Photo by specimenlife

More bikes are being stolen in Capitol Hill and other parts of Ward 6, it seems.

Friend of DCist Michael Jantzen dipped into the city’s bike theft statistics from 2007 to 2010 and found that close to 2,500 bikes were reported stolen in that period. Additionally, he discovered—and mapped—the fact that the majority of bike thefts migrated from parts of Northwest to Capitol Hill over those years.

By 2010, the last year for which complete data is available, 372 bike thefts took place in Ward 6—the highest number in any part of the city. (That being said, bike theft fell as a whole across the city from 2007 to 2010.) Two years prior, Ward 2 claimed the dubious distinction as the city’s center of bike theft. The places least likely to see a bike stolen? Wards 4, 5, 7, and 8.

Bike thefts in D.C. from 2007 to 2010.

Another interesting—and not wholly surprising—finding? Bike thieves are a fair-weather bunch:

Bike thefts are unsurprisingly seasonal, with 16% of all thefts in July, and only 3% in December. (Looking at all categories of crime, July is also the busiest month, but with only 9% of the total, while it’s February that’s the slowest month, with 6% of the total.)

Conclusion? Feel free to leave that bike unlocked in mid-February if you live in Ward 4. No one will bother to steal it.