Perhaps no other vehicle is as quintessentially American as the pickup truck. It is a cultural icon, representing hard work, reliability and self-reliance.

But like any other vehicle, pickup trucks can be prone to theft. Between Jan. 1, 2010 and Dec. 31, 2013, the National Crime Information Center reports that 9,441 pickup trucks (2011-2013 model year) were reported stolen in the U.S.

The study shows that these vehicles may have been targeted by sophisticated, organized theft rings, which dismantle stolen vehicles for parts, change the vehicle identification numbers and resell the parts to unsuspecting buyers, or in some cases, export them to other countries.

Together, the top 10 states for pickup truck thefts make up nearly 66% of all pickup truck thefts in the nation.

Click through the following slides to see where pickup trucks (2011-2013 model years) are more likely to be stolen. (Total number stolen per state shown in parenthesis.)

10. Ohio (175)

9. Missouri (199)

8. Louisiana (228)

7. Mississippi (296)

6. Arizona (305)

5. Georgia (329)

4. Oklahoma (336)

3. Florida (522)

2. California (1,676)

While California doesn't take the top spot for the number of pickup truck thefts by state, the Los Angeles/Long Beach/Anaheim area had the highest number of thefts out of any other core based statistical area (CBSA) in the country, with 455 thefts. That's 133 more than the second highest CBSA, Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington, Texas, which a total of 322 thefts.

1. Texas (2,130)

Out of the 9,441 pickup truck thefts (2011-2013 model year) between 2010 and 2013, Texas accounted for nearly 25% of all pickup truck thefts in the nation. Claiming the top spot for the highest number of thefts by state, Texas also has the most unrecovered thefts out of any other state (456).

While the Los Angeles/Long Beach/Anaheim area has the greatest number of thefts, the Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington CBSA comes in second for the number of thefts per CBSA, with 322 thefts. The Houston/The Woodlands/Sugar Land region rounds out the top three CBSAs for pickup truck thefts in the country, with 274 thefts.

With 68 unrecovered thefts, the El Paso area comes in a close second to the Los Angeles as the CBSA for the most unrecovered thefts in the nation. Considering, however, that El Paso had only 91 total thefts, the area had one of the top unrecovered rates in the nation at 74%.

Together, Texas and California's pickup truck thefts account for more than 40% of all pickup truck thefts nationwide. As a whole, the top 10 states for pickup truck thefts make up nearly 66 percent of all pickup truck thefts in the nation.

Special Reports /

The top 10 states for pickup truck thefts

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