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Article Summary
Cincinnati recorded 2,053 vehicle thefts in 2025, down from roughly 2,600 the year before, according to Cincinnati Police Department data. Neighborhood-level crime data through August 2026 show that vehicle thefts remain concentrated in several communities, with Westwood recording the highest total among the neighborhoods examined. Most neighborhoods reviewed saw year-over-year declines, although Spring Grove Village recorded an increase.
Vehicle thefts remain a significant property-crime issue in Cincinnati, but police data show that the problem is not evenly distributed across the city.
Cincinnati recorded 2,053 auto thefts in 2025, about 600 fewer than the previous year, according to Cincinnati Police Department data.
The city also recorded 2,953 thefts from automobiles in 2025, according to a reporting by Spectrum News.
Neighborhood-level data available through August 2026 show that some communities continue to account for substantially more vehicle theft reports than others.
Westwood has one of the largest concentrations
Westwood stands out in the available neighborhood data.
During the 12 months through August 2026, Westwood recorded 189 motor vehicle thefts, down from 285 during the preceding 12-month period, according to an analysis of Cincinnati’s public crime data.
That represents a roughly 34% decline year over year. Despite the decrease, Westwood’s total remained substantially higher than the totals reported in several other neighborhoods.
Westwood is also Cincinnati’s largest West Side neighborhood, with major residential and commercial corridors along Harrison Avenue and Glenway Avenue.
Other neighborhoods with notable vehicle-theft totals
Several other Cincinnati neighborhoods also recorded dozens of motor vehicle thefts during the most recent 12-month period available.
| Neighborhood | Motor vehicle thefts, latest 12 months available | Change from prior 12 months |
| Westwood | 189 | -33.7% |
| Corryville | 73 | -22.3% |
| Over-the-Rhine | 68 | -44.7% |
| Downtown | 67 | -33.7% |
| Northside | 51 | -34.6% |
| Hyde Park | 34 | -29.2% |
| Winton Hills | 26 | -52.7% |
| Spring Grove Village | 25 | +31.6% |
| Madisonville | 24 | -61.9% |
| East Westwood | 14 | -53.3% |
The figures represent different trailing-12-month periods depending on when each neighborhood’s latest report was published, so they should not be treated as a single same-day citywide ranking. They are useful for identifying where vehicle theft has been more concentrated in the publicly available neighborhood data.
Corryville recorded 73 motor vehicle thefts over its latest 12-month period, while Over-the-Rhine recorded 68 and Downtown recorded 67.
Northside recorded 51 vehicle thefts during its latest 12-month period, down nearly 35% from the previous year.
Some neighborhoods are seeing sharper declines
The available 2026 data also show that vehicle theft has declined substantially in several neighborhoods.
Madisonville recorded 24 motor vehicle thefts during its latest 12-month period, down from 63 in the preceding year — a decline of nearly 62%.
Winton Hills recorded 26, down from 55, while East Westwood recorded 14, down from 30.
Downtown also recorded fewer vehicle thefts, falling from 101 to 67 over the two 12-month periods analyzed through August 2026.
Over-the-Rhine saw an even larger percentage decline, with 68 motor vehicle thefts compared with 123 in the preceding 12-month period.
Spring Grove Village moves in the opposite direction
Not every neighborhood followed the citywide downward pattern.
Spring Grove Village recorded 25 motor vehicle thefts during its latest 12-month period, compared with 19 during the preceding year. That represents an increase of about 32%.
The same neighborhood recorded a larger increase in thefts from vehicles, rising from 16 to 29 incidents during the two comparable 12-month periods.
The distinction matters because a vehicle being stolen and items being stolen from a vehicle are tracked as separate crime categories.
Vehicle theft is different from a car break-in
Cincinnati’s crime data separate motor vehicle theft from theft from vehicle.
Motor vehicle theft refers to the theft of the vehicle itself. Theft from a vehicle involves property taken from a vehicle while the vehicle remains at the location.
That second category can be particularly prominent in areas with large numbers of parked vehicles, including neighborhoods with dense housing, commercial districts, entertainment areas and major institutions.
