25 Alarming statistics about burglaries and home break-ins.

Your home is a sacred thing, the biggest investment you’ll make in your life but more than that, the place where you raise your precious family. So there is no worse feeling than when that safe haven is violated by a burglar. Yet crimes against property are alarmingly common, especially in certain cities and certain neighborhoods. But there are some facts about home robberies that may shock you – and hold the key to putting up a good defense against home robberies. 

There's no more important mission that keeping your family and home safe, so here are the 25 stats about burglaries:

1. According to the FBI’s 2012 crime report, there were 2,103,787 burglaries in 2012 (the most recent year with statistics on records.) Combined with the number of home invasions, that means there are about 2.5 million home intrusions per year in the United States!

2. That means that one in every thirty-six homes will be burglarized any given year in the United States, and they’ll occur every fifteen seconds.

3. The average loss for each home burglary is $2,230, totaling $4.7 billion every year.

4. The cities with the highest home burglary rates are:

Fayetteville, NC

Flint, MI

Toledo, OH

Little Rock, AR

Memphis, TN

Montgomery, AL

Bakersfield, CA

Spokan, WA

Winston-Salem, NC

Columbus, GA

5. Home robbers look for specific things – items they can transport easily, are hard to track, and they know they can sell quickly for high cash value.

6. If a burgler enters your home, they’re looking for:

Cash

Electronics (phones, laptops, MP3 players, etc.)

Gold

Guns

Jewelry

Silver

7. Burglars usually target the master bedroom first because they know it’s a hotbed for jewelry, collectibles, antiques, and also where people are most likely to keep their safe, which may contain cash, other valuables, or a firearm.

8. After the master bedroom they target the home office (financial information and electronics,) the living room (electronics) and the dining room.

9. While the common perception is that we are more susceptible to break-ins and robberies at night because criminals work under cover of darkness, the reality is that most home thieves operate during the day. They case neighborhoods usually between 10am and 3pm, when they know residents and their families are at work, doing errands, or in school.

10. 65% of home break-ins occur between 6am and 6pm.

11. The demographic for the typical burglar is a male in his mid to late teens up to 25 years old. Surprisingly, they usually target homes that are within a couple miles of where they live.

12. The average burglar spends only 8-12 minutes in a home they rob. They usually spend well under a minute gaining access to the home.

13. Most burglars enter the home through the front door, believe it or not. And they don’t have to kick it down – they jiggle the handle to see if it’s unlocked, and then look around under the mat, under plants, or for fake rocks to obtain the spare key.

14. If the front door is locked, the second most popular way for thieves to break in is through a first floor window, followed by the back door.

15. Thieves gain entrance to homes through the front door 34% of the time, and through an unlocked window about 30% of the time.

16. Nearly 66% of all burglaries are residential break-ins, not businesses.

17. Is our society more dangerous now than a decade or even a generation ago? According to statistics by the Bureau of Justice, in 1972, 110 out of every 1,000 households were burglarized.

18. By 2002, 30 years later, that number was way down to 27.7 out of every 1,000 households, and n 2008 it fell even more to 26.3 per 1,000.

19. And though the perception is that we’re a little more susceptible during the holidays, the highest percentage of burglaries take place during the summer months, specifically in July and August. February is the month with the least amount of break-ins.

20. During warm weather months, the most common form of entry is through an unlocked or open window on the ground floor.

21. 95% of break-ins involve the use of force to gain entry (against the property.) Thieves use hammers, screwdrivers, pliers, crowbars, rocks, or knives to break doors to windows to gain access. But the most common form of entry by force is a simple kick to a door!

22. Are these burglars all professional criminals who clinically enter and rob homes? Not at all – in fact, 55% of all home break-ins come from amateur or novice criminals, who are usually more desperate (and more dangerous.) That’s why 1 out of every 3 residential assaults occur when a burglar is caught in the act.

23. Police only solve 13% of all home burglaries.

24. Only 17% of U.S. homes have some sort of security system.

25. Homes with security systems are 270% less likely to be targeted by thieves and 300% less likely to be actually robbed.

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