In the United States, a home is broken into every 14.6 seconds. Just think how many houses will be hit in the short time it takes you to read these words. Now consider how likely it is to be your house…maybe more likely than you thought!
Below we have 16 statistics about burglaries that might get you rethinking your home security, or lack of. Gleaned from an infographic published by an insurance company, these numbers are frightening in that they go against what many of us probably assume.
For example, most burglars get into the house by the front door! Taken together, the front door, a first floor window and the back door make up 79% of the ways burglars get in. That’s a convincing argument to get you to invest in some good, strong locks and to make sure you always lock doors and windows when leaving the home!
How burglars break in
- Front door 34%
- First floor window 23%
- Back door 22%
- Garage 9%
- Second floor 2%
Then there’s the timing of the burglaries. I suspect movies and TV shows have convinced us that burglars are active at night, and so that’s when we should be most vigilant, but these statistics show otherwise, with most happening during the day—and happening fast.
When burglars break in
- The timing of most burglaries: between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.
- The time it takes to rob a house: 60 seconds
Where the burglars go once in the house (and what they steal) is also a surprise. Again, I think movies and TV shows have us assuming burglars will go straight for the TV and the silver, but these statistics show otherwise…
The first room burglars go to
- The master bedroom
What burglars steal most often
- Jewelry
- Electronics
- Clothing
- Tools
Perhaps the scariest statistics of all, however, are the things homeowners do—or don’t do—to make these burglaries even easier to pull off…
What homeowners do to make life easier for burglars
- Leave doors unlocked: Almost 1 in 3 burglars enter a home through an unlocked door or window.
- Post vacation pictures on social media while away: 4 out of 5 burglars check Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare to find out who is on vacation.
- Skip the alarm system: Homes without security systems are 3 times more likely to be broken into, and 90% of burglars say they would avoid a home with an alarm system.
In the time it took you to read from the beginning to the end of this post (approximately 90 seconds), six homes were broken into. Make sure you do everything you can to decrease the chance of it being your house by using these statistics to your advantage!