Why Los Alamos, New Mexico is One of the Safest in US For This Particular Crime

Samuel Stebbins

Published: December 1, 2020 3:53 pm

Larceny-theft — defined as the unlawful taking of property — is the most common form of property crime in the United States. Pickpocketing, shoplifting, and bicycle theft are some common examples of larceny. While larceny includes theft of property of any value, the vast majority of larceny cases reported are of items worth $200 or more, according to the FBI.

Larceny has become far less common in the U.S. in recent years. In the last decade, the number of reported larceny cases fell by nearly 19%. In 2019, the most recent year of available data, the FBI tallied about 5.1 million cases of larceny nationwide — or 1,550 incidents for every 100,000 people.

In Los Alamos, New Mexico, larceny is far less common than it is nationwide. In 2019, a total of 59 larceny-thefts were reported in the city — or 307 for every 100,000 people. Click here to see the full crime report for Los Alamos.

The FBI tracked cases of larceny in 4,555 U.S. cities with populations of at least 5,000 in 2019, and all but eight of those cities reported at least one larceny-theft that year. Of the 4,547 cities to report one or more incidents of larceny, Los Alamos ranks No. 4,268 by larceny-theft rate, which puts it in the top 10% lowest larceny rate U.S. cities.

Although larceny-theft is less common in Los Alamos than it is nationwide, it is more common in New Mexico than it is nationwide. There were a total of 41,702 cases of larceny reported in New Mexico in 2019, or 1,989 for every 100,000 people. Of all 50 states, New Mexico has the seventh highest larceny rate.

The larceny-theft rate in Los Alamos ranks as No. 23 of the 24 cities in New Mexico tracked by the FBI.

Across the United States, larceny-theft contributes more to the overall property crime rate than any other type of offense. Partially because Los Alamos’s larceny-theft rate is lower than the national average, the city’s overall property crime rate is too. There were a total of 375 property crimes reported for every 100,000 people in Los Alamos in 2019, compared to 2,110 per 100,000 people nationwide.

Larceny-theft is just one type of crime tracked by the FBI. To provide a more comprehensive view of overall crime levels across the country, 24/7 Wall St. recently published extensive crime reports with data visualizations for over 4,000 cities and all 50 states. These reports contain all components of property and violent crime tracked by the FBI. Click here to see the complete crime report for Los Alamos.