For example, CUF recorded 250 thefts from vehicles during its latest 12-month period through August 2026, up nearly 50% from the previous year. Its motor vehicle theft total, meanwhile, was up about 8%.
Downtown has also historically recorded substantial theft-from-auto activity. Through July 27, 2025, Cincinnati Police data showed 274 thefts from vehicles downtown, making it the most commonly reported crime category there at the time.
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Cincinnati’s overall auto-theft numbers have fallen
The neighborhood patterns come as Cincinnati’s overall number of auto thefts has declined.
The city recorded 2,053 auto thefts in 2025, compared with roughly 2,600 in 2024, according to Cincinnati Police data reported by Spectrum News. Theft from automobiles remained relatively steady, falling from 2,956 incidents in 2024 to 2,953 in 2025.
That means the decline in vehicles actually being stolen was considerably larger than the change in thefts from vehicles.
The data also show why looking only at the city’s overall crime total can miss important neighborhood differences.
What the data can — and cannot — show
Cincinnati’s public crime data are updated as incidents are processed and can change as investigations continue.
The city’s open-data portal says its public-safety datasets are anonymized and that addresses are redacted and geographic coordinates are randomly skewed within the same block area.
The neighborhood figures therefore should be viewed as reported incidents rather than an exact map of individual vehicle-theft locations.
They also do not establish why a particular neighborhood has more thefts. Factors such as population, the number of parked vehicles, commercial activity, apartment density and reporting patterns can affect raw incident counts.
For that reason, a neighborhood with more reported thefts does not automatically mean an individual vehicle there is more likely to be stolen.
The bigger picture
The latest publicly available data show a mixed picture for Cincinnati.
Westwood recorded the largest total among the neighborhood figures reviewed, while Corryville, Over-the-Rhine, Downtown and Northside also recorded dozens of vehicle thefts during their latest 12-month reporting periods.
At the same time, most of those neighborhoods recorded fewer vehicle thefts than in the preceding year.
The data suggest that Cincinnati’s vehicle-theft problem is concentrated in particular neighborhoods but has generally declined from earlier levels, while thefts from vehicles remain a separate and persistent property-crime concern.
Data note:
This analysis uses Cincinnati Police Department reported-crime data available through September 2026. Neighborhood figures represent the latest available trailing 12-month period for each neighborhood; depending on the neighborhood, those periods end in July or August 2026. Because the reporting windows are not identical and public crime data can be updated as records are processed, the figures should be used to identify patterns rather than as a definitive same-date ranking of every Cincinnati neighborhood. Cincinnati’s public-safety data are anonymized and geographically altered before publication.
FAQs
Which Cincinnati neighborhoods have high theft-from-vehicle reports?
Theft from vehicles can be particularly common in neighborhoods with substantial parking, residential density, commercial activity and entertainment areas. CUF, for example, recorded 250 thefts from vehicles during its latest available 12-month period.
Are vehicle thefts and car break-ins counted separately?
Yes. Cincinnati Police tracks motor vehicle theft and theft from vehicles as separate crime categories. This distinction is important when comparing neighborhood crime figures.
Which neighborhoods had the most vehicle thefts after Westwood?
Among the neighborhoods reviewed, Corryville had 73 motor vehicle thefts, followed by Over-the-Rhine with 68, Downtown with 67 and Northside with 51 during their respective latest available 12-month periods.
How did Over-the-Rhine’s vehicle thefts change?
Over-the-Rhine recorded 68 motor vehicle thefts during its latest available 12-month period, down from 123 during the preceding period. That represents a decline of about 45%.
Data note:
This analysis uses Cincinnati Police Department reported-crime data available through September 2026. Neighborhood figures represent the latest available trailing 12-month period for each neighborhood; depending on the neighborhood, those periods end in July or August 2026. Because the reporting windows are not identical and public crime data can be updated as records are processed, the figures should be used to identify patterns rather than as a definitive same-date ranking of every Cincinnati neighborhood. Cincinnati’s public-safety data are anonymized and geographically altered before publication.
