Kent and the cities of Oakland, Portland, Tacoma, Salt Lake City, Cleveland and Baltimore each rank among the top 20 in the nation for the most car thefts.

Kent ranks ninth with 4.98 cars stolen for every 1,000 residents, according to a recent study released last month by ASecureLife.com using FBI data from annual reports. Oakland topped the rankings with 7.08 thefts per 1,000. The national average is two cars stolen per 1,000 people.

“Unfortunately we have known for some time that this region of the country has experienced a significant increase in vehicle thefts in the past few years,” Kent Police Chief Rafael Padilla said in an email about the ranking. “It was a particularly bad year in 2017 and if you take a look at crime data in the region, you will see that almost all jurisdictions saw very high vehicle theft rates. Kent is part of that overall trend.”

People can take steps to help prevent vehicle theft, including rolling up your windows, locking the doors and parking in busy, well-lit places, according to ASecureLife, a security tip website that started in 2008. But the company points out where you live can significantly change a person’s risk for car theft.

The study looked at the most recent FBI data from 2016 and 2015 for 236 metropolitan cities throughout the country with a population of at least 100,000 to determine which had the highest rates of stolen cars.

The most commonly stolen cars are older models of the Honda Civic and Honda Accord.