss from intentionally set structure fires decreased 14.5 percent, although the number of arson fires rose 3.8 percent.

Most arson fires are started by vandals. Between 20 and 25 percent are drug related. More than one-third are set by children under the age of 18